A short film by young Samoan writer and director, Tusi Tamasese, is coming to Wellington for the New Zealand International Film Festival. Va Tapuia – Sacred Spaces was shot entirely in Samoa and stars Malae Lialia’i and Lena Rivers in the lead roles. Upolu Island in Samoa provides the background for this post-cyclone drama, concerning a grieving taro farmer who encounters an angry widow sitting on the beach near her devastated village. The dialogue is exclusively in the Samoan language with English subtitles. The film is 15 minutes long and is a precursor to Tamasese’s feature film which he intends to shoot in Samoa at the end of the year. For information on screenings during the festival, please visit http://www.nzff.co.nz/.
Creative New Zealand in association with Pasifika Festival presents ARTSpeak Pasifika – a two-day national fono for the Pacific arts industry. Open to Pasifika artists working in visual arts, performing arts, film and television, music, literature, music and heritage arts, the fono is an opportunity to share ideas and participate in panel discussions designed to provide inspiration and practical advice on making a successful career in the arts. Creative New Zealand’s Anton Carter says “it’s the first time in over 10 years a multi art form fono like this has been organized”. The fono takes place on Friday 25th June and Saturday 26th June 2010 at the Reception Lounge (Level 2) of the Auckland Town Hall, Queen Street, Auckland. Numbers are limited to 150 people and the cost is a flat rate of $30 which includes refreshments on both days. A limited number of travel subsidies are available to assist participants from outside the Auckland region to attend. For more details and registration, see http://www.creativenz.govt.nz/artspeak.
Several useful resources about Pasifika art are now available from the New Zealand Film Archive, Ngā Kaitiaki O Ngā Taonga Whitiāhua. These resources look at Pacific Island people participating in a broad range of New Zealand arts including Fine Art, Music, Dance, Theatre, Film and Literature. Fatu Feu’u discusses the motifs and traditions that inspire his painting; Ani O’Neill tries to teach Nick Ward to crotchet; King Kapisi shows us his home in Piha, while his sisters show us theirs in Lyall Bay; Jonathan Lemalu discusses his rise to fame in the competitive world of opera; and Tusiata Avia talks to Finlay MacDonald about growing up Samoan in Christchurch. To access these materials from the Film Archive website, click here.
Tino Rangatira Tanga is a powerful exhibition by emerging Maori and Pacific artist Leilani Kake (Tainui, Ngāpuhi, Cook Island, American). Filmed entirely on hand held camera Tino Rangatira Tangafollows Kake as she documents her fathers tā moko (Māori facial tattooing) and his subsequent illness and passing. The footage, shot in first person perspective with Kake behind the lens, provides the audience with an opportunity to experience these sacred moments through her eyes. The exhibition runs at the Deane Gallery, 101 Wakefield Street, Wellington until 13 June 2010. Kake is an Auckland-based video installation artist who utilises narratives taken directly from her personal life to comment on larger issues facing Māori and Pacific Island communities living in Aotearoa New Zealand. She gained a Degree in Visual Arts at the Manukau Institute of Technology in 2002 and returned in 2005 to undertake postgraduate studies in Fine Arts. She regularly exhibits nationally and abroad, and recently presented a paper on Māori and Pacific urban arts in Aotearoa New Zealand to the Los Angeles College Art Association (2009) in San Francisco. In 2005, she was awarded the Salamander Gallery/Creative New Zealand Emerging Pacific Visual Artist Award. Tino Rangatira Tanga was first exhibited at the Fresh Gallery Otara, Auckland, in 2008.
A new purpose-built Mangere Arts Centre is being built in South Auckland and is expected to be completed by September 2010. Once completed the centre will provide Mangere with a world-class performance and arts venue including a 300-seat flexiform performance area, state of the art acoustic design, suitable for a range of music from fine music to rock, 240m² gallery, 56m² studio, foyers, offices, change rooms, a café, and a large outdoor courtyard. Ema Tavola, the current Pacific Arts Coordinator for Manukau City Council, will take up the position of Visual Arts Manager at the new Mangere Arts Centre. Speaking of her time at Fresh Gallery Otara, Ema said that the gallery was the public platform for her work supporting the development of an already robust Pacific arts sector in Manukau City. We have hosted exhibitions, talanoa / dialogue, workshops, poetry and music. We have had so much interaction, engaged so many hearts and minds, inspired and created a fertile ground for meetings, interactions, ideas.” Her current position as Manukau City Council Pacific Arts Coordinator is to be advertised in the coming month.
Manukau Arts in partnership with the Pacific Arts Committee of Creative New Zealand is proud to present the CNZ Heritage Arts Fono as part of the 2010 Manukau Pacific Arts Summit. The Fono takes place at the Otara Music Arts Centre (crn of Newbury and Bairds Road) from 10 am to 3 pm on Friday 7 May, 2010. The fono will discuss Creative New Zealand’s Heritage Arts strategy, projects and opportunities. Heritage art practices are art forms that have been brought to New Zealand from the Pacific Islands and which are presently sustained by individuals, communities, elders or experts who maintain traditional knowledge through their art practice. Heritage arts can include language, oral arts, handicrafts, weaving, carving, tivaevae, tatau, rituals, protocols and cultural specific activities. Creative New Zealand’s Senior Programmes Advisor for Pacific Arts, Anton Carter, will be available for one-on-one sessions to build awareness around the application process. For catering purposes, registration is necessary; to register or for more information please email Brett.Stirling@manukau.govt.nz or phone Nicole Lim on 09 271 6019.
The eighth edition of Pollywood, a festival of Pacific Island short films, is on today (Tuesday 16 March 2010) at the Otara Music Arts Centre, Bairds Road, Otara. The festival is organised by Craig Fasi and celebrates Pacific Island directors, writers, actors and artists, from grassroots to established practitioners in film and multi-media art. The films that will screen include:
Koe Mafeaga Hala – Crossroads, produced by Taoga Niue and directed by Shane Tohovaka. This is a hard hitting documentary confronting issues regarding tradition and progression of a struggling nation
Uso and Sole 2, directed and produced by Grayham Hall. This is a guaranteed crowd-pleaser, winning the audience choice award in 2008 for the first instalment.
One Year Later, Danny Maalo Aso Aumua /Aden Shillito
Ko Te Tau Ata Mou Kore – Shifting Shadows, Itiri Ngaro
To’Onai, DF Mamea and Daniel Power
Granada, Marina Alofagia McCartney
The show opens at 7 pm and the entry fee is $5.00. Another screening will be held at Corbans Estate Art Centre, 426 Great North Road, Henderson on Thursday 18 March, 7.30pm – 9pm ($5.00 entry).
This year’s Ten Pacific Festival introduces a brand new Pecha Kucha ™ night featuring significant Pasifika artists who originate from Christchurch. Among the confirmed participants are Anton Carter also known as Antsman of Rhombus and The Nomad, Pacific art historian Stephanie Oberg, writer and poet Tusiata Avia, actor and filmmaker Barbara Carpenter, and playwright Victor Rodger. The event will be held at the Dux de Lux on Thursday 4 February from 7.00pm. The Pecha Kucha is immediately followed by a Mark Vanilau concert at the same venue. Mark has a long history with the festival which started with Tribalincs, a five piece soul jazz fusion group. In 2006 when Mark embarked on a solo career, he toured as Dave Dobbyn’s keyboardist, vocalist, and still tours with him today. Mark will also join Anton Carter on Friday 4 February at 6pm for a Songmakers and Creative NZ workshop, before local reggae band D’sendantz and jazz artists K.T.O take to the stage from 8.30pm until late. The Ten Festival is organised by Christchurch’s Pacific Underground.
Niuean-Maori musician Pauly Fuemana has died in Auckland after a short illness. A member of the Otara Millionaires Club, Fuemana shot to world fame with the 1995 hit single How Bizarre which reached No 1 around the world including Australia, Canada, South Africa, Austria and Ireland. Remembered in his Otara community as one of its greatest sons, Fuemana positioned South Auckland’s Polynesian music on the global stage and opened the way for a procession of Pacific musicians to follow in his footsteps. Of his rags to riches story, Fuemana said in 2006, “I’m from Otara and I got to see Italy and Spain and Germany. To play at the Supper Club in New York and the Whisky a Go Go in LA. It was like a dream come true.” The 40 year old died on Saturday at the North Shore Hospital. He was surrounded by his wife and five children.
Pacific Island film-makers, writers, actors and multimedia artists are invited to submit entries for the 8th annual Pollywood Film Festival. Organisers want to hear from Pacific individuals who have made films or multimedia artwork that have a definite Pacific Island feel and are less than 30mins. Entry forms should be filled and sent to:
Pollywood 8 2010 Submission
MIC Toi Rerehiko
P O Box 168030
Newton
Auckland 1145
For more information, contact, Craig Fasi, Pollywood Curator at pollywood@orcon.net.nz. All entries must be submitted by 1 December 2009. The Festival premieres in March 2010.
(Image adapted from Ema Tavola’s 
