Festival of Pacific Arts, day 4
Today (Thursday) was a bit of a change in the schedule--and only partly because it was the first rainy day in Honiara this week. I'd already planned on standing by at the SIL exhibit in the morning, and attending some of the film festival. When it started raining heavily by mid-day, I was glad my plans were mostly indoors anyway. Because most of the day I was either indoors watching films and forums, or outdoors in the pouring rain, I didn't take the camera out very much, so no pictures for today. (I was glad for the waterproof camera backpack a very good friend in Ohio gave me.)
I really enjoyed the hours I spent today at the Languages of the Pacific exhibit. Again a wide variety of people came through, many eager to talk about their own languages, cultural traditions, and experiences. What I like about our booth is that it fills a niche that no other exhibit at the Festival matches. The Festival is all about cultural traditions and variety, but this is the only place that focuses on linguistic diversity--and that's a key part of all of the cultural traditions celebrated here. I also like that our display opens many doors for us to talk to visitors about themselves. Most of the Festival exhibits show visitors Pacific traditions, and the visitors are the ones showing the interest and asking questions. In the Languages of the Pacific booth, it's switched around a bit, and the conversation goes two ways equally.
Of course this booth also presents a positive image of Christianity, and of Christian fieldworkers as being sensitive to language choice and cultural traditions. In other places during the Festival, comments have been made about the culturally harmful effects of Christian missionization in the Pacific. It's true that missionization has in many cases been needlessly, sadly, harmful to indigenous artistic traditions, but I appreciate the opportunity to balance the negative perspective with the good that Christians have done (and are doing) in the Pacific.
People are obviously enjoying the exhibit, as I even saw people I met there yesterday returning today to talk more or take pictures of the displays. A man from Tokyo who I met yesterday walked into the booth this morning and greeted me by name! He'd come back because yesterday he didn't have his business cards with him, and he wanted to make sure I had one so we can keep in touch. One Australian scholar spent hours with us today. After hearing about various facets of our work in the Pacific, he said "This is astounding! I'm just amazed by the work you people are doing!"
One part of the Festival of Pacific Arts is a film festival--an international showcase of recent films about (and, in many cases, by) Pacific Islanders. The screening room for the film festival is on the grounds of the National Museum, just around the corner from the Languages of the Pacific exhibit. This morning I was excited to go and see the only two films on the schedule about Papua New Guinea. The first was a short film about a sign painter and shield maker from the Western Highlands Province of PNG. The film was made by a friend of mine, Mark, an American filmmaker who has been teaching at the University of Goroka for the last couple of years. I was glad to catch up with Mark after the films, since I hadn't seen him since last year (before our year-long home assignment in the US). The second film was a rather harrowing documentation of men's initiation rites in a group in the Eastern Highlands Province of PNG.
In the early afternoon, the film festival presented a forum on filmmaking in the Pacific. A panel of filmmakers discussed ways to get more films coming from Pacific nations. There are many potential filmmakers in the region--how can they get the training and equipment, and then develop networks to secure the necessary funding and distribution for their films? There are unique challenges for new filmmakers here, especially when most do not enjoy easy or cheap Internet access.
After the panel, we viewed the documentary Pacific Stories, a set of 8 short films about the lives of Pacific Islanders living in Australia. It was a fascinating, and often very moving, glimpse of the challenges of finding one's cultural identity when living in different places. Right after that, we were treated to the world premiere of Wea Nao Mi? ("Where Am I?"), a film project created by a small team of first-time filmmakers from the Solomon Islands. The were part of the Wantok Stori project, in which experienced filmmakers gave them a very short, intensive training in film and then guided them through the construction of the first film these people had ever made. The film is the story of a Solomon Islands villager who yearns for the "modern," Western life. In a dream sequence that becomes a nightmare, he sees the negative side of exchanging the traditional life of the village for the life of town.
After the films the rain had died down enough that I was able to go back to the Pasifika stage for the evening's performances. They included songs and dances from New Zealand, Tokelau, and Papua New Guinea (East Sepik Province and New Ireland Province). It was another satisfying, inspiring, challenging, beautiful day at the Festival.
I really enjoyed the hours I spent today at the Languages of the Pacific exhibit. Again a wide variety of people came through, many eager to talk about their own languages, cultural traditions, and experiences. What I like about our booth is that it fills a niche that no other exhibit at the Festival matches. The Festival is all about cultural traditions and variety, but this is the only place that focuses on linguistic diversity--and that's a key part of all of the cultural traditions celebrated here. I also like that our display opens many doors for us to talk to visitors about themselves. Most of the Festival exhibits show visitors Pacific traditions, and the visitors are the ones showing the interest and asking questions. In the Languages of the Pacific booth, it's switched around a bit, and the conversation goes two ways equally.
Of course this booth also presents a positive image of Christianity, and of Christian fieldworkers as being sensitive to language choice and cultural traditions. In other places during the Festival, comments have been made about the culturally harmful effects of Christian missionization in the Pacific. It's true that missionization has in many cases been needlessly, sadly, harmful to indigenous artistic traditions, but I appreciate the opportunity to balance the negative perspective with the good that Christians have done (and are doing) in the Pacific.
People are obviously enjoying the exhibit, as I even saw people I met there yesterday returning today to talk more or take pictures of the displays. A man from Tokyo who I met yesterday walked into the booth this morning and greeted me by name! He'd come back because yesterday he didn't have his business cards with him, and he wanted to make sure I had one so we can keep in touch. One Australian scholar spent hours with us today. After hearing about various facets of our work in the Pacific, he said "This is astounding! I'm just amazed by the work you people are doing!"
One part of the Festival of Pacific Arts is a film festival--an international showcase of recent films about (and, in many cases, by) Pacific Islanders. The screening room for the film festival is on the grounds of the National Museum, just around the corner from the Languages of the Pacific exhibit. This morning I was excited to go and see the only two films on the schedule about Papua New Guinea. The first was a short film about a sign painter and shield maker from the Western Highlands Province of PNG. The film was made by a friend of mine, Mark, an American filmmaker who has been teaching at the University of Goroka for the last couple of years. I was glad to catch up with Mark after the films, since I hadn't seen him since last year (before our year-long home assignment in the US). The second film was a rather harrowing documentation of men's initiation rites in a group in the Eastern Highlands Province of PNG.
In the early afternoon, the film festival presented a forum on filmmaking in the Pacific. A panel of filmmakers discussed ways to get more films coming from Pacific nations. There are many potential filmmakers in the region--how can they get the training and equipment, and then develop networks to secure the necessary funding and distribution for their films? There are unique challenges for new filmmakers here, especially when most do not enjoy easy or cheap Internet access.
After the panel, we viewed the documentary Pacific Stories, a set of 8 short films about the lives of Pacific Islanders living in Australia. It was a fascinating, and often very moving, glimpse of the challenges of finding one's cultural identity when living in different places. Right after that, we were treated to the world premiere of Wea Nao Mi? ("Where Am I?"), a film project created by a small team of first-time filmmakers from the Solomon Islands. The were part of the Wantok Stori project, in which experienced filmmakers gave them a very short, intensive training in film and then guided them through the construction of the first film these people had ever made. The film is the story of a Solomon Islands villager who yearns for the "modern," Western life. In a dream sequence that becomes a nightmare, he sees the negative side of exchanging the traditional life of the village for the life of town.
After the films the rain had died down enough that I was able to go back to the Pasifika stage for the evening's performances. They included songs and dances from New Zealand, Tokelau, and Papua New Guinea (East Sepik Province and New Ireland Province). It was another satisfying, inspiring, challenging, beautiful day at the Festival.
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