Who We Are
I/O Studio Detroit is an American recording and film studio founded in Detroit, Michigan. A grassroots creative collective built by the Sheufelt family, I/O members have worked for the past decade in professional sound recording, commercial television and independent film projects, professional photography, and multimedia visual arts.
The Story
How did a handful of artists from the Midwest end up with plans to film a documentary about a little-known culture on the other side of the planet?
It started with a romance. We were invited by a Kayan family from the village of Long Pilah, Sarawak, to attend the winter celebrations and traditional wedding ceremony of our cousin, Cameron Sheufelt, and his wife Rebecca, who left Long Pilah to go to school in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia&aposs capital and largest city. The two met in 2022 when Cameron followed an adventurous whim to go backpacking alone throughout Southeast Asia, and have since begun to build a life together in Kuala Lumpur.
The idea of the documentary was conceived as a way of recording Kayan wedding traditions for posterity. Prior to the rapid modernization of their lifeways in recent history, fueled by the creation of logging roads through the jungle and the expansion of palm oil plantations, the Kayan had little contact with other cultures, and maintained primarily oral histories. As more modern lifestyles become increasingly available to Kayan youth, fewer are learning the older traditions, and tribal elders fear that these parts of their culture will die off if not archived.
The Plan
We are working to secure grant funding, donations, and sponsorships, both towards the development of a more in-depth cultural archive and to deliver necessities to the Kayan community in Long Pilah, which is situated in a fairly remote region of Sarawak along the Baram River.
To participate in and film the holiday celebration, our team will travel to Long Pilah this December, living in the village for ten days before returning to Detroit. In the following months, we will edit the footage into a short vignette documentary to be used as proof of concept to procure more extensive grant funding and return the following summer to film a feature-length documentary.
These plans having formed outside of the immediate support of an academic or creative institution, the documentary film and research, including travel and equipment expenses, will be primarily self-funded by the I/O Studio group and Sheufelt family. While this presents a substantial challenge, we are working hard to raise the necessary funds. If you are interested in making a donation, check out our crowdfunding campaign on the SUPPORT THE PROJECT page.