Pacific Human Rights Film Festival draws thousands, creates understanding

Many people watching a film in a movie theatre

Thousands attended the fourth Pacific Human Rights Film Festival that wound up in Suva on Saturday to watch some of the Pacific’s best films, creating more understanding of human rights issues for positive change.

Around 750 secondary students from 13 schools in Suva attended three screenings facilitated by the Pacific Community (SPC), Fiji National University, and the Ministry of Education and learnt about nuclear legacy, conservation of ocean and land, and traditional knowledge and climate threat in the Pacific.

The school screenings were followed by six public screenings this month. These showings inspired more than 1500 diverse audience members to engage on topics including the importance of reclaiming traditional birthing knowledge, drug addiction awareness, LGBTQI+ MVPFAFF+ awareness and violence, the existential climate threat and Pacific (im)mobility. 

SPC is also bringing the films to venues around the region this week, ensuring that other Pacific Islanders benefit from human rights awareness.

Miles Young, Director of the Human Rights and Social Development division at SPC, noted: “This year’s Festival saw record numbers of people attending and it was also wonderful to see a greater diversity amongst the audience members, including school children. Being able to show the films in Hawaii, Kiribati, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and Samoa was also exciting. We are also bringing films to New Caledonia, Solomon Islands and Tonga this week.”

“Through the art of film, we bridge different cultures, beliefs, and value systems, offering us new ways to engage with the world and the complex challenges we face in promoting and protecting human rights,” said Heike Alefsen, Regional Representative of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) for the Pacific. 

Charlotte Darlow, New Zealand High Commissioner to Fiji, believes the festival “keeps on going from strength to strength, and is now a real highlight in calendars in Suva and far across the Pacific region.” 

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