17/08/2026
Screening across the Pacific 7.30pm NZT tonight via Pasifika TV.
The War Below film exposes the issue of WWII bombs still killing and injuring in the Solomon Islands.
Thousands more eyes on this issue with broadcasts across several countries including the Solomon Islands, Tonga, Sāmoa, Fiji and Papua New Guinea.
Made in collaboration with Bomb Free Solomon Islands.
SOLOMON ISLANDS UXO SURVIVOR CALLS FOR PACIFIC ACTION AS AWARD-WINNING DOCUMENTARY REACHES REGIONAL AUDIENCES AUCKLAND/HONIARA - A Solomon Islands woman who survived an unexploded World War II bomb explosion is calling for UXO to be elevated as a Pacific regional security and development issue, as an award-winning Aoteaora-Solomon Islands documentary telling her story becomes available across the Pacific
tonight.
Maeverlyn Pitanoe, from Honiara, was seriously injured in 2021 when a World War II bomb buried beneath the ground exploded during a church gathering. Two young men were killed. Pitanoe spent 53 days in hospital and continues to live with the physical and emotional efects of the blast.
Her experience led her to establish Bomb Free Solomon Islands, the country’s only survivor-led charity focused on supporting people afected by UXO, educating communities about the danger and advocating for greater national, regional and international action.
Pitanoe is one of the central people featured in The War Below: Restoring Hope in the Solomon Islands, which will be released on Pasifika TV from 6.30pm Solomon Islands time tonight, Monday 17 August. In the Solomon Islands, Pasifika TV is afiliated with SIBC, Tavuli News, TTV.
The documentary, The War Below is a Nine Islands Media-Solomon Islands Local Media Agency, examines
how unexploded and abandoned World War II ordnance continues to afect Solomon Islanders more than 80
years after the fighting ended.
Its Pacific release comes as the UXO issue receives growing attention.
Recent developments include a new national UXO information system, additional United States funding for UXO clearance, growing media attention and increased diplomatic and regional discussion.
Bomb Free Solomon Islands welcomes that progress, but Pitanoe says it must be treated as a starting point.
“For Solomon Islanders, security is also about being able to light a cooking fire, build a home, develop land,
send our children to school and live without fear of a World War II bomb hidden beneath our feet,” Pitanoe said.
“We welcome the important progress being made, but given the scale of the problem, this support can only be
considered a starting point.
“We need a long-term commitment that gives our grandchildren a real chance of living in a bomb-free Solomon
Islands.”
Film Director Tuki Laumea, of Nine Islands Media, said the film was deliberately built around the voices and lived experiences of Solomon Islanders rather than outside narration.“As a Pacific filmmaker, I wanted the people living with this issue to carry the story themselves,” Laumea said.
“The challenge was to show the scale of the UXO problem without losing sight of the people at the centre of it
— Maeverlyn, Loretta, Jefry and the families who have lost loved ones or are still living with life-changing
injuries.
“What stayed with me was that these bombs are still afecting the most basic parts of life — cooking,
gardening, going to school, building a home — and people have been killed and permanently injured doing
those ordinary things.
“I hope the film helps audiences understand what Solomon Islanders are still living with, and why their voices
need to be heard when decisions are made about what happens next.”
SURVIVORS STILL LIVING WITH THE WAR
World War II transformed Solomon Islands into a major battlefield between Japanese and Allied forces.
When the fighting ended, large quantities of ammunition and explosives were left behind. Today, unexploded
and abandoned ordnance continues to be found beneath homes, gardens, schools and development sites.
The War Below shows what that means for ordinary Solomon Islanders.
Alongside Pitanoe, the documentary follows Lorettalyn Ale, whose husband and young son were killed when a
bomb exploded while their family was cooking. Lorettalyn was left with permanent injuries.
Her surviving son Jeff Manigoli was also badly injured and witnessed the deaths of his father and brother. The
film follows a family left carrying not only physical and psychological trauma, but the financial consequences of
losing a parent and breadwinner.
The documentary also shows the wider efect UXO contamination has on development.
At St Nicholas Anglican College in Honiara, more than 200 explosive items were uncovered during
construction work. The school has faced restrictions on further development because contaminated land must
be surveyed and cleared before new building can safely proceed.
Pitanoe says clearance is only one part of the response.
“When a bomb has already exploded, survivors can be left with permanent injuries, trauma, medical needs,
lost livelihoods and families whose lives have changed forever,” she said.
“I know this personally. My family and church carried me through my recovery, but I received no organised
counselling, ongoing rehabilitation or financial support.
“And I am not the only one.”
Bomb Free Solomon Islands was established during the making of The War Below, with other UXO survivors
and afected families involved in the organisation.
Despite being the country’s only charity supporting survivors, the organisation is currently sustained purely
through volunteer work and small donations.
Its priorities include supporting survivors and victims’ families, expanding bomb-risk education in schools and
communities, strengthening regional and international advocacy and helping secure the long-term resources
needed to survey and clear contaminated land.
TAKING SOLOMON ISLANDS SURVIVOR VOICES TO WELLINGTON
The Pasifika TV release follows a recent advocacy visit to Aotearoa New Zealand by Pitanoe and respected
Solomon Islands journalist Dorothy Wickham, who is supporting the work of Bomb Free Solomon Islands.
Their visit was funded by the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Afairs and Trade and supported by Nine
Islands Media.
Pitanoe and Wickham attended screenings and public Q&A sessions and met with government, diplomatic,
peace, humanitarian and Pacific representatives to explain how UXO continues to afect Solomon Islands
communities.
Meetings with Bomb Free Solomon Islands and Nine Islands Media included:
● His Excellency Ishmael Mali Avui, MBE, Solomon Islands High Commissioner to New Zealand;
● His Excellency Ratu Inoke Kubuabola, Fiji High Commissioner to New Zealand, and First Secretary
Mrs Eileen Pickering;
● Ambassador Viktor Vavricka, Ambassador of Switzerland to New Zealand;
● representatives of the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Afairs and Trade;
● Edwina Hughes of Peace Movement Aotearoa; and
● Epeli Lesuma of the Pacific Network on Globalisation (PANG)
● Martin Donoghue who serves on the Public Advisory Committee on Disarmament and Arms Control
(PACDAC) in New Zealand.
The discussions explored ways to increase regional understanding of the UXO problem, strengthen support for
Bomb Free Solomon Islands and encourage greater political discussion across the Pacific.
Pitanoe said the meetings gave her hope that the issue was increasingly being understood as much more than
a technical bomb-disposal problem.
“This is not only a humanitarian issue,” she said.
“UXO restricts land use, agriculture, infrastructure, tourism, investment and development.
“A safer Solomon Islands means lives protected, survivors supported and land opened for our country and our
children to prosper.”
CALL FOR UXO TO BE PART OF PACIFIC REGIONAL SECURITY DISCUSSIONS
Pitanoe has called on Prime Minister Matthew Wale to put UXO firmly on the Pacific regional security agenda
and use Solomon Islands’ leadership within the Pacific Islands Forum to seek a long-term regional and
international response.
She is also asking Pacific Islands Forum leaders to recognise unexploded ordnance as a regional
human-security and development priority and support a coordinated Pacific approach.
Bomb Free Solomon Islands is calling for sustained action to:
● support UXO survivors and families who have lost loved ones;
● expand bomb-risk education in schools and communities;
● strengthen surveying and mapping of contaminated land;
● increase resources for safe clearance and disposal of unexploded ordnance; and
● secure long-term regional and international partnerships and funding.
“More than 80 years after the war ended, Solomon Islanders should not still be paying the price for a war that
was not of our making,” Pitanoe said.
“We have an opportunity to turn that legacy into one of responsibility, partnership, healing and hope.”
A SOLOMON ISLANDS STORY, TOLD WITH SOLOMON ISLANDS VOICES
The War Below began with Solomon Islands journalist and producer Elizabeth Osifelo, drawing on her
reporting on the continuing danger of unexploded ordnance through local media.
The documentary was filmed entirely in Solomon Islands and is a co-production between Nine Islands Media
and Solomon Islands Local Media Agency.
Solomon Islands journalists and production personnel involved included Dorothy Wickham, Elizabeth Osifelo,
Jeremy Gwao and Bradford Noda, working alongside a Pacific-led production team.
The documentary was directed by Sāmoan filmmaker Tuki Laumea and produced by Tuki Laumea, Elizabeth
Osifelo and Cleo Fraser. The Executive Producer is Cleo Fraser.
It was funded by New Zealand On Air through the Aotearoa New Zealand Pacific Regional Media Fund, in
collaboration with Pacific Cooperation Broadcasting Limited, which is funded by the New Zealand Ministry of
Foreign Afairs and Trade.
Its first community screening was held in Honiara in November 2025, allowing Solomon Islanders to see their
own story before the documentary travelled internationally.
The Honiara screening was supported by the New Zealand High Commission to Solomon Islands, Solomon
Airlines, King Solomon Hotel and Nine Islands Media.
FROM HONIARA TO INTERNATIONAL AUDIENCES
Since that first Honiara screening, The War Below has built a growing international audience through the
eforts of Nine Islands Media.
The film:
● screened at the FIFO International Oceanian Documentary Film Festival in Tahiti, where it won the Prix
Demain / Tomorrow Award;
● was a finalist at the Australian International Documentary Conference in Melbourne;
● recently completed screenings in Auckland and Wellington through Doc Edge film festival, where it
received a Special Mention – Best New Zealand Feature Documentary;
● attracted media coverage including TVNZ 1News, TVNZ Breakfast, Radio New Zealand’s Saturday
Morning and PMN Solomons;
● was screened at special community events in Ōpōtiki, including for Solomon Islands RSE workers;
● was shown at a special Auckland screening and Q&A for members of the Solomon Islands community
and supporters; and
● has helped raise money directly for survivors and the work of Bomb Free Solomon Islands through a New Zealand Givealittle fundraising campaign.
During the recent New Zealand visit, Maeverlyn Pitanoe, Dorothy Wickham, Cleo Fraser and Tuki Laumea
were able to use the screenings not only to speak with audiences, but to take the issue into meetings with
people involved in government, diplomacy, humanitarian action and Pacific regional advocacy.
FILM INTENDED TO CREATE IMPACT BEYOND THE SCREEN
Nine Islands Media, the Aotearoa New Zealand-based production company behind the documentary alongside
its Solomon Islands partners, has continued working with Pitanoe and Bomb Free Solomon Islands beyond
completion of the film.
That has included supporting community screenings, media engagement, fundraising, advocacy and
opportunities for survivors to speak directly with decision-makers.Executive Producer and Nine Islands Media co-founder Cleo Fraser said that was an important part of the
filmmakers’ responsibility to the people who trusted them with their stories.
“From the beginning, this was never intended to be a film that simply travelled to festivals and then ended,”
Fraser said.
“We always wanted this film to return something to the people who trusted us with their stories.
“That means using every screening, broadcast and media opportunity we can to amplify survivor voices, build
practical support for Bomb Free Solomon Islands and help put this issue in front of people who can make a
diference.
“The film can open the door. The important thing is what happens after people walk through it.
“The progress we are seeing is important, but nobody should mistake it for the problem being solved. The
long-term goal remains the same: survivors supported, communities educated, contaminated land surveyed
and the bombs finally removed.”
WATCH THE WAR BELOW
The War Below: Restoring Hope in the Solomon Islands
Available on Pasifika TV from 6.30pm Solomon Islands time, Monday 17 August 2026.
Pasifika TV supported networks in the Solomon Islands: SIBC, Tavuli News, TTV. For a full Pacific-wide list
visit: https:/pasifikatv.co.nz/
SUPPORT BOMB FREE SOLOMON ISLANDS
A Givealittle fundraising campaign is raising money for Bomb Free Solomon Islands and its work supporting
UXO survivors and advocacy.
Givealittle is a New Zealand online fundraising platform similar to GoFundMe.
Funds raised for the campaign are transferred by Nine Islands Media to Bomb Free Solomon Islands to
support survivors and advocacy.
Donate:
https:/givealittle.co.nz/cause/support-bomb-free-solomon-islands-saving-lives
ENDS/////
