Fiji hosts its first international film festival

The first ‘Islands in the World Oceania International Film Festival’ had its official opening in Suva yesterday. Pacific Media Centre reports that this is the first ever international film festival hosted by Fiji.

Forty six short films and documentaries will be screened during the Festival. The inaugural film festival is hosted by the University of South Pacific at the Japan ICT Centre and is expected to be an annual event.

According to the Festival Director Larry Thomas, the intention of the festival is “to bring international films to Fiji that would otherwise never hit the mainstream”.

The Festival also features non-commercial films that are not normally screened in Fiji.

“This is really a wonderful opportunity for Fiji to start to experience and enjoy films that don’t often make it to the commercial cinema and see that there is a huge variety of films that are fascinating and amazing and tell stories that we can learn from and be educated and inspired,” Thomas said.

“It is not every day that we in Fiji get the opportunity to learn from the best like Alfred Lot who has worked with great actors like Jet Li and I would like to encourage all those with an interest in film and documentary to take advantage of the opportunity”, he added.