KTF set to host a Sydney screening of Power Meri
KTF will host a special screening of Power Meri in Sydney on Wednesday 1 May at Dendy Opera Quays.
Power Meri follows Papua New Guinea’s first national women’s rugby league team, the PNG Orchids, on their journey to the 2017 World Cup in Australia. These trailblazers must beat not only the sporting competition, but also intense sexism, a lack of funding, and national prejudice to reach their biggest stage yet.
“KTF is excited to partner with the filmmakers and distributors of Power Meri to promote PNG and this inspiring story to the world” said KTF Chief Operating Officer, Mike Nelson. “Immediately following the film we will also host a special Q&A with KTF Ambassador Amelia Kuk, one of the film’s main characters.”
Tickets are available for $23.95 and can be purchased by clicking here.
More about Power Meri
Human rights organisations describe Australia’s nearest neighbour, Papua New Guinea, as one of the worst places in the world to be a woman. But where international observers see despair, the pioneering players of the country’s new national women’s rugby league team, the PNG Orchids, see opportunity.
Proud, strong and hopeful, these women have overcome more challenges than most to take the field in their much-loved national sport. But after years playing at grassroots level with no coaches, funding or support, they have just three months to transform themselves into a competitive national team to take up an invitation to compete on the world stage.
Power Meri takes audiences inside Papua New Guinea and behind the scenes of women’s sport as it follows the Orchids through selection trials, arduous training with a fly-in-fly-out Australian coaching mentor, and diverse personal struggles as they prepare to face the world champion Australian Jillaroos and compete at the Rugby League World Cup in Sydney.
But their mission is greater than winning. In a country with appalling rates of domestic and sexual violence, sport is one of the few arenas in which Papua New Guinean women can show their strength. If they can perform like men on the rugby field, can they change attitudes back home when it comes to the treatment and status of women?
Power Meri explores the broader social impact of the rise of women’s sport through themes of empowerment, national identity, prejudice, resilience and hope.
From the roughest suburbs of Port Moresby to the lush PNG highlands, Power Meri takes viewers on a captivating journey through rarely-seen corners of PNG, guided by young Papua New Guinean women who dream of changing their country through sport.
