Scene from the Manus Shoot

Pawa Meri is a documentary series of 6 x 26 min films about women leaders in PNG. Pawa Meri portrays strong female role models in PNG society. The films aim to challenge existing stereotypes about women and inspire young women to become leaders themselves.

The project is supported by the Gender Division of the Australian Aid Program and represents a collaboration between Victoria University in Melbourne, Australia and the CSCM at University of Goroka in the Eastern Highlands Province, of PNG.

The project aims to strengthen the PNG film industry by working with six Papua New Guinean women that each directed one of the Pawa Meri films. These emerging documentary directors were mentored and given support to realise their vision.

The six women selected as the subjects represent diversity in terms of their province of origin, educational background, whether they live in a town or a village and their area of contribution and expertise.

Each film tells the story of one woman. As a collection of six, the filmic biographies are an important record of women’s lives in contemporary PNG.