FILM Fiji plans to have more local productions and use secondary school students from around Fiji as directors, producers and actors.
Film Fiji CEO Dallas Foon said they would do this by selecting students during the Kula Film Awards to be trained through workshops and eventually do their own productions.
“We have had great response from schools so far and we have 24 schools that have registered for the competition,” he said. Mr Foon said they were expecting more schools to join.
“We are still waiting for other schools to come in and register, they have shown interest to register which is great,” he said.
“The competition has three streams where we have the film competition, the dance competition, and the art competition and they all culminate on an awards night at the end of July.”
Mr Foon said the program had a great impact on the development of kids.
“Film Fiji is all about developing the kids and the best place to start is at the high school level,” he said.
“To get prepared for the competition Film Fiji has brought in expert trainers from offshore to train the children and we have just finished with the script writing workshop with the kids and cinematography, acting and dance would be held through the week.”
Mr Foon said about $40 million was contributed directly to Fiji’s economy last year through films and television series shot in the country. A further $120million of economic activity, he said was generated by these films. He said movie productions were great as they spent a lot of money in a short span of time.
“They are not here for a long term, they are only here for a short term but they are very big spenders and it’s really great.
“We look forward to shooting more local movies in the country and get students from high school to get in their best act, dance and scripts as this would be another way to develop their skills.
“We have more local movies in place to be screened and shot in the country and this would be a best way to promote and market our country to other parts of the world and i would say that Fiji is one of the world’s most attractive filmmaking destinations.”
Mr Foon said Fiji’s diveristy of people, geography,urban and rural landscapes andhistorical settings provide an abundance of locations and assets for Indian film makers.
