2011 FAVC Kula Film Awards & Tuckers Ice Cream Dance Competition

April 19, 2011 - The 2011 FAVC Kula Film Awards and the Tuckers Ice Cream Dance Competition was launched today by the Fiji Audio Visual Commission and its main sponsors. Sponsors of this year's event include the Fiji National University (FNU) and Vodafone for the film competition.

This year again, the dance competition is being sponsored in its entirety by "Tuckers Ice Cream", picking up all three dance genres i.e Bulawood, Hollywood and Bollywood - the three genres making the dance competition a truly FIJIWOOD experience.

Other major sponsors and strategic partners are the Fiji Sun, Fiji TV, The Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC), the USP's Oceania Center for Arts, Culture and Pacific Studies and Frezco Beverages. Editing assistance will be provided to schools by the Ministry of Information's Film & TV Unit, the FNU, Magnum Productions, SPC and Moving Pictures.

Speaking at the launch today, FAVC Deputy Chairperson, Yaminiasi Gaunavou, said "the Awards have reached a milestone - this is the sixth year of the Awards and they have grown  bigger". Mr Gaunavou said that this is not only in terms of the numbers of films received, but also in the region it now covers; further adding that perhaps the most exciting news for all stakeholders was that the film competition has attracted 7 film entries from high schools in Tonga.

Mr. Gaunavou added that both the film and dance Awards continue to target young people in order to encourage imagination and creativity. Through this meduim, he added, the FAVC hopes to sway the interest of our young people towards the creative arts and to prod them into considering the many opportunities available in the film and entertainment industries.

"The participation of our sponsors is also evidence of the confidence that corporate Fiji as well as national and regional organizations have in the talents of our youth,"said Mr Gaunavou. He added that the support provided by the sponsors has allowed the provision of such an important platform such as this film and dance competition through which our young people can unleash their latent creative talents and duly acknowledged.

"The support of our sponsors has enabled this competition to become truly national by enabling the FAVC to provide the much needed technical assistance to schools from outside of Suva and indeed from outside Viti Levu," said Mr Gaunavou. This year, schools from Ba, Lautoka, Nadi, Sigatoka, Navua, Suva, Tailevu, Nasinu, Nausori, Savusavu and Labasa will be taking part. Record numbers of entries have been received for all the competitions - 34 for the film and the dance competition will see 46 performances in all three categories.

"The film competition will continue to have an "Open Category" aimed at attracting entries from amateur filmmakers," said Mr Gaunavou. This category is for people who have a keen interest in filmmaking but have left the school system. The provision of this category is to ensure that the interest in filmmaking nurtured in schools continues after students have left school. Recognizing amateur and professional filmmakers will also lead to the creation of an active local film industry.

For both the film and dance competitions, all the schools' participants receive free training. The training for the Film Competition was delivered by the Secretariat of the Pacific Community and was held in Lautoka, Suva and Labasa. The film training was held at FNU campuses in a deliberate move to expose future filmmakers to the professional filmmaking facilities and courses available at the FNU.

Dance training for all genres will be delivered by USP's Oceania for Arts, Culture & Pacific Studies.

The  training for the Tuckers Ice Cream Dance Competition will be held on Wednesday 4 May at the USP Oceania Centre from 8am to 4.30pm. Participating schools from the Eastern division will be taking part. For the schools participating from the western division, they will have their training on Saturday 7 May at the Natabua High School Hall.

In addition to free training in filmmaking which all participants receive, representatives of the local audiovisual industry will provide technical assistance such as film editing, sound mixing etc to enable schools to complete their films. Free editing assistance will be provided by the Ministry of Information's Film & TV Unit, FNU, SPC, Magnum Productions, Pasifika Communications and Moving Pictures. Except for the "Most Popular Film Award", all entries will be judged by a panel of professional judges and awards presented in the foloowing categories: Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Director, Best Script, Best Music, and the main award, the Kula Best Film.

All schools' entries will be shown on Fiji TV on 9 July and viewers will have the opportunity to vote for their favourite film, for the Most Popular Film Award by texting to a Vodafone number.

For the Tuckers Ice Cream Dance Competition, trophies and prizes will be awarded to the winning school as well as to the winning students. Preparations being undertaken by the schools will culminate with the Tuckers Ice Cream Dance Competition on Friday 15 July. Winners will be announced at the FAVC Kula Film Awards on July 16 together with the winners of the various film awards.

Also, for the first time this year, all films will premiere at Village 6 cinemas on July 11 at a red carpet event organized by the cinema.

Tickets for both nights will go on sale from mid May.

For additional information, contact Thomas Magnus at FAVC on 330 6662.

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