FIFO 2025. The 22nd edition of the FIFO has just concluded at the Maison de la Culture. In addition to film screenings, the festival offered a wide range of workshops gathered within the Oceania Lab. This provided an opportunity for both the general public and professionals to access free training focused on audiovisual production. The organization has given a very positive assessment of the Oceania Lab, which has become a true talent incubator.
The Oceania Lab at FIFO is a large audiovisual laboratory that brings together introductory workshops, masterclasses, workshops, the Mini Film Festival, and a Bootcamp. The 22nd edition lived up to its promises.
In terms of attendance, nearly 400 people participated in the Oceania Lab during the festival, including 309 students. “That’s huge,” says Laura Théron, General Delegate of AFIFO.
A total of 60 people participated in various introductory workshops, including TV reporting and stop-motion video. “We received extremely positive feedback from the participants. These types of workshops are important because they are part of FIFO’s mission to share culture through audiovisual means. Here, we teach people to create their own videos. TV reporting is somewhat of an introduction to documentary-making. It’s the only free workshop for the general public that provides the basics of making a video, such as how to write questions, how to frame shots, how to use lighting, and how to manage sound,” says Are Raimbault, workshop facilitator. The feedback has been gratifying, as over the years, some participants who attended his workshop are now audiovisual technicians.
Committed participants
Although there is no clear, distinct profile emerging among the participants in the workshops, Laura Théron notes that “this year, in particular, we had both young and older people who already had a project in mind. Before, they were just curious or had a strong interest in audiovisuals. Now, we see people who are already committed to a project, and that is even noticeable among the younger participants.”
The workshops and masterclasses, for which the public had to apply to participate, were very successful and filled up quickly, despite limited spots. “Out of the three masterclasses we offered, there were 39 participants. For the two professional workshops we offered, the first one focused on writing had 13 participants, and the other, focused on production, had 8 participants. We are very pleased with the turnout at these workshops because participants had to apply to be selected, unlike the introductory workshops,” she notes.
The professionals were not left out. Regarding professional meetings, 133 participants registered online, and 66 international professionals attended the festival in person.
The FIFO has had a very positive outcome. The Oceania Lab was a huge success.
Laura Théron, General Delegate of AFIFO: “Discovering a medium of communication”
Does the Oceania Lab help inspire vocations?
Obviously, the Oceania Lab is set up to inspire vocations, but it’s primarily about discovering a medium of communication. This is much less the case today, but for a long time, the French education system was quite iconophobic, meaning it was more focused on texts than images. Today, I believe we’re realizing the importance of our tools and their appeal to young audiences. Of course, we can inspire vocations, but the Oceania Lab mainly helps improve participants’ understanding of our tools and media.
All the workshops were a great success, but the new addition this year is the Mini Film Festival aimed at amateurs…
As we can see, every year there are more and more audiovisual projects produced in a completely amateur and informal manner. This is one of the reasons why we launched the Mini Film Festival. It serves as a kind of support, and it also allows us to have informal oversight of what is happening. For example, among the members of the jury, four of them participated in the Vini Film Festival and are now recognized as audiovisual professionals.
So, it is important to set up this type of festival. It’s a niche. There is no higher education dedicated to audiovisual in Polynesia. There is a BTS (French technical degree) and a bachelor’s degree in information and communication, but nothing related to cinema. I think that audiovisual is a bridge between very technical professions and artistic ones. Often, artists do not necessarily find their place in an academic format. This is why, in Polynesia, there are a lot of self-taught individuals. Of course, one can go abroad for studies, but it’s long and costly, whereas FIFO can offer an alternative to this, and a free one. The mini film also gave these people a chance. Out of the 15 films selected this year, nearly half were made by students or university students, and two directly resulted from the FIFO’s “Hors les murs” program. So there is a clear, noticeable impact. The mini film should be included in the calendars, especially for the school public.
The Bootcamp Challenge: Create a Documentary in Ten Days
In partnership with the Griffith Film School in Brisbane, Australia, the FIFO has been offering an intensive audiovisual workshop for the past three years. The goal: to explore the key stages of audiovisual creation (storytelling, production, editing, and digital tools).
Over ten days, nine Polynesian students in a bachelor’s program in information and communication, along with two Australian students, took on the challenge of delivering a five-minute film prepared in just ten days.
“The Bootcamp is an intensive and creative week focused on audiovisual production. They have to form their team, build a story, film, and edit short films—all within one week. This year, we focused on the documentary format. The Bootcamp is a real challenge. For example, on Sunday morning, they were still there at 3 AM finalizing their project,” says Laura Théron.Faramarz Keshawarz-Rahber, a professor at the Griffith Film School in Brisbane and a producer, led the Bootcamp. The Iranian-Australian filmmaker, who participates in FIFO on his own time and personal funds, was thrilled to be in Polynesia:
“We worked very hard to get here. I’m happy to be here and dream of coming back for the culture and the people. The students worked tirelessly to present their documentary to you today. I’m very proud of them, and I hope that future Bootcamps will last not just one to two weeks but three to four weeks.”
While awaiting the next edition of the Bootcamp, the students presented three high-quality documentaries.
“Let’s be honest, it was extremely intense because we only had two days of filming. For our documentary No Collar about stray dogs, we finished the editing just 20 minutes before the screening at FIFO,” says Manutea. He continues:
“It wasn’t easy at all. At first, it was even discouraging. It was ten days of relentless work—editing, writing, structuring our documentary, adding music… We also had to be careful with the equipment because we worked only with phones, which made sound recording tricky. And sound is the most important thing in a documentary. Without quality sound, the story won’t have the same impact on the audience.
The real challenge was the sound, especially since we had to work only with a smartphone. The Bootcamp involved a lot of technical constraints. In the end, it was an incredible experience and definitely something to do again.”
His classmates from ISEPP share the same sentiment. “Even though it was very tough, Fara is a true professional. That’s one of the reasons I signed up. We thought we wouldn’t make it, but Fara was always there, pushing us to bring out our best. In the end.
The Pumpkin, First Prize at the Mini Film Festival
This year, 15 out of 30 films were selected for the first edition of the FIFO Mini Film Festival. In 2024, the organization launched a film call specifically for Polynesian youth. To participate, filmmakers had to be under 26 years old, create a film of less than three minutes, and shoot in landscape format.
The jury’s assessment this year was striking. Toarii Pouira noted: “What we take away from this first edition is that young people want to express themselves, and that’s great. Just for that, we’d love to reward them all, but it’s not possible. Choices have to be made, and unfortunately, choosing means letting go.”
To differentiate between the films, the jury—composed of Pierre Ollivier, Toarii Pouira, Nyko PK16, and Tevai Maiau—evaluated them based on several criteria. The most important was the construction of the script and how well it was optimized within just three minutes. “Of course, we also looked at technical mastery because we wanted to ensure that the choice of shot values was well thought out. We tried to see if the message and emotions came through effectively. In short, the main criteria were the script and the direction. The film The Pumpkin, which won first prize, met all the criteria and was unanimously chosen,” the jury noted.
A pleasant surprise of the Mini Film Festival was the second-place winner, Fa’aheimoe. “We didn’t expect to see an animated film at all. We were all blown away. It was very well done, though slightly lacking in script development, but it was poetic and lyrical, fitting beautifully with the music.” The third prize was awarded to TRANSparence.
While this first edition aimed to give visibility to amateur filmmakers, it also sought to inspire new vocations and confirm career paths for some, such as Matteo Damesin, the director of The Pumpkin, who is now pursuing a university degree in audiovisual studies.
Industry professionals encourage the new generation to enter the field. Toarii Pouira offers advice to those who wish to persevere:
“Stop spending too much time on social media. Young people have a lot to say, but there’s often no clear thread. That’s the effect of social media—when people don’t find what they’re looking for, they just scroll past. Making films for social media is not the same as making a film meant for projection. I think the world today is oversaturated with content. But I also believe that social media should be used to tell real stories. So, I’d like to tell the new generation: stop lazy-scrolling through social media and instead, use these platforms to share authentic stories with the world.”
Jenny Hunter & Vaikehu Shan
French