Twenty two schools from around the country have confirmed their participation in the 2010 FAVC Kula Film Awards, an initiative of the Fiji Audio Visual Commission (FAVC). Of these, ten are from the Suva, Nasinu, Nausori, Tailevu and Navua areas, two from the North and ten from the West.

Commenting on the Film Competition today, FAVC Chairperson Sharon Smith-Johns said, "This is the fifth year of the Kula Film Awards and the great momentum that it has gathered as well as the enthusiasm shown by all the participants is very encouraging - it augurs well for the future development of the local film industry in Fiji." She said that to provide guidance and assistance to the participating students, the FAVC has invited all participants to take part in a free filmmaking workshop which will be run by professional filmmakers and technicians from the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC). Ms. Smith-Johns said that at the workshop, participants will learn to distinguish the different formats/genres of film from doumentary to music video, quality and resolution, roles of the various participants - from acting and directing to make-up artist, the phases of production, the shoot, script or no script, basic camera functions, basic camera work-shots and their names and functions, basic editing, production team meeting, and the criteria that judges will use to select winners of the different categories.

The first of the workshops, for both the dance and film competitions, was held in Suva on April 10th and May 8th respectively- workshops for the North and the West will be held later this month.

The categories in which all films will be judged are for the 2010 FAVC Kula Best Film, BSP Best Actor, BSP Best Actress, TFL Best Director, Vodafone Best Script, CFL/FM96 Best Original Music and the FAVC Most Popular Film. All entries will be shown on FijiTV and the public will have the opportunity to vote for the Most Popular Film Award by texting and online at www.kulafilmawards.com.fj

Commenting on the competition, FAVC's Acting CEO Florence Swamy said that through this competition, the FAVC hoped to provide students with an avenue through which their untapped filmmaking talents would be unleashed. Ms. Swamy added that the whole objective of this was for our young people to start thinking about careers in the film industry and to develop their creative talents. This, she added, would eventually lead to the availability of a large pool of appropriately trained local cast and crew that could support productions from overseas coming to shoot in Fiji. The development of local infrastructure for the film industry is one of FAVC's mandates, Ms. Swamy said.

The Kula Film Awards will be held on July 10th, 2010. This will be preceded by the first round of the Tuckers Ice Cream Dance Competition on July 9th, also organized by the FAVC. Both events will be held at the Tattersals Leisure Center. Awards for both competitions will be presented on July 10th, 2010.

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