Sharon Smith-Johns
Permanent Secretary for Information, National Archives & Library Services of Fiji
___________________________________________________
SPEECH AT LAUNCH OF CHINESE FILM WEEK

Village 6 Cinemas, Suva
Wed. 6th Nov, 2013 - 18.30 Hours

Your Excellency the Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China, Mr Huang Yong 
Mr Mr LUAN Guozhi, The Deputy Director-general for the Film Bureau, State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and TV of China
Cabinet Ministers
The CEO of Damordar Brothers Mr Div Damodar
Members of the Diplomatic Corps
Permanent Secretaries
Ladies and Gentlemen,

It’s a great pleasure to be here this evening and on behalf of the Prime Minister, who is the Minister for Information, to thank you for the invitation to share a few words with you.

I was delighted when I met with senior officials from the Chinese Embassy a few months ago to learn of the scope and purpose of this event.

Every Fijian knows about Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee and – like movie-goers the world over – every Fijian thrills to their exploits. But beyond that, few people in this country know very much at all about the rich history of Chinese cinema or about the increasingly important place of the Chinese film industry in global cinema.

This is a wonderful opportunity for us to be exposed to a range of films that we would otherwise not have the opportunity to see. And of course, it is also a window on China itself – a country with a great history and an even greater future as it assumes a leadership role in the world and plays a more important part in our own region.

Fiji’s own ties with China are long and valued ones. We led the way in the region in establishing diplomatic ties nearly forty years ago, in 1975. And in recent years that relationship has become much closer, especially as we have found, as a nation, that we can rely on China.

Where others turned their backs on us, China has remained a steadfast friend. And I can assure you that is deeply appreciated.

Quite apart from Fijians of Chinese descent and the increasing numbers of Chinese people living in Fiji, the exchange of visitors between the two countries has never been greater. So it’s only natural that we want to learn more about each other and our respective cultures. And cinema provides us with a wonderful opportunity to do that.

As we learn more tonight about Chinese cinema, can I also briefly explain our own vision for a thriving film industry in Fiji. Like all countries, we want to be able to tell our own stories on film, to see ourselves and our own culture depicted and promoted.


The Fijian Government has launched a range of initiatives to try to encourage a local industry in which our people are trained in all aspects of movie making.

Our tax incentives mean that more international films than ever are being shot in Fiji. And while this obviously brings us economic benefits through spending in the wider economy, our own people are also gaining valuable technical skills that we hope will eventually translate into a more vibrant local industry.

We have also embarked on a major project to preserve and protect our existing film heritage – the hundreds of hours of film in our National Archives that record Fiji’s history.

Some of these precious archive were deteriorating to the point where a large portion of it was threatened. Indeed some of it has already been lost. But I’m happy to say that we have now made the investment necessary to ensure that this material is protected for all time.

With the personal support of the Prime Minister we were to secure a substantial budget allocation to enable this vital collection to be painstakingly restored by experts in Australia.

That work is underway and two weeks ago, I had the opportunity of visiting Canberra – where the restoration is being undertaken – and to see some of the initial results.

They are breathtaking. Film of events in Fiji long ago that we feared would be lost to history forever are now coming to life. Digitally restored and enhanced. And in the coming months, my Ministry will be showing those films publicly, many of them for the first time.

With those words Ladies and Gentlemen, I would like to extend - on behalf of the Fijian Government - our warm congratulations to the organizers, the Chinese Embassy and the Chinese community at large for bringing us this Festival.

Happy viewing.

Thank you .