A young film maker wins award for Kiribati video

Transcript

A young film maker with an English father and Kiribati mother has won an award for her documentary about climate threats to her mother's homeland.

Victoria Burns was one of ten young videomakers from 10 different countries chosen as winners in the Action4Climate documentary competition.

Jenny Meyer reports.

The president of the World Bank Group, Jim Yong Kim, says the talented young film makers connect with their audiences in emotional and powerful ways about the dangers of climate change and the need for urgent action.
Victoria Burns starts her film called Tinau or 'My Mother' by introducing her mother who left her native Kiribati to live in England some years ago.

VICTORIA BURNS: Here are a few things to know about my Mum: dancing, my Mum is the best mover I know; playing cards, she can obsessively play for hours on end until she wins; singing, she loves to sing but especially while playing her ukelele.

Scientists predict that Kiribati could be lost to rising sea levels in the next 50 years and as a result a whole nation faces an uncertain future. The video Tinau is a portrait of a i-Kiribati mother now settled in Britain and the ties that bind her to her former disappearing homeland. Victoria questions her mother's views on sea level rise and the threats to Kiribati and realises she struggles to understand the concept, seeing the disaster more like a potential tsunami.

VICTORIA BURNS: Yeah but that's the thing tsunamis different from..

MUM: Different from the sea coming up?

VICTORIA BURNS: Yeah because the tsunami is a natural disaster that happens instantly, whereas global warming and potentially the sea rising is something long term, it doesn't happen just overnight.

But then what will happen to the people in Kiribati, where will they go? Can they stay in Kiribati, or will they go anywhere?

It suddenly all became clear in the interview. My frustrations with my Mum's opinions on Kiribati's fate suddenly made sense. It's not that she doesn't care, it's just been a case of crossed wires.

So imagine if my Mum in the UK is confused, what must it be like for people living in Kiribati?

England-based Victoria says Kiribati really matters to her as it's her mother's home land, her extended family are there, and she spent the first six years of her life there. She says despite denials of homesickness, her mother loves replaying an old VHS video from Kiribati and they are both concerned about the nation's future.

VICTORIA BURNS: I think what makes me sad, is one day in the future I hope to have children. And I want to be able to take them to their grandmother's home island. And maybe there'll be nothing to show them. If scientists are right, maybe a whole nation will have to be relocated and only a few people will remember the stretch of sea that was once Kiribati. So let this film be a keepsake, a momento where Kiribati can be ever remembered, frozen in time, where Kiribati matters, not to be forgotten.

The winning films can all be viewed at  the Action4Climate website.