41 schools to be part of Kula Awards this year

A record number of 41 schools will this year be part of the Kula Film, Art and Dance competition.

While speaking at the launch of the 2018 Kula Awards, Film Fiji CEO Dallas Foon highlighted that for the first time this year, there will be an Open Film Category for amateur filmmakers from the age of 18-30.

He adds that of the 41 schools, 34 schools have registered for the Film competition, 20 in the dance competition and 34 schools in the art competition.

Meanwhile, Minister for Tourism and Trade Faiyaz Koya says that the Kula Awards is a major development programme for Film Fiji, now in its 13th year and it provides a great avenue for students to develop and express their creativity.

He also highlighted numbers produced from the industry where in 2015, there were 42 productions with a budgetary value of $9.9 million.

This value increased to $308 million, in terms of total budgetary value of all the production in Fiji, in 2017.

Koya adds that last year over 1,300 Fijians were employed by the productions.

[Video: Fijian Government]

He says that government will continue to provide the relevant resources for the marketing and development of the audio‑visual sector and provide an enabling environment to encourage investment into related infrastructure.

The Kula Awards will be held on the 28th and 29th of July this year.