Mr Pip

Mr Pip was filmed in the village of Pidia on Bougainville Island, a territory of Papua New Guinea, and in Auckland and Oamaru in New Zealand, between June and September 2011.

In Bougainville, the beautiful white sand beaches, lush tropical rainforest, the exotic look of the village buildings and the blue seas and skies made an idyllic backdrop for the lyrical scenes of village life and the developing friendship of Matilda and Mr Watts. The beauty of this environment contrasts sharply with the jolting reality of the harsh wartime parts of the story that take place in the village. The Lloyd Jones novel, Mister Pip, upon which the film is based, was set in Bougainville during the 1990s when the country was torn apart by a war over copper mining and land rights, and most of the story it tells is very close to the experiences of the people there.