2016 see’s the third instalment of the Pasifika Film Fest in Sydney and for the first time the festival is coming to BRISBANE, QUEENSLAND!
The Brisbane festival kicks off this Thursday, 10th November and runs until Sunday the 13th. Check out the films below!
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PFF BRISBANE OPENING NIGHT FILM
Pasifika Film Fest is excited to announce it’s Opening Night Film
BEING BRUNO BANANI
at Event Cinema garden City on November 10
Get behind Tonga’s winter Olympian, Brunu Banani (Fuahea Semi) and learn about his ‘Cool Runnings’ style story by watching the documentary about his selection and incredible journey moving from the tropical islands of Tonga to the snow filled mountain tops across Europe to compete in Luge.
Hear from Bruno here
Written and directed by Susann Wentzlaff, Being Bruno Banani tells the unique story of the first and only Tongan luger who managed to qualify in an amazingly short amount of time for the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi.
Through his name he also acted as the first “living brand” using a completely new and disputed way to get around the strict IOC’s Olympic advertising regulations.
Get ready to hear Tonga’s version of Cool Runnings!
Blackbird by Amie Batilibasi
Forced to work on a sugar plantation in Queensland, Australia in the late 1800s, a spirited young Pacific Islander, Kiko, journeys into manhood, and amidst severe oppression and loss, must find his will to survive.
A Piece of the Cake/ Yumi Go Kale by Wan Smolbag Theatre
Life in Vanuatu isn’t all sea, sun and palm trees. For Timothy and his family life is hard. Timothy’s only hope is the political party he supports, and when the man Timothy has collected votes for becomes a Minister, Timothy dreams he will get a job and earn the money to send Betty back into school. To get the job he wants he has to do things that make him question the whole system.
Vanuatu Womens Water Music
‘Vanuatu Women’s Water Music’ (2014, 62 mins) is the result of a collaborative project between the people of the Leweton village and Further Arts, a Vanuatu-based NGO. The film shuns Western/European narrative concepts. Instead it adopts a contemporary style of its own: Art Doco. The result is a non-narrative meditation on indigenous performance and representation. It has received 5-star review from Songlines Magazine (UK) and is described as ‘absolutely perfect’ and ‘visually stunning as well as culturally important’.
Karroyul (Part of Tales of Oceania short films session)
An Aboriginal girl, lost and empty after the death of her mother, discovers her past in an unlikely place.
FALEVAI FLAVA
By Tui Emma Gillies
A mother and daughter who are tapa artists travel from Auckland to the mother’s home village of Falevai in Vava’u, Tonga, to work on two big ngatu (Tapa cloths) with the women there. They don’t realise that tapa art is no longer practised in Falevai and their visit will resuscitate a heritage art form. For Tui, the New Zealand raised daughter, it is her first visit to Vava’u and the idyllic village she has grown up hearing about. The island paradise comes with a healthy dose of culture shock for the woman used to the hustle and bustle of Auckland.
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POI E: The Story of Our Song
‘Poi E’, a simple song with a catchy beat released 32 years ago, has become New Zealand’s unofficial national anthem. With humour, energy and emotion, the movie POI E is the story of how that iconic song gave pride to generations of New Zealanders. From Taika Waititi giving Stan Walker his quirky take on life in the 1980s to Patea Maori Club members’ straight-talking and funny memories of the song’s visionary originator Dalvanius Prime, director Tearepa Kahi (Mt Zion) captures a unique story that taps into the heart of the nation.
BELIEF: The Possession of Janet Moses
Belief: The Possession of Janet Moses is a documentary film that lifts the veil of secrecy on what became known as “The Wainuiomata exorcism”, to reveal the extra-ordinary true story of how both love and fear could drive a New Zealand family to unwittingly kill one of their own.
Te Mana o te Moana
In 2011, a group of Pacific people did something extraordinary: In seven traditional voyaging waka/vaka moana they traversed over 20,000 nautical miles of the Pacific ocean, from New Zealand/Aotearoa to Fakarava, Hawaii, America, Mexico, Tahiti and to the Solomons. This voyage was of a scale not seen since the great journeys of Kupe, Tamatea and Nukutawhiti, and it united Pacific People, honouring their teachers and carrying a message of stewardship for the ocean – the vast continent they call home.
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