PACIFIC SUPERHEROES

Ia Orana from Tahiti, holla holla we got stories to tell and pass on. Check it out, Annie Goldson taking the top prize at FIFO 2009 for ‘An Island Calling’, its a tragedy of beliefs and misbeliefs. Get out and get to viewing this doco. The trailer is loaded in our video player. Much luv and big ups, time for more PACIFIC SUPERHERO celebrations. Maruru fanau.

‘New Zealand movie director Annie Goldson has won Le Grand Prix du Jury at the 6th Annual Pacific International Documentary Film Festival for her 75-minute “An Island Calling” film about the 2001 murder of a gay couple in Fiji.

Ms. Goldson’s 75-minute documentary tells the story of John Scott and his partner of 20 years Greg Scrivener, a prominent gay couple murdered in their Suva home. Scott, the Fiji Red Cross director, had become well known for his courage during the 2000 military coup in Fiji when he assisted hostages held by George Speight and his followers.

Scott and Scriverner “were killed in the name of God by Apete Kaisau, a young indigenous Fijian man who had been friends with the couple,” according to the festival’s program. The film was produced by Occasional Productions.

“When you make a film like that, you are not alone, and it’s a real trip,” Ms. Goldson said after receiving the jury’s Grand Prix award along with a cash prize of 500,000 French Pacific francs (US$5,555/€4,190).

During Saturday night’s award ceremonies, she thanked the festival for having “put the Pacific in the center of the world. In other festivals, you often have the impression of being on the sidelines”.

Ms. Goldson was one of four Australian and two French documentary film directors to win jury prizes during the weeklong event known by its French acronym of FIFO (Festival international du film documentaire Océanien).

One of two documentaries produced in French Polynesia won the GIE Tahiti Tourisme’s Public’s Prize. That winner was “Marquisien Mon Frere” (My Marquesan Brother) a 53-minute film directed by Jacques Navarro Rovira, whose entry last year won Le Grand Prix du Jury.

The five films were among 16 documentaries chosen for this year’s competition. An additional 21 films were shown outside the competition at the Papeete Cultural Center.

The three special jury prizes went to:

–Australian director Darlene Johnson for her 52-minute “River of No Return”, a film about an Aborigine woman in Australia whose dream of becoming a movie star comes true with the film “Ten Canoes”. The producer was Bower Bird Films Pty. Ltd.

–Australian directors Sascha Ettinger-Epstein and Ian Darling for their 75-minute “The Oasis”, a film about a group of tough kids living in Sydney’s inner city. The producer was Shark Island Productions.

–French directors and producers Emmanuel Broto and Fabienne Tzerikiantz for their 51-minute “Sevrapeck City”, a film about the “Santo 2006″ expedition that made an inventory of the biodiversity on Vanuatu’s island of Santo.

Pierre-Henri Deleau, this year’s film festival president, described the FIFO 2009 as a “very positive event”. FIFO organizers said attendance was nearly 16,000. Deleau is general delegate of the International Festival of Audiovisual Programs in Biarritz, France, and co-founder of the Directors’ Fortnight that will be held in Cannes for the 39th year from May 15-25.

Besides the overall 37 films shown during this year’s festival, FIFO also included conferences, roundtable discussions and workshops. FIFO’s first digital television meeting and the 3rd Oceania Television Symposium highlighted this year’s festival.

Such offerings are designed to discover new talents and emerging trends in Oceania, a diverse group of countries ranging from New Zealand and Australia to Papua New Guinea, the Cook Islands and France’s three Pacific overseas territories—French Polynesia, New Caledonia and Wallis and Futuna.

The festival also brought together once again audiovisual professionals from other regions interested in knowing about Oceania’s culture in general and French Polynesia’s culture in particular.

Catherine Drolet of Canada attended the festival looking for documentaries revealing Polynesian authenticity for the 19th of First People’s Festival (Présence autochtone), a film and video showcase to be held from June 11-21 in Montreal.

Ms. Drolet said this year’s festival will have a section devoted to French Polynesia. This will involve a cultural exchange entitled “First Nation and Maohi People, Cinema and Challenges”. She said film professionals from Tahiti are invited to present their movies in Montreal and participate in the debates that will be held.

Meanwhile, next year’s Tahiti-hosted FIFO will lose one of its traditional big partners, France Télévision’s RFO Télé Polynésie, as the station’s regional general manager, Michel Kops, announced last week. However, France Télévision will take RFO’s place in 2010 with the merger of all overseas RFO stations, he said.

Next year’s FIFO will be held from Jan. 26-31.’