PNG wins Silver at 33rd Antibes Underwater Film & Photo Festival
Lionel Pozzoli’s photo series “Magic Papua” has won Silver at the Festival Mondial de l’Image Sous-Marine 2006 in Antibes, France!
The Festival opened with “Colours of PNG”, a short film by English filmmaker John Boyle. The more than 800 attendees were treated to a huge slide show involving 18 projectors and 3 screens, covering a total area of 16 metres across. On show were impressive images shot throughout PNG by the great photographers Pierfranco Dilenge and this year’s Silver-winner, Lionel Pozzoli. Traditional PNG music provided the backdrop to some of the best pictures ever shot in this beautiful country, both above and under water.
The “Prix Papua New Guinea”, which was sponsored by Loloata Island Resort and Walindi Plantation Resort went to Tobias Bernhard from New Zealand for his entry.
The biggest attraction, however, was the support team for the PNG Dive Association: Four Papuans dressed in traditional grass skirts with impressive head dresses and colourful make-up proved to be the biggest hit and were much photographed. Willy, a Huli Wigman from the Highlands, made the Antibes newspapers twice and even signed autographs!