Showing in March on your Number One TV station, EMTV, is a local PNG production, Aliko and Ambai.
Casting young up-and-coming PNG actors, Aliko and Ambai is an important contemporary story that will appeal to PNG audiences.
The film is produced by Centre for Social and Creative Media (CSCM) at the University of Goroka under local screenwriters, Diane Anton and Jenno Kanagio.
The story line tells of the lead character, Aliko, who lost her parents in an ambush attack and had her house was burnt down in a tribal fight and goes to live with her mother’s brother in Goroka.
Her wicked aunt and cousin, similar characters plucked from a Cinderella tale, soon force her to do all the work around the house and her only support is her new friend Ambai, and a young street-seller, Ethan.
Although Aliko is a promising student, the unsupportive environment at her new home negatively impacts her studies. In danger of failing her grade 10 exams, she is told that she will be forced to return to the village and marry an old man from their enemy tribe in an exchange of brides for a truce.
Aliko, a girl whose dream is to become well-educated and get a good job and Ambai, who searches to escape her abusive home and reunite with her biological father, eventually overcome the many obstacles in their lives through Ethan’s support and older female mentors.
