Wallès Kotra, regional director of Nouvelle-Calédonie La 1ère, and co-founder of the FIFO, looks back on this 19th edition of the festival: one of the most important for him. He explains that the future of the festival lies in the combination of face-to-face events, digital technology and the resonance of powerful Oceanic words.
As co-founder of the FIFO, how do you look back on the last 19 years?
It’s been a long road, but I would like to stop for a moment to talk about the 19th edition because, along with the 18th edition, these are special years. In all our history, we have never experienced dramas like our countries have with Covid. People passing away, but in extremely difficult conditions, a disease that breaks up families, villages and countries. Moreover, some Pacific islands are still not accessible! This is completely contrary to the vision we have of our regions. What is important about this 19th FIFO is to learn from all this. Finally, we must not underestimate this FIFO, it is perhaps one of the most important.
What impact can this have on the situation?
We have tried to react and keep things going. We must keep up our presence here. It’s very important that Oceanians meet and share with people from all over the world. Even if we have fewer people, we must try to make this meeting more robust. We also need to develop digital technology. Suddenly, our festival can be visible from all over the world. We must make it happen, there are strategies to be had, but I think that we need to increase them several times over.
Today, it is not yet visible to the whole world, only to metropolitan France, the overseas territories, the Pacific…
It’s not bad, but we must continue. It’s a line of development. We must also speak out strongly about our region. Documentary images are not enough to describe Oceania. This strong message must be shared, both in person and throughout the region. In difficult situations like this, we need to find a sense of direction. We need to keep the fire alive in person, so that the embers do not die out, develop digital technology and think about communication that makes sense. It is not just an audiovisual festival.
What about maintaining the face-to-face event despite the lack of audience at the Maison de la Culture this year?
It was to be expected! You must take the context into account. There will never be any question of stopping face-to-face events. We must not see it only in terms of the number of entries. Speeches in Brest by Minister Heremoana Maamaatuaiahutapu, President Edouard Fritch and the President of the Pacific Islands Forum (at the One Ocean Summit, editor’s note): that’s part of the FIFO too! It is the word of Oceania that is being shared.
Covid fractured our society, but it also triggered this digital FIFO.
From the moment we were shaken, we started thinking about how we could do it. In the end, we created the digital FIFO and we realised that we were achieving our initial objectives: to reach the whole world and that has an economic value.
Why didn’t you launch it before?
The FIFO was doing well, we were carrying on as usual… There was no such reflection before; then we had no choice. This 19th edition is one of the most important FIFOs. We can resist, to reflect and to redefine strategies. It also challenges us about our way of working. Covid has transformed us. In our islands, we are stronger after a cyclone. This crisis is hard for all Oceanians, but it has enabled us to reform ourselves and finally, we have returned to the fundamentals of the event: we must speak out for Oceania and reach out to others.
The FIFO had this objective of sharing the word and showing the real life of Oceania, has this goal been achieved?
There are several themes that have emerged. I remember the documentary Mahu, l’efféminé at the first FIFO, encompassing the whole current of thought on gender that is much talked about today in Europe. The environment of course, nuclear power, a subject where there was a lot left unsaid, it opened up the floor and helped things to evolve. I believe that there is a real impact on society.
What is being prepared for the 20th edition?
A seminar is being planned to prepare the 20th anniversary of the FIFO, during which we will determine the main lines of the 20th edition by reflecting on the next ten years.
How did this idea come about with Heremoana Maamaatuaiahutapu? Was it over drinks or in a more formal meeting?
The drinks were important (laughter)! We were both present, in our respective establishments, the Maison de la culture for him and RFO Polynésie for me, at the advent of TV packages. You must remember that at that time there was an onslaught of new channels, and we were drowning in them. We could no longer see our Pacific islands, we were disappearing. It was like the psychosis of our elders about tsunamis. Maybe we were going to disappear, but then we wanted to stay standing! At the beginning, it was organic. Little by little, the channels opened specific slots for Oceanian documentaries. The off-site FIFOs were very important in the development of the event: we had as many, if not more, participants than at the FIFO. We tried to take our ideas everywhere. At the beginning, we didn’t imagine how big it would get. We could feel things, but we didn’t really know. When we saw 10,000 people at the first FIFO, we were astonished! We thought that fiction was popular, not really documentaries, and we expected an audience of specialists. In the end, it was the public that imposed the FIFO.
Where does this passion for journalism, TV and documentaries come from?
I don’t know… Probably because I come from a small island, one of the smallest inhabited islands in the Pacific. In Tiga there are 150 people. When I left Tiga I was discovering the world. This is the story of islanders who are always torn between their roots and the horizon. It is our Oceanic history. Hervé Bourges, the chairperson of the jury of the first FIFO, was my teacher at my school of journalism. And along the way, I became passionate about it. I quickly realised that it was impossible to explain our complex societies in one and a half minutes, hence the importance of documentaries, which offer a longer period and allow us to show pieces of life.
You are retiring at the end of March, what will you do?
I’m going to go back to Tiga. I’ll come back to FIFO, I’ll still participate, but not from where I am today but from my new place: an inhabitant of Tiga, ‘picot’ fisherman and yam planter! I’m joking, but I want to go back to Tiga and spend some time there. I’m not going to lock myself up there, you never lock up an Oceanian! I don’t have any particular plans; we have to move forward, put one step in front of the other and do what we think is both beautiful and useful.
The FIFO: “an essential event”
Although attendance was lower than usual at the Maison de la Culture, the FIFO Internet platform was well connected. “We had fewer visitors, but we are happy to have held this session in person. The FIFO is an essential event,” says Miriama Bono, president of AFIFO. Especially since the conferences and debates were successful, proof that the themes chosen corresponded to the expectations of the professionals and public. The lack of people mingling in the Maison de la Culture is due to several things for Miriama Bono: “Health restrictions that do not make it easy for people to travel, we saw that at all the events where entry was subject to a health pass; there were also a lot of sick people. Indeed, the epidemic was and still is in full swing. Fortunately, the digital platform has kept all its promises and compensates for the lack of audience: “We were surprised last year by the success of the digital edition, but it has become a reality this year. People are starting to get used to platforms, these are new ways of consuming audiovisual content, which the FIFO is taking advantage of. Many people made this choice this year because they felt more comfortable with this. For Mareva Leu, the general delegate of the FIFO, “it was a challenge to do both at the same time: face-to-face and digital. We are very satisfied because we did it! It was a real tour de force. We didn’t really have any pretensions because we are still in the unknown. We wanted to see what it could achieve. It was a success because the whole Pacific was connected to the festival: Vanuatu, Tonga, Fiji, Australia, Samoa, Papua New Guinea, etc. The figures need to be refined to know the exact uses of these Internet users: “We are really very happy with that. Especially as it has always been complicated to reach the Pacific because we are surrounded by an English-speaking environment, and we do almost everything in French. The fact that the festival’s reputation goes beyond these borders, meets the objectives of the FIFO and opens up other perspectives for us”, explains Mareva Leu. The FIFO will probably never again be without the digital platform, but this does not mean that it will give up on the face-to-face event: “For example, the film on the GIs attracted the descendants of these soldiers, who came to see the documentary and met each other. They got together, they exchanged photos, it was very touching, the director of the film discussed with them and decided to make a sequel. This is what face-to-face meetings allow,” says Miriama Bono. A seminar to be held in March will allow the participants to reflect on the future of the FIFO and above all to anticipate the organisation of the 20th edition next year.
Written by Lucie Rabreaud
French