A Cook Islands-made film will be featured at international film festivals in Japan and New Zealand, and has secured distribution deals for in-flight entertainment and streaming services.

Stranded Pearl will be screened at the Cinema at Sea Okinawa Pan-Pacific International Film Festival on Sunday, February 23, in Okinawa, Japan.

The film has also been confirmed for The Third Culture Film Festival (TCFF) in Tauranga, New Zealand, on March 6, as the overall festival opening show. This festival will be hosted at Luxe Cinemas in the Tauranga CBD.

Cook Islands resident Anand Naidu, the film’s leading actor and producer, and director Prashanth Gunasekaran will be attending the film festival in Japan and be available for the Q&A after the screening.

Set against the breathtaking backdrop of Rarotonga, Stranded Pearl is a tale of drama, action, and comedy that follows a woman, played by Australian actress Kristy Wright of Home and Away fame, and a reclusive deckhand (Naidu). Naidu of Vindaloo Empire (2011) and Feeling Lucky (2016) fame, plays a character who has closed himself off from the world to hide from the pain of his past.

The 91-minute film boasts an impressive cast, including Cook Islander Stan Wolfgramm as a journalist and activist, veteran Kiwi actor Rawiri Paratene, Ray Woolf, one of New Zealand’s most celebrated entertainers, Aleisha Rose, Robert Reitano and Jagdish Punja.

Naidu said: “It’s a great honour to have a film being showcased in Japan as a Cook Islands based film. So proud to be able to be there to showcase our beautiful destination and work done by Cook Islanders in Okinawa.”

Located on the beautiful island of Okinawa in southwest Japan, the Okinawa Pan-Pacific International Film Festival will focus on bringing cinema of the Pan-Pacific region to East Asian audiences and build a bridge to the international film market.

Wonder Weng, the programme director of the festival, said that Stranded Pearl is a film that broadens their horizons.

“When I saw the breathtaking scenery presented in Stranded Pearl, I immediately knew that this was a film perfect for our festival, as it aligns perfectly with our mission to showcase the cultures of the Pacific Islands,” Weng said.

“Moreover, to my knowledge, there has never been a film related to the Cook Islands screened in Japan before. I was even more delighted to learn that this film was primarily produced independently in the Cook Islands.

“It is truly an honour for us to have the opportunity to invite the director and team members of Stranded Pearl to Okinawa. We sincerely hope that, through the exchanges at the film festival, we can foster a meaningful connection between the Cook Islands and Japanese audiences.”

According to Naidu, the film will showcase to the festival audience and media partners there “our beautiful destination and hospitality”.

“We will share some tourism collateral as from Japan we have Hawaiian and Air Tahiti Nui flying to Rarotonga and back. This is a great way to indirectly connect the beautiful people of Japan to our amazing place.”

Naidu said this links well with their contracts with Hawaiian Airlines and Air Tahiti Nui Ltd to show Stranded Pearl on all their flights to various destinations.

Naidu has signed a four-month contract to screen the film on all their flights, starting February 21.

“They have been kind and agreed to a 15 second pre roll advertising of the movie trailer for the April/May period inventory permitting,” he said.

A two-year contract with Indie Rights, an American distributor for streaming services (www.indierights.com), for the streaming platforms they manage, such as Amazon Prime, Fandango, Tubi TV, and others, starts on April 1, 2025.

Naidu has also signed a two-year contract with Air Tahiti Nui for in-flight screening, beginning June 1, 2025, on all their flights, and a three-year contract with Windstar Cruises for screenings on all their cruise ships during the third quarter of 2025.

“We are in discussions with other channels and should have more contracts in place for us to share in the near future. We are thankful and humbled with all the opportunity and just loving the journey and the potential the movie is providing.”