B.A.T.A.M.

B.A.T.A.M. tells the contrasting stories of two women: Wati, a young factory worker, and Dewi, a prostitute, both of whom live through a dramatic transformation on the Indonesian island of Batam, located on Singapore's doorstep. In this free-trade zone, an official economy based in the factories, and an unofficial economy of prostitution, have developed together increasing Batam's population from 3,000 to 700,000. As the two divergent economies depend on female labor, the experiences of these two women illuminate the ways in which multinational capitalism and migration interact in the shadowlands of globalization.

Johan Lindquist

received his BA degree in Cultural Anthropology from Uppsala University in 1994, and his PhD degree in Social Anthropology from Stockholm University in 2002. Lindquist has been a visiting fellow at Harvard University from 1996-1997, 1999-2000, and during the spring of 2002, and Cornell University from 2003-2004. Between 2002 and 2006 he is a postdoctoral fellow under the auspices of the Swedish School of Advanced Asia Pacific Studies (SSAAPS). Lindquist's primary research interests concern the links between globalization and migration, as well as medical anthropology, while his geographical focus is on Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore. Lindquist's doctoral dissertation, "The Anxieties of Mobility: Development, Migration, and Tourism in the Indonesian Borderlands," dealt with the transnational Growth Triangle that binds together Singapore, the Malaysian province of Johor, and the Indonesian island of Batam. It focused on the lives of migrants and tourists who pass through this rapidly developing area. As a part of this project, Johan has recently completed, with filmmakers Per Eriksson and Liam Dalzell, a documentary film that deals with the lives of Indonesian migrants on Batam.

Liam Dalzell

was born in Medak , India , emigrated to Ireland as a teenager, and then to the United States in 1995. He studied philosophy at Trinity College , Dublin and at New York University . He worked in academic publishing for several years, editing books in philosophy, religion, and classics. Liam left New York to enroll in the Documentary Film and Video Program at Stanford University , where he earned his M.A. in 2004. His thesis film, Punjabi Cab, looks at the lives of Sikh-American cab drivers as they deal with post-9/11 hatred. It has screened at numerous US and international film festivals, has been broadcast by PBS affiliates, and is distributed by the Center for Asian American Media. Since graduation, Liam has been paying bills as a freelance cinematographer in the San Francisco Bay Area, while he works on his own projects.

Per-Erik Eriksson

bought his first video camera in 1994 while working as a radio correspondent for Swedish National Radio in China . Since then, he has produced, directed, and shot documentaries and ethnographic videos in Southeast Asia for Harvard University and the American Museum of Natural History. In 2003 Eriksson earned a MA from Stanford University in Documentary Film and Video. There he made Propane Rain which was nominated for a Golden Gate Award at the San Francisco International Film Festival. In San Francisco Pelle worked for KQED/BVAC as videographer and sound-recordist for the Emmy award-winning TV series Spark. Pelle has received numerous awards as editor, and videographer including two Telly Awards and two WorldFest Remi awards (2004 - 2005) for his work with various Cable TV shows. As professor at Southeastern University , Eriksson supervised Emmy award-winning student work. Several of his short documentaries have been broadcast on local PBS channels.