An exclusive industry event on May 16th. International guests from across
Europe and the Americas. And a Cannes Immersive Competition selection
with Lucy Liu. This is what it looks like when Bali goes global.
Every year the Cannes Film Festival reshuffles the global film industry’s priorities for a
few weeks in May. Projects get greenlit, partnerships get formed, and the direction of
the industry for the next twelve months quietly takes shape over dinners and screenings
and conversations on the Croisette. This year, Viking Sunset Studios is there, not as a
spectator, but as an active participant with a clear agenda.
Our presence at Cannes 2026 is built around two things: a private industry event on
May 16th bringing together filmmakers, producers, investors and creative partners from
across Europe, the United States, the United Kingdom, Denmark, and beyond, and our
investment in The Pirate Queen: No Safe Waters, the Singer Studios immersive
experience narrated by Lucy Liu that has been selected for the Cannes Immersive
Competition 2026.
Together these two things represent a statement about where Viking Sunset Studios is
heading and what we believe Bali’s place in the global film industry can be.
The Viking Sunset Studios Cannes Event, May 16th 2026
On the evening of May 16th, Viking Sunset Studios will host an exclusive gathering for
international film industry professionals in Cannes. The event is designed around the
idea that the most valuable conversations at any festival happen away from the formal
programming, in smaller rooms with the right people in them.
Guests will include producers, directors, distributors, and investors from Denmark, the
United States, the United Kingdom, and across Europe, alongside key figures from the
Indonesian film industry. The intention is not ceremony. It is connection. Specifically the
kind of connection that leads to genuine co-production partnerships, creative
collaborations, and a deeper understanding of what Bali offers as a production
destination for international projects.
Cannes is where the global film industry does its real business. Viking Sunset Studios
intends to be part of that business in a way that is meaningful, not peripheral.
The Pirate Queen: No Safe Waters and the Cannes Immersive
Competition
Viking Sunset Studios’ investment in The Pirate Queen: No Safe Waters is a significant
part of our Cannes story this year. Directed by Eloise Singer and narrated by Lucy Liu,
the project has been selected as one of eight works in competition at the Cannes Film
Festival Immersive Competition 2026. As reported by Deadline Hollywood, it is one of
the most anticipated projects in this year’s immersive programme.
The experience is the latest chapter in Singer Studios’s award-winning Pirate Queen
story-world, rooted in the true story of Cheng Shih, the woman who commanded the
largest pirate fleet in recorded history. The original VR experience won the Storyscapes
Award at Tribeca Film Festival, won the Raindance Discovery Award for Best Debut,
and was nominated for both an Emmy Award for Outstanding Emerging Media Program
and the PGA Innovation Award.
We invested in this project before the Cannes selection was announced, because we
believed in the creative vision behind it. The selection is confirmation of what we already
knew.
Why Cannes Matters for Bali
The Cannes Film Festival is not just a film festival. It is the single most important
gathering point in the global film calendar for people who are actually making decisions
about what gets produced, where, and with whom. Distributors acquire. Investors
commit. Co-production deals that take months to negotiate get their first conversations
started over lunch.
For a studio based in Bali, being present and active at Cannes is about changing a
conversation. The conversation that currently exists about Bali in international film
circles is largely about location. Beautiful locations, cinematic landscapes, the kind of
natural variety that makes production designers pay attention. That conversation is
worth having but it is not the whole story.
The fuller story is about infrastructure, about creative capability, about a growing pool of
local talent, and about a studio that is genuinely world-class in its facilities and
genuinely serious about the quality of work it supports. Viking Sunset Studios at Cannes
is about making sure that fuller story gets told to the right people.
What Bali Offers That Nowhere Else Does
There is a reason international productions keep returning to Bali. It is not only the
beaches and the rice terraces, though those are genuinely extraordinary. It is the
combination of visual diversity, cultural depth, and production infrastructure that is
available within a very small geographic area.
Within and around Viking Sunset Studios in Tabanan, you have black sand beaches,
vast open rice fields, coastal cave formations, jungle, and proximity to some of the most
visually striking temple complexes in Southeast Asia. That range of environments,
accessible from a single production base, is genuinely unusual anywhere in the world.
Add to that a Balinese cultural tradition that is still very much alive and visible in daily
life, an atmosphere that has attracted serious creative people from across the globe for
decades, and a cost structure that makes ambitious productions significantly more
viable than equivalent work in European or American markets, and the case for Bali as
a production destination becomes very strong.
Viking Sunset Studios exists to make that case concrete rather than theoretical. The
facilities are there. The infrastructure is there. The creative environment is there.
Cannes is where we tell that story to the people who need to hear it.
The Bigger Picture for Indonesian Cinema
Viking Sunset Studios’ presence at Cannes 2026 does not exist in isolation. It is part of
a moment for Indonesian cinema more broadly. The domestic box office has surpassed
400 million US dollars. Local productions hold approximately 65 percent of their own
market. Global streaming platforms are actively investing in Indonesian content. The
industry has found its confidence and the world is starting to notice.
Cannes is a place where that confidence can be displayed on a stage that matters.
Every conversation Viking Sunset Studios has there, every partnership that begins,
every filmmaker or investor who leaves with a clearer picture of what is possible in Bali,
is a contribution to the broader visibility of Indonesian cinema at the global level.
That is not a small thing. It is exactly what needs to happen for the industry to make the
leap from impressive domestic growth to genuine international standing.
See You in Cannes
If you are attending the Cannes Film Festival this year and you want to talk about what
Viking Sunset Studios can offer your next project, we would genuinely love to hear
from you. Reach out before May 16th and let’s make sure we connect while we are
there.
Bring Your Next Production to Bali
Located in Tabanan, Bali, Viking Sunset Studios is an international creative
production hub offering world-class facilities for film, commercial, and content
production. From our soundproof green screen studio and professional equipment to
stunning natural backdrops including beach, rice terraces, jungle, cave and temple,
everything you need is in one place.
Whether you are scouting for a film studio in Bali, looking for a production partner in
Southeast Asia, or searching for locations for movies filmed in Bali, we would love to
hear about your project.
Get in touch: info@vikingsunsetstudios.com
Follow us: @vikingsunsetstudios on Instagram and TikTok
Visit: vikingsunsetstudios.com
