As reported by Antara news agency, Chinese director Julius Liu recently brought the cast and crew of his upcoming film Island Dreamzz to Indonesia's vacation island of Bali, where the director had spent approximately one-third of the film's Rp 60 billion (US$4.5 million) budget on set.

Shot in 2015, the film is currently still in post-production as it goes through China's stringent censorship process. 

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Meanwhile, director Jonathan Shen has set aside $30 million to shoot a film in Aceh titled Tsunami. Shen, who recently concluded shooting Kung Fu Yoga, an action-adventure comedy starring Jackie Chan, had expressed enthusiasm about shooting in Indonesia. 

The Beijing-based director said he has been intensely communicating with Creative Economy Agency (Bekraf) officials in Shanghai, flying back and forth between the two cities to speak with representatives about the film, which is set to tell a story of the tsunami that hit Aceh, among other areas, in 2004.

"We want to continue to raise the spirits of the Aceh people from the trauma that was suffered in the past," Shen said, adding that he expects shooting to begin in August or September for a release set for next year.

Young director Wang Yimin is also seeking to shoot a film, titled Equatorial Love, in the Southeast Asian country, with permits already lodged to shoot in Palembang in South Sumatra.

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The film would tell a story of a coal-fired power plant worker who falls in love with a Chinese woman.

"Hopefully, this film will have already been included in the Cannes Film Festival by next year," Yimin said. 

Red and White, a Beijing-based institution that facilitates the interests of Chinese directors with the Indonesian government, said this year there were five other films by Chinese directors in line to get shooting permits in Indonesia. 

Productions are expected to involve local cast and crew. (liz/kes)