Situated in the tropics, the PNG environment can be challenging for both foreigners and those re-entering the country after being away for years.
Filmmaker for ‘Wounded Warriors’, Richard Sergeant, shared his experience of PNG and how he overcame setbacks to successfully film the short movie, creating awareness on domestic violence in PNG.
Richard was met with a couple of setbacks as he arrived in the country to prepare filming for Wounded Warriors in Makerupu village of Central Province.
The unexpected setback was the ’Black Wednesday’ in the Capital City, which led to a partial shutdown of the city.
Sergeant shared that the closure of business on this day caused catering issues for the cast and crew of Zolard Media, however this was just a minor issue compared to the weather issues.
“One of the issues was the weather, I live in Melbourne and I am used to the cold weather, I grew up here in PNG but I stayed in Melbourne for years and got climatized so that was one setback me and the crew faced and that was the heat. Another was that we had to cancel several days because of the heavy rain and wind”, said Sergeant.
Although several days were stalled, shooting days were still manageable to fit in several acting scenes.
“It’s a bit of a challenge working with new actors but it’s fun and they are easy to work with most days. The whole film is going to be a mix of English and language, I want the international viewers to connect through English and appreciate some of our language here. So, it’s a mix and abet of Pidgin as well.
Filmmaker Sergeant shared that it’s a powerful film and doesn’t want to give out much information and become a spoiler to the movie.