Thanks to support from Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Pasifika Film Fest Director's Kalolaine Fainu and Eliorah Malifa were able to travel to the Solomon Islands in October 2019 to be part of the inaugural Native Lens Film Festival - the first of it's kind in the tiny Pacific Island nation. Also a first was the 48HR Film Challenge hosted by PFF as part of our continued mission to help develop storytelling skills for emerging filmmakers from the Pacific.
The participants enjoyed two days of workshopping, learning the foundations of filmmaking, developing story ideas and discussing the challenges and potential solutions for production and distribution of Pacific films in to festivals and other markets. In the following 48HRS, the eager students went from storyboarding to shooting and screened their final pieces to large audiences on the final day of the Native Lens Film Festival.
Like many other places across the Pacific region, the Solomon Islands is filled with talent just itching for a voice and a platform to share their stories. What these guys produced in 48HRS with the bare basic resources available to them is quite impressive - and we already recognise a burgeoning film industry in the making in the dusty little Oceanside town in Honiara. This is a place to watch!
