Returns from footage to support village

By ADRIAN MATHIAS
LIDO village in Vanimo, West Sepik province, will have a clinic and a family support centre in return for the footage shot there for an award-winning surfing documentary, Splinters.
Splinters, premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival, in New York, United States of America, in August last year.
From the 3,000 movie premiere entries at Tribeca, Splinters secured 50th spot and won an award, Surfing association of Papua New Guinea president Andrew Abel said in a press conference at the Tourism Promotion Authority board room, in Port Moresby yesterday.
Abel said the unique part of the documentary was that it depicted issues affecting women in the country.
He said the documentary not only promoted surfing and the tourism industry but showed women issues.
“It’s only a 30-second portion of the documentary,” Abel said.
Abel issued a challenge to political leaders and every citizen to support women issues, saying women were equal partners and players in development in any industry or sector.
Abel said the footage of the documentary was shot in 2003 at Lido village, west coast of Vanimo.
He said the documentary had made an impact in countries where it had been shown, especially in the US, Netherlands and Hawaii.
Abel said Splinters would premier in Australia next month and it would have wide coverage all around Australia.
He said the memorandum of agreement (MoA) between the association, the Quicksilver Foundation USA and Australian premiere of Splinters was to establish an online fundraising website, StayClassy, so that people who had been moved by the documentary could make financial donations directly to the website.
“The financial assistance will go towards helping women and to provide support for the Vanimo Family Support Centre and communities in other surfing sites in PNG,” Abel said.
The premiere of the documentary will be in Vanimo.