Canning Paradise

Directed by Olivier Pollet

Decades of over-fishing by the global tuna industry have now pushed the final frontiers to the waters of Papua New Guinea. In the 1950s, the world was fishing out 400,000 tons of tuna each year. Today, this number is close to 4 million. And it comes at a high cost: a human one, now affecting the last places on earth to receive the full impact of globalisation. Set in "the land of the unexpected", in the north-eastern part of Papua New Guinea, this film follows the struggle of Indigenous tribes to protect their way of life, guarded by traditions dating back thousands of years. Many have lost hope, others are fighting for survival from their own corrupt government. They see their ancestral land taken away to make way for multinational corporations, in their quest to create the new tuna capital of the world. The question remains: is this type of development in the Pacific Bringing prosperity or poverty?