AUCKLAND: Banabans of Rabi – A Story of Survival, a short documentary by postgraduate student journalist Hele Ikimotu and screenwriting and production student Blessen Tom while on assignment in their 2018 Bearing Witness climate change project in Fiji.
“During the Second World War, the inhabitants of the island of Banaba were forcibly displaced to Rabi Island in Fiji due to phosphate mining by the British Phosphate Commission. The Island of Banaba was decimated and the Banabans had to start afresh in Rabi. The documentary follows the people in Rabi and sheds light into the problems that they face now, especially with climate change.”
The documentary was selected for the 2018 Nuku’alofa Film Festival in Tonga and the 2019 Māorilands and Pasifika film festivals. It was publicly screened for the first time as part of Auckland University of Technology’s Pacific Media Centre “Midwinter Showcase” on 27 July 2019.
