Faloe Field · Expedition 001
FALOE FIELD
EXPEDITION 001
Western Ghats · Karnataka · India
Ten days in October 2026
[ Exact dates confirmed upon enrollment ]
Faloe Field · Expedition 001
Western Ghats · Karnataka · India
Ten days in October 2026
[ Exact dates confirmed upon enrollment ]
The Expedition
In the 17th century, a Sufi mystic named Baba Budan smuggled seven coffee beans out of Yemen and planted them in the hills above Chikmagalur, Karnataka. Against Ottoman law. Against everything. He started India's coffee industry. He may have saved a forest.
The coffee estates of Chikmagalur sit at the edge of that world, private land where the Western Ghats forest meets working agricultural terrain, and the biodiversity of the region shapes every frame. The light here is unlike anywhere else. So are the people who tend this land.
Not a safari. Not a nature tour with a camera attached.
Twelve filmmakers. A story rooted in coffee, landscape, and four hundred years of history. Two leads who know this territory from the inside. A professional production crew. A film, made from beginning to end.
© Amoghavarsha
The Leads
Wildlife filmmaker, conservationist, and photographer. Two decades in these forests.
Co-director of Wild Karnataka, India's first 4K blue-chip natural history film, narrated by Sir David Attenborough and distributed by BBC, Discovery, and Netflix. Winner of two National Film Awards. Art director on Divine Tides, the double Grammy-winning album by Ricky Kej and Stewart Copeland. His film Kali contributed directly to the renaming of a tiger reserve. His climate work was presented at the United Nations by two heads of state. Canon India EOS Ambassador.
He knows where the animals are.
He knows how to build a story in this landscape.
He has been filming here for twenty years.
Filmmaker, producer, and educator. Twenty years of documentary and commercial work across six continents.
Producing credits include feature films and work for Sony Pictures, Sports Illustrated, DirecTV, and Nissan. Former Chair of the Short-Term Film Arts Department at the New York Film Academy. He has led field productions in Peru, South Africa, India, and across the Americas. His students work internationally.
He runs the production.
He builds the room.
He has been in terrain like this before, and he knows what it takes to make something worth showing.
Together: the territory and the craft.
The Three Phases
01
Virtual Pre-Production · Two Weeks
Story development, shot-listing, and research. The Baba Budan narrative, the ecology of shade-grown coffee, the wildlife of the Western Ghats. The full cohort online with both leads before anyone boards a plane.
You arrive in the field knowing what you are making.
02
The Field · Ten Days in October 2026
On-location production on the coffee estates and in the surrounding landscape. The light, the wildlife, the farmers, and the forest are all active ingredients in the work. Participants work alongside a professional production crew including a Director of Photography and a sound recordist.
The decisions are yours.
The pressure is real.
The footage is there if you can find it.
03
Post-Production · Supervised
Remote editing, colour, and sound with structured feedback sessions. An optional in-person residency in New York is available for participants who want to finish the cut in the room.
What You Leave With
A finished film.
Your footage, yours to use for portfolio, reel, website, and festival submissions.
The experience of having made something difficult in a difficult place.
Distribution of the finished film is managed jointly by Faloe and Indiverse.
The Details
$14,500
Expedition 001 is limited to twelve participants.
Includes accommodation in Chikmagalur, ground transport within India, location access, and the complete pre-production and post-production framework.
International flights and travel to your departure airport are not included in the program fee.
What it requires from you: commitment, seriousness about the work, and the ability to be in the Western Ghats in October 2026.
Applications are open.
The cohort fills by conversation, not by form.
Schedule a ConsultationExact dates confirmed upon enrollment.