For the last six weeks, two Pawa Meri directors Klinit Barry and Janet Munaup had the opportunity to work with Australian Editor Dana Hughes to edit their films. On Friday last week, the team said goodbye to Dana who had successfully completed editing the Markham and the Goroka films.
Dana was very happy to be a part of the Pawa Meri Project; she said “this project is a great initiative and very worthwhile. All the issues covered in the series exist in various levels everywhere in the world and people will definitely be able to relate to the films”. For Dana, “It’s about telling a good story, in editing, there needs to be two important things, clarity and emotion… what I needed to tell the story was already there, the directors had it covered”.
Prior to coming to PNG for the first time, Dana knew there were huge inequalities in terms of gender relations, however she wasn’t well abreast with the details. Her brief stay in Goroka while working on these two films allowed her to get a glimpse of the real PNG. Beyond the Kokoda trek, the fuzzy wuzzy angles and the high crime rate as usually depicted by the Australian Media, PNG has a lot more to offer and filming interesting stories is one way to educate the world about this country.
Dana hopes to return to Goroka for the launch of the films later this year.
Klinit Barry and Dana Hughes
