Synopsis

Each year, thousands of women travel to Bali in search of paradise. And many find it in the arms of Kuta Cowboys. Masters at peddling holiday romance, these bronzed beach ambassadors have made Bali one of the world’s leading destinations for female sex tourists. Cowboys in Paradise is an independent feature documentary that gets between the sheets of Bali’s male sex trade. Shooting without a crew, and with only the equipment he could fit into a backpack, director Amit Virmani was able to provide intimate environments conducive for frank and candid interviews. The resulting confessions, both startling and hilarious, reveal some of the island’s most closely-guarded secrets. Why don’t the boys charge for sex? How then do the women compensate them? Where do time management skills fit into all this? And what does a Cowboy’s wife have to say about his errant ways? The film also charts the typical trajectory of a Cowboy’s life, from entry into beach life to his reign at the top of the tourist-industry chain, before his heartbreaking descent into obsolescence. By the end, the myth of paradise is shattered and the viewer is presented with a more realistic proposition: Paradise is always someplace else.

Director

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  Amit Virmani
  

  Singapore based director Amit Virmani has directed various shorts and commercials. He never considered making a documentary for his debut feature. All that changed when he met a young Balinese boy who couldn’t wait to grow up and “sex-service” foreign women, and he spent the next two years developing and making Cowboys in Paradise. He is currently developing The Rapists Wore Blue Hats, which will be another feature documentary.
  
  Cowboys in Paradise (2009)
  Lullaby (2006) Reset (1999)

Credits

• Director  Amit Virmani
• Producer  Amit Virmani, Seah Kui Luan
• Cinematographer  Amit Virmani
• Editor  Anand Kundra
• Music  John Denver, Planet Bamboo
• Sound  Red Light Studios

Production Company

• Production Company  Coup Communications
• Address  3b Teo Hong Road, 088322, Singapore
• Tel  65 9766 7167
• Fax  65 6588 1585
• Email  amit@coupcom.com