High demand for Pacific films says festival director

A film festival director says Pacific film-makers are gaining a strong foothold on the international film festival circuit.

The Wairoa Māori Film Festival kicked off in Hawkes Bay and will feature a cohort of emerging Pacific film-makers. 

Director Leo Kolziol says Pacific film-makers are forging their own pathways and creating a big demand on the international film festival circuit.

"There's the Hawai'i International Film Festival and they are hungry for films made by Pasifika film-makers," he says.

Kolziol says the industry is getting good traction in the Pacific with the Nuku'alofa Film Festival in Tonga, the Cook Islands Film Festival in Rarotonga and possibly a Samoan film festival.

"It's just so awesome to see that happening," he says

The weekend long festival will screen 50 short films and five feature movies at the Kahungunu Marae.