World Press Freedom Day 2026 - West Papua Free Film Screening

🗓️ 29th April, 2026

⌚Doors Open 5:30pm for a 6pm Film Screening followed by Q&A discussion, kai and kava

📍Griffith University - QLD College of Art and Design , Lecture Theatre S05

(226 Grey St, South Brisbane)

A free World Press Freedom Day 2026 screening of the extraordinary West Papuan documentary “Pesta Babi/Pig Feast” in Magandjin (Brisbane) will be co-hosted by the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA), Pacific Islands Council of Qld (PICQ), The Griffith Journal and QLD Pacific Climate Warriors.

“Pesta Babi (Pig Feast): Colonisation In Our Time” was made under the noses of the Indonesian military to expose the ecocide caused by mass deforestation and displacement of thousands of Indigenous people to plant palm oil, sugar and rice.

Foreign journalists are banned from West Papua and Indonesia has repeatedly denied access by the UN Human Rights Commissioner to the region to investigate abuses, including attacks on journalists and media freedom.

This documentary was filmed in South Papua, the region closest to Australia and the Torres Strait, where 2.5 million hectares (more than the size of greater Sydney and Melbourne combined) are being logged in a project with links to Queensland and Chinese companies.

It took years of secret filming by renowned West Papuan journalist Victor Mambor and filmmaker Dandhy Laksono to produce this 90-minute documentary that finally premiered in West Papua last month.

West Papuans’ decades long struggle for independence from Indonesia and the brutal armed conflict is rarely reported by foreign media.

The UN General Assembly declared 3 May as World Press Freedom Day to highlight the importance of media freedom and remind governments of their duty to respect freedom of expression under Article 19 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

With this screening for World Press Freedom Day, we recognise the courage of Victor and Dandhy and their colleagues to make this documentary to tell the outside world of the struggle of West Papuans to protect their land and culture.

Pesta Babi Offical Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Buv-MC-rSA

A Q&A with West Papua campaigner Ronny Kareni (Pesta Babi distribution co-ordinator), Dr Kasun Ubayasiri (vice-president of the MEAA journalists’ union and program director of Communication and Journalism at Griffith University) and journalist Stefan Armbruster (long time correspondent on the Pacific affairs including West Papua).

Pacific food, kava and casual tok stori/talanoa will round off the evening.