Producer wants his film to promote Morobe tourism

By EREBIRI ZURENUOC
AN international film producer is in Lae to develop relationships with community groups, Government departments and the private sector in a film project.
The feature film, Jungle of Ghosts, is planned to be shot in Morobe in June next year, with expected international release in 2021.
Writer, director and producer Charlie Hill-Smith, from The House of Red Monkey Production Company, met with Lae City Tourism Bureau and Morobe Arts Association on Friday.
Hill-Smith, who has a 20-year career in cross-cultural film-making, creating prize-winning films in remote and difficult locations in Australia, Papua New Guinea and Indonesia, said the film had the potential to become a flagship media-marketing tool.
He has been in PNG many times, visiting Lae last year when the Wairon canoe visited from Sorong in West Papua came.
“There are a lot of statistics that point to a very strong link between tourism, and media, especially the film industry and television,” Hill-Smith told members of the Lae City Tourism Bureau.
“Many international tourists chose their country of destination after seeing the location in a film, and filming in countries like PNG would bring in a lot of tourists.
“We want to talk about tourism in Morobe, and how this film can support that.
“We need to start talking now about that critical media strategy: what are the stories you want to tell? What are the images you want to give to the world? What is the type of tourism you want to develop here? How do you project that to the world?”