ABSTRACT
In the geographically remote areas of the South Pacific, countries are struggling to channel transnational flows of communication, labor, and capital across their borders. “Bulawood: The Hollywood of the South Seas,” a plan to pitch Fiji in the competitive market for on-location film production, is one such effort. 1 This media landscape, designed by the Fiji Audio Visual Commission (FAVC), is imagined as a set of industrial zones termed “studio cities” where audiovisual companies receive tax incentives to develop facilities and where international films can base their productions. 2 Following the models set by Vancouver and Australia’s Gold Coast, Fiji aims to develop media infrastructure that will draw in runaway film projects from Hollywood and Bollywood, infuse local production, generate a creative labor force, and become a regional “media capital”—both as a center of activity and a concentration of film resources, reputation, and talent. 3 This chapter, building on recent research in the locality of migrating media, traces the historical foundations and cultural specificity of Fiji’s aspirations to become the “audio visual hub” for the South Pacific. 4
