AUCKLAND (Pacific Media Watch / BERNAMA): Fijian filmmaker and broadcaster, Clarence Dass, claimed the coveted World Television Award in the “Science and Environment” category at the awards ceremony held in Manado, Indonesia last week.
Dass won the award for his documentary “A Day at the Beach”, set in the year 2063, about the effects of climate change in the South Pacific.
The trailer of the film, which you can watch here, paints a bleak picture of the environmental situation in the Pacific half a century into the future. A young girl in the film asks: “Did it have to be this way? Wasn’t there something earlier generations could do?”
The World Television Awards is an annual competition open to the public and private broadcasting sectors as well as independent producers from Asia, Europe, the Middle East, North America and South America.
The award earned Dass 5000 US dollars in prize money, as well as an all expenses paid trip to the awards ceremony in Indonesia, where he collected his prize in front of 350 broadcast managers and professionals from the Asia-Pacific region, according to the Malaysian news agency BERNAMA and the blog nalakagunawardene.com.
Media’s role
Dass spoke passionately at a session during the World TV Awards about what role media can play in facilitating a sustainable development in society.
“Today, we have to produce media on-the-go for people who are constantly on the go,” he said.
“We have to find ways to bring sustainable development elements into this.”
The Fijian filmmaker also emphasised the importance of knowing who you are making content for, as knowing and profiling your audience, he said, is essential.
He also said that small scale broadcasters in developing countries have to make content interesting on very limited budgets. However, if managed properly, limited funds can go a long way.
In addition, Dass spoke about making content engaging, and finding the right balance in the content so that it appeals both to laymen and experts.
“A Day at the Beach” was made for and broadcasted by Fiji Broadcasting Corporation (FBC).
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 New Zealand Licence.
Pacific Media Watch
