Rising Stories: Climate Storytelling in the Pacific

Climate change can often be viewed as a future issue. A risk associated with generations to come.

In the Pacific, the impacts of changing weather patterns, natural disasters, rising water levels and water contamination are a current reality.

Through this reality Pacific communities have begun to tell their stories via digital media. This session of PFF 2024 will showcase the Rising Stories short film series, developed and produced by Tracie and Vea Mafile’o, who worked directly with climate affected communities and local creatives in Kiribati, PNG, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga and Tuvalu.

The film viewing will be accompanied by a storytelling panel including Tracie and local creatives in the Rising Stories countries (over zoom); as well as Sala Dr George Carter, of the Oceania Climate COPcast Podcast, which tells the stories of Pacific Islanders attending COP28; and Elizabeth Koroivulaono, Director of The Forgotten Pacific (over zoom).

The session will be hybrid and will offer an opportunity for aspiring Pacific storytellers to understand how our communities are using digital storytelling to communicate our climate experiences to the rest of the world.