'Sukundimi Walks Before Me' Film Screening
Description
Please join us for our only screening in Cairns with Emmanuel (Manu) Peni is an award-winning Papua New Guinean human rights defender and environmental activist featured as the central subject and co-producer of the documentary Sukundimi Walks Before Me. The film is currently touring the country but will only be shown once!
After the film there will be a Q&A with Manu Peni
Food and drinks will be provided before the film starts at 6pm so please come on time
Emerging from the Sepik River region of Papua New Guinea, this award-winning feature film documents Sepik communities’ resistance to a proposed gold-copper mine located near the river’s waters - an existential journey exploring sacred life, cultural survival and environmental justice.
Sukundimi Walks Before Me is a story of resilience and collective refusal in the face of extraction.
Join us after the screening for a live discussion featuring Emmanuel (Manu) Peni, Director of Project Sepik, who has spent years organising communities across more than 1,000 kilometres of the Sepik River to call for the river's protection. He will be joined by other special guests to explore themes of climate justice, protecting land, water, and culture for future generations, and the role of art and storytelling in catalysing these conversations.
The film won the $40,000 Sustainable Future Award — the world’s largest environmental film prize — for Sukundimi Walks Before Me.
About Project Sepik and the Save the Sepik Campaign
Project Sepik is a community-led movement working with Indigenous leaders and communities along the Sepik River to protect the river and surrounding lands from extractive development, in collaboration with Jubilee Australia Research Centre and Aid/Watch Australia through the Save the Sepik Campaign. Project Sepik has been active since 2016 and operates through local authority structures, community meetings, cultural leadership, and engagement with legal and policy processes at national and international levels. https://savethesepik.org/
About Jubilee Australia
Jubilee Australia conducts research-based advocacy, in partnership with other organisations and communities across Australia and the Asia-Pacific, to defend the rights of people and the planet over profit, and hold corporations and governments accountable. Jubilee Australia has worked with Project Sepik since 2018 to seek to protect the Sepik River. http://www.jubileeaustralia.org
Lineup
Emmanuel (Manu) Peni
Emmanuel (Manu) Peni is an award-winning Papua New Guinean human rights defender and environmental activist featured as the central subject and co-producer of the documentary Sukundimi Walks Before Me.
Luke Fletcher
Executive Director since 2016, Luke has been involved with Jubilee Australia since 2005 in various staff and board roles. He is the principal author of many of Jubilee's major reports including Risky Business (2009), Pipe Dreams (2012), The River Is Not Ours (2019), Enter the Dragon (2019), The Coal Agenda (2020) and From Extraction to Inclusion (2020). Before his time at Jubilee Australia, Luke worked at a variety of places including the National Science and Technology Centre (Questacon) and the Inspire Foundation.
Shayanne Waide
Shayanne Waide is a Papua New Guinean environmental and human rights advocate, researcher, and educator from the Noturu Clan of the Binandere Tribe. He currently serves as Communications and Research Officer with Project Sepik Inc., working across environmental conservation, Indigenous rights, climate advocacy, and sustainable development. His work includes policy analysis, community engagement, and advocacy to support communities affected by large-scale extractive projects. Shayanne has played a key role in raising awareness of threats to the Sepik River Basin and has represented PNG communities internationally, including at the United Nations Human Rights Council.
Tickets for good, not greed Humanitix dedicates 100% of profits from booking fees to charity
