Weekend Rewind: Pasifika on screen

Vai. Photo / NZ On Screen

NZ's screen heritage is rich with Pasifika content – from music videos to films, NZ On Screen's Zara Potts looks at some of the screen titles featured in a new online Pacific Collection.

The relationship between Pacific peoples and Aotearoa has always been a strong one, and our shared bonds are well reflected in our television and film history.

From early Pictorial Parade footage of independence struggles, through the tumultuous years of fighting for a nuclear-free Pacific, right through to the cutting-edge music videos of the 2000s – our Pasifika screen heritage is a rich and varied record of the region's political and cultural history.

To showcase this veritable treasure trove, NZ On Screen has released a new collection dedicated to the Pacific and there are lots of gems to be discovered.

Sons for the Return Home tells the story of a Romeo and Juliet romance between students Sione, a NZ-raised Samoan, and Sarah, a middle class palagi. The film is adapted from Albert Wendt's landmark novel of the same name. Fun fact: Our Minister of Broadcasting Kris Faafoi has a role in the film.

Watch an excerpt from Sons for the Return Home here:

Music is an important part of our Pacific Collection – and there are many music videos from Pasifika artists worthy of inclusion. It's hard to just pick one, and it's hard to go past this catchy number from Sisters Underground from 1994. It's been widely sampled – from TV2 to Air New Zealand. The video is made by celebrated photographer Greg Semu and director Kerry Brown.
Check out In The Neighbourhood here:

"Morningside for life!" That was the catch cry of the kids from bro'Town – an animated series about five Auckland school kids, from the creators of the theatre group Naked Samoans. The show was a hit with adults and teens alike. In what other TV show could you witness Prince Charles, Chris Knox and Helen Clark all singing a song about togetherness in a completely un-PC way?
Watch bro' Town here:

Tokelau is a New Zealand territory, spanning three small South Pacific atolls. In the 1960s the New Zealand Government expressed concern about over-population, and instigated the Tokelau Islands Resettlement Scheme. This documentary follows the journey of a group of Tokelauans who chose to migrate to Aotearoa – where they have to learn to adapt to telephones and horses just outside their new home of Te Puke.
Watch Atoll People here:

Following on from the successful Waru in 2017, Vai follows a similar collaborative filmmaking model. Nine Pasifika women filmmakers tell 10-minute-long stories from a woman's life journey. Set in locations across the Pacific (including Aotearoa), the stories are connected by empowerment and water (vai).

See the trailer for Vai here:

Last but not least… how could we forget Pauly Fuemana and his worldwide breakthrough song, How Bizarre? After the first video for the song was rejected, this version directed by Lee Baker was finished just as How Bizarre went to number one in NZ. Shot on a soundstage in Ponsonby and at Ellerslie Racecourse for a budget of $7,000, it was shown on US networks 14,986 times in 1997 and 1998.

Watch How Bizarre here:

See more of NZ On Screen's new Pacific Collection HERE.