It’s estimated as many as 200 people die each year and dozens more are left badly injured.
Source: RNZ
MARIMARI Film
MARIMARI is an intimate and moving documentary of anguish and hope in equal measure. Step into the heart of Papua New Guinea, enter a cinematic journey with courageous indigenous human rights defender, Evelyn Kunda.
An unfiltered view into Evelyn's world as she rescues and rehabilitates survivors of sorcery accusation related violence (SARV). A verité style film that provides access to a world in which this new practice of sorcery violence wreaks havoc on the lives of many innocent people in the Pacific.
MARIMARI captures Evelyn’s tireless efforts, revealing a story that's compelling, richly nuanced, and leaves the viewer with a blend of fear, admiration, and a deep understanding of a woman who risks it all for her people.
MARIMARI is a call to action, as the communities of the largest Pacific island deal with rapid social change - brought about through globalization, mining, and economic pressures - the most vulnerable are being tortured and burned alive.
Screenings
MARIMARI had its local premiere in Aotearoa with the Whānau Mārama New Zealand International Film Festival in August 2024, screening across multiple cities and regions.
MARIMARI is now screening at the Hawaii International Film Festival - click here to buy tickets
- Friday 4 Oct 2024
- Monday 7 Oct 2024
Evelyn Kunda
Evelyn Kunda became a human rights defender when she saw what was happening around her in the highlands of Papua New Guinea. People are being forced to leave their villages accused of ‘sanguma’ - witchcraft and sorcery. Many are tortured and even killed in their villages, but those that do escape, find themselves alone and desperate. Evelyn is determined to do all she can to help these survivors.
Evelyn gives everything she can to support, house, and rehabilitate the often traumatised survivors that she takes under her wing. Her work is dangerous, unfunded, and desperately needed.
Impact Project
This documentary seeks to contribute to improving the lives of survivors, and the indigenous human rights defenders who risk their lives to rescue and rehabilitate those survivors. While we would love to end SARV in Papua New Guinea, we are realistic that a film for a Western audience is not going to achieve this.
How you can help:
- Donate: to the safehouse from anywhere in the world via our Open Collective fundraising page: https://opencollective.com/evelynssafehouse
- Review the Film on Your Social Media: Do you have a moment to share what you thought? A sentence or two from you on your social media (tagging ours) would be incredibly powerful. If you can share a photo of you at a screening, what you thought, tag us and direct people to find out more or buy tickets directly we would be incredibly grateful
- Facebook: @marimarifilm
- Instagram: @marimari.film
- LinkedIn: @PaulWolffram
- General tag: #marimarifilm
- Send a Friend to our NZIFF Screenings: https://www.nziff.co.nz/2024/film/marimari/
Evelyn and Paul will be at the North Island screenings and will be doing Filmmaker Q&A’s - Silent Auction Event Help: We’re organising a silent auction for a few fundraising events in September. If you or anyone you know are happy to donate goods, services or time towards this auction, please contact us.
- Connect Us: Know somebody who is able to provide sponsorship or contribute funds, or partner with us towards building Evelyn’s Safehouse? Whether they are a local business or an organisation, or just like-minded individuals, please help put us in touch with them! We are particularly interested in connecting with international audiences.
- Run a Fundraiser: Help us reach audiences you’re connected to, or donate your time by running a fundraiser for us. We are happy to work with you to hold fundraisers or private screenings to raise funds to go towards Evelyn’s Safehouse. If you’re a charity yourself we’re happy to work on joined fundraising events.
Impact work alongside the feature film:
We have already produced a series of short social media videos aimed at communicating an anti-violence message in the local language for audiences in Papua New Guinea. Find out more about these videos here
Our Impact Goals
- We want to get this Open Collective to $80,000 (NZD) by the end of 2025 to help secure land for Evelyn and build a Safehouse for survivors.
- We aim to screen the film to audiences in New Zealand, Australia, and Internationally. Film festivals and partnership screenings are how we aim to achieve this goal.
- We want to connect our audience with actions they can take, with partners who are carrying out humanitarian work on the ground in Papua New Guinea, and with further information and resources about stopping sorcery violence. We’ll be measuring website traffic, social media mentions and donations to track this.
- We want to find an ongoing and trustworthy mechanism for motivated donors to support indigenous leaders in Papua New Guinea to work on the ground to end SARV.
Resources
- Stop Sorcery Violence - PNG Tribal Foundation
- Oxfam - Human Rights Watch
- Save the children
Contribute here to saving the lives of sorcery accusation survivors. One of our key impact aims is to support Evelyn to continue her work. She needs her own land and a permanent place of residence where she will be able to continue to help rehabilitate, and counsel the victims of violence
All donations go directly to supporting Evelyn Kunda’s Safehouse.
Thank you for your support.
Social Media Videos
Education - Empathy videos design for use in anti-SARV training and education
Community - Short anti-SARV videos co-designed and created with youth groups
News
Talk to us about:
Joining our team.
Storytelling and pitching (email us to book a speaker).
Sharing our vision and content.
Partners
