Wednesday 12 April 2017
Canning Paradise (90 mins)
by Olivier Pollet (2012)
www.canningparadise.com

Our Anthropocene film series continues with Olivier Pollet's Canning Paradise (2012). This feature-length documentary concerns the global tuna industry and the world’s biggest export markets. Set in the north-eastern part of Papua New Guinea, the film follows the struggle of local communities to protect their fishing grounds and future livelihood. 

We welcome our second guest speaker, Dr Simon Foale, JCU lecturer and researcher at the College of Arts, Society & Education, and the Centre for Tropical Biodiversity & Climate Change to introduce the film. Dr Foale will talk about ecological, economic and political aspects of the increasing importance of pelagic fisheries for food security and livelihoods in Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands. 

The director Olivier Pollet will join us for discussion on Skype after the screening.

Synposis of the film

Indigenous tribes of Papua New Guinea are fighting to protect their sacred way of life, guarded by traditions dating back thousands of years. They see their ancestral land taken away to make way for multinational corporations, in their quest to create the new tuna capital of the world.

Destruction of traditional fishing grounds, loss of bio-diversity, alienation of land, displacement of entire villages, sweatshop factories, sex-trade for fish and endemic corruption in government are the daily routine for the clans living next to the tuna project. The question remains: can they break the resource curse?

The screening is FREE and open to the public in The Cairns Institute Lecture Theatre, Room D3.054, McGregor Road, Smithfield, 4878

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