Page 24 - Fiji Traveller Issue 2

FIJI ON FILM

Local filmmakers finally getting screentime

By Ben Wheeler experimentation and freedom.”
Such freedom is borne of an understanding of the
“Every culture has the right and responsibility to medium, and perhaps more importantly, a desire to
present its own culture to its own people,” writes New learn, something Dan Veitata – who recently walked
Zealand filmmaker Barry Barclay. away from the RARAMA Film Festival with the BRED
“That responsibility is so fundamental it cannot be left Bank Popular Choice Award for his film Bean Peanut –
in the hands of outsiders, nor usurped by them.” knows all about.
These words seem more relevant in Fiji than ever “I learned how to be a better video editor, videographer
after a year in which local filmmaking – Fijian faces, and photographer from watching countless hours of
voices and stories – found itself celebrated on the big YouTube tutorials,” he says of the skills that helped him
screen at a number of Suva-based film festivals. create his first movie.
In 2022 the Suva International Short Film Festival, “I realised it depends on how much a person is willing
the RARAMA Film Festival, and the Pacific Human to put in the hours of work to succeed.”
Rights Film Festival all featured content from emerging Having already put in those hours for eight years
talent like Dan Veitata, Simran Chand, Epi Vuruna, in a job in television without ever being afforded the
Abby Nasilasila, Clarence Dass, Regina Shiki, Tristan opportunity to fulfil his lifelong dream of making a
Petueli, Esekaia Qio and Tumeli Tuqota Jr. documentary, he quit and decided to make a film about
“We need more storytellers from our corner of the “one of the everyday people of Suva.”
Pacific,” says Tumeli, whose animated short Soli Bula He found his star in Mausam Ali, who for 60 years
continues to be selected and screened at indigenous has been selling snacks at Suva bus stand.
film festivals around the world since its release. The film, described by audiences as a “rollercoaster
“As technology progresses, filmmaking tools are of emotions” recalls memories of a bygone Suva from
becoming cheaper via better phones, learning is now its reconstructions of Mr Ali’s early years of work,
easier with video tutorials online, and more people and brought howls of laughter and moments of real
have access to both.” tenderness and emotion from the hundreds of people
Regina Shiki, an artist whose love for Pacific stories who came to see it.
and spirituality come together in the experimental use The creation of a cineliterate generation capable
of multiple visual media including film, agrees. of creating more films like Bean Peanut would be
Her work – bold colours with a focus on hair and expedited through access to more diverse films in Fiji,
identity, autonomy and introspection – drew an and weaving the skills required to make them through
appreciative audience as a central part of the ‘37%’ the curricula of the education system.
exhibition at the Centre for the Arts Suva, and her This is where Film Fiji is stepping up.
short, mythic animation The Mountain and the Moon Coming out of Covid lockdowns, Film Fiji has
resonated strongly with audiences at the RARAMA pioneered a government-backed, Australian Film
Film Festival. Television and Radio School-supported project that
“My hope for the Fijian film industry - and arts as a has started Audio Visual Laboratories in eleven schools
whole - is that it can open itself and artists to a wild self- across Fiji.
expression and audacity,” she said. “I hope to see more This programme – the same as that currently used

The Mountain and the Moon

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