British Council Back UK Team To Film Raro Paradise Challenge

Press Release January 2013

British Council Back UK Team To Film Raro Paradise Challenge

There was a time when the British coming to the pacific conjured images of tall ships, seafarers, missionaries and colonialism.

Well the times have changed but the adventurous spirit of British pioneers taking up a new world challenge lives on as today Film Raro announces a crew of likely British lads from the industrial city of Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England have won a place in the inaugural Film Raro pacific paradise film challenge.

The challenge brings teams of filmmakers from all over the globe to take part in a social and economic development project set in the tropical south pacific destination of Rarotonga in the Cook Islands. Its aims are to build the capacity of local filmmakers by proving an opportunity to work along side professional filmmakers such as Tajinder Hayer and his colleagues.

Benefits include global tourism exposure, the creation of new industry, the preservation of language and culture and the branding of the Cook Islands as the film friendliest tropical paradise in the world – Cookiwood.

Team leader Tajinder Hayer says ‘We’re all very excited. My mind is a pleasant tumble of ideas at the moment. Film Raro was pretty unique amongst all the worlds filmmaking competitions – a real adventure.’

Film Raro are also happy to announce the backing of its project and Tajinder’s team by the British Council who support international opportunities for people of the UK with other countries. British Council NZ director Ingrid Leary says, “Tajinder is an exciting British filmmaker that will bring a unique perspective to the Film Raro challenge. The opportunity for he and his colleagues Mark Bull, Scott Dulson and Darryl Peat to work in a place like the Cook Islands, with its rich heritage and stunning vistas, is sure to add to their depth as filmmakers. It will be equally exciting for other local and global filmmakers to interact with the UK team. Everyone involved with Film Raro is bound to emerge enriched and inspired.”

Tajinder sees Film Raro as a unique and unorthodox opportunity to share and sees his film ISLANDS as the crux to that, “ISLANDS is a story for all, it’s about self assertion. That might sound a bit wishy-washy, but, as I've gone for a fairytale esque approach the audience is free to bring their own interpretations to it; it could be about escaping an abusive relationship, a child's need to outgrow parents, the liberating power of love and creativity etc. However, I believe all these interpretations are linked by a need for self-determination.”

All Film Raro short films begin shooting from May 13th, to be finished 12 days later for a public screening, under tropical stars, with the entire island invited, at the Film Raro International Film

Festival Saturday 25th May. Organisers invite you to join them in the Cook Islands for an experience of a lifetime. Travel enquires through - www.filmraro.com

All members of the Film Raro paradise film challenge stay at the Edgewater Resort Rarotonga

Notes:

Film Raro website www.filmraro.com

Drum Productions www.drumproductions.co.nz

Inaugural Film Raro event scheduled for May 2013

Film Raro UK team; Mark Bull, Tajinder Hayer, Scott Dulson

FILM RARO International Film Festival concept plan for public screening in the South Pacific’s Rarotonga the Cook Islands.

ENDS

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