Hunters

HALO! WELKAM LO BOOSTED PAGE BILONG HUNTERS!

HELLO! WELCOME TO THE HUNTERS BOOSTED PAGE!

Hunters is a live-action short film set in pre-colonial times, written by Papua New Guinean filmmaker Helmut Marko, made with and inspired by Papua New Guinean myth, culture and art.

WHAT IT’S ABOUT

The short film tells the story of a timid young teenage boy with a phobia of the deep jungle, Peaku, who sets out to rescue his father Kabue, after he is captured by fearsome enemy hunters.

On the surface Hunters is an action suspense drama, but the heart of the story is the changing relationship between a son and his father as they navigate through new stages in their lives. For the weary Kabue, it’s from being a protector to being a guide for his son. For young Peaku, it’s from being safe under the guardianship of Kabue to being pushed into the predator filled jungle to fend for himself.

WHY ARE WE MAKING HUNTERS

With over 1000 cultural groups and 800 languages spoken within its borders; Papua New Guinea is one of the most culturally diverse countries in the world. Around 1200 Papua New Guineans currently call New Zealand home.

We have multiple goals with this project.

We would like to grow filmmaking as an artform for Papua New Guineans to express themselves, as well as raising awareness and opportunities for Papua New Guinean artists in other disciplines including music, design and performance.

Connecting communities is another key aim for us doing this project. Through the making of this short film, which will be filmed and completed in New Zealand, we want to create a space for Papua New Guineans to celebrate their culture with their fellow New Zealanders, and global audiences. We also want to see connections being made between Papua New Guinean artists and New Zealand based artists, and our team will be a blend of both. Sharing each other’s work, supporting each other (a lot of our team are emerging in their fields and will be working alongside more experienced practitioners) and learning new skills to takeaway for their next works would be a wonderful outcome for the Hunters team.

HUNTERS JOURNEY SO FAR

Hunters has been backed by the New Zealand Film Commission’s Fresh Shorts programme, which has assisted in the development of the project from the story and script stage to the initial funding of the budget and providing general all round project support. We are now seeking funding to complete the budget to make the film. Filming is expected to be completed by early 2024 followed soon after by a worldwide release.

HOW YOU CAN HELP

We are running a 27-day donation-based crowd-funding campaign to raise a minimum of $5000 which will be generously matched dollar for dollar by Boosted Moana to fund the making of the film. This is so that we can visually capture and present our story and our artists work to the highest quality possible. Your donation will go towards:

- Fees for our crew, performers and artists work on the project

- Catering for our filming days

- Transport costs for crew and equipment

- Equipment hire

- Materials for traditional Papua New Guinean costume, props and setting designs

Boosted is an all or nothing platform, meaning if the campaign doesn’t reach the minimum $5000 target in 27 days, the project doesn’t receive a single dollar and donations will be returned to donors. Donors have the option to make multiple donations before the deadline and are encouraged to view the target progress on the website. Big or small, any amount helps!

NZ income earners qualify for a 33% tax credit on donations with a receipt automatically provided by The Arts Foundation. Donations can be made by Visa, Mastercard or American Express, and are stored with The Arts Foundation until the minimum target is reached.

If you are unable to donate but would still like to support the funding of the project, sharing this page with family, friends, networks or anyone who might be interested would be extremely helpful in raising awareness and getting the target over the line.

We are grateful for your support and taking the time to visit our campaign! Hunters is an exciting short film project that we are equally excited to complete and share with you.

Tenk yu tru – Thank you very much,

Helmut Marko and Joshua Rollo

Image credit: Sidney Bharat, Science photo library