Discoveries from French Polynesia World Cinema

Claire and Jeanne are twin sisters, united by the same passion: the piano. Coached by their father like athletes, they join the prestigious Karlsruhe Conservatory. They are now competing to be soloists and training for a concert that will make or break their careers. But Claire and then Jeanne discover they are suffering from a serious illness and are slowly losing the use of their hands. With the support of their family and their undying love of music, they will find a unique way to change their fate. An inspiring and moving tale, based on a true story.

Bora Bora is the most popular destination in French Polynesia, certainly because of its lagoon, considered the most beautiful lagoon in the world. In this context, the islet could have sunk under concrete and pollution, and the reef could have been irreparably impacted. However, thanks to the will of a handful of inhabitants including the mayor of the island, Bora Bora is today a model of sustainable development, with water treatment technologies that are 15 years ahead of France, programs to rebuild corals and protect wildlife, educational actions and the rehabilitation of Polynesian traditions such as “rahui” and the establishment of a monitoring network using new technologies. All of this makes the island a veritable open-air laboratory that shows the way for all tropical coastal environments around the world.

A Tahiti is a rugged, forest-clad South Pacific island, surrounded by coral reefs. Its traditional Polynesian way of life has been swamped over the years by foreign influences, particularly that of France. However, the long-awaited re-emergence of traditional culture is the focus of this documentary. We look at some of the people responsible for the cultural revival and their arts including the building of a double hulled canoe, the art of full body tattooing and the fierce dance competitions at the high point of celebration of Polynesian culture, the Tiurai Festival.

A Heiva in Tahiti with the poet John Mairai as troop leader.

A sound short from Gaston Guilbert's Tahiti Films studio.

In the face of her mother’s absence and her father’s alcoholism, 12 year old girl, Küī, rises above her age, caring for her brothers and confronting life’s harsh realities. Inspired by a true story.

Hitimahana is a young woman who embraces life to the fullest with the man she loves and her friends by her side. But an event turned her life upside down. What life is she going to choose?

Meeting with traditional tattoo artist Moana Heitaa. Moana uses the combs. Born in Tahiti, he learned with his Hawaiian mentor Heizea of Soul Pacific Signature, before traveling to the Pacific to deepen his knowledge and rediscover this ancestral art which has continued in Samoa and Tonga.

This historical drama by Henri Hiro brings to life the majestic enthronement of a young king on the sacred marae Arahurahu in Paea, Tahiti. Set entirely in one place and one moment in time, the film immerses the viewer in the intricate rituals of an ancient Polynesian ceremony, portrayed with all its traditional splendor. Over 200 performers—including actors, dancers, musicians, and extras—contribute to this powerful reimagining of the past. The film features choreography by the acclaimed Coco Hotahota and music performed by the group Tereia de Penina.

Benedicte, a woman in search of absolute love, arrives in Polynesia, when a mysterious sailboat appears in the lagoon. Is it chance, coincidence or destiny?

Hui Tarava is a Tahitian dance company based in San Franscico. Led by Angélique Bannag and Justin Froogie Atangan, a troupe of forty people responded to the invitation to Farereira'a launched by Coco Hotahota. Farereira'a is a gathering in Tahiti of international dance troupes practicing Tahitian dance. The film follows them throughout the week of the festival, from the Arahurahu site to the Grand Théâtre of Papeete.

Kava is the drug of the Pacific. A soothing drink that puts everyone on the same level and encourages discussion. Michael Koch, a German linguist who lived in Fiji for a long time, explains to us why he is seeking to reintroduce this social act in Polynesia, while Sébastien Galliot, a researcher at the CNRS, sheds scientific light on this ritualized exchange.

What is the daily life of Turkish Sultan Kosen, the tallest man in the world, like in Bruno Loyale's Magic Circus of Samoa, for a month on the Apogoti site in New Caledonia? Some accuse the circus of exploiting it, what is it really? Sultan has been making a living performing in the Pacific Islands for years.

Chronicle of the first tattoo festival which was held at the end of March and beginning of April 2017 at the town hall of Faa'a in Tahiti. With Moana Heitaa, Pai Aritai, Patu, Tuatini Tamata, Tana Tokoragi, Estelle Anania miss Ink Girl France 2017 godmother of the festival and around fifteen young tattoo artists for whom it was the first festival.

Everyone knows Pitore in Moorea. Pitore is a sculptor, farmer, fisherman, canoe builder, fare builder, masseur and tattooist. He also makes medicines based on medicinal plants.

Pilot of an animated series dedicated to wildlife in the Rangiroa sector, an atoll in the Tuamotu archipelago.

Filmed between 1980 and 1983, Tärava is considered the founding work of documentary cinema in Tahitian and embodies the link between the Polynesian and his ancestral land. To the rhythm of songs, hïmene tärava, the film takes us to discover our mountains and our valleys, and the story of the birth of the tärava. Filmed by Henri Hiro, Angelo Oliver and Harris Aunoa, Tärava looks back on the period during which missionaries settled in Polynesia. They never ceased to prohibit traditional songs and dances because they expressed in their eyes the perversions and lust of these pagan peoples. Drums and flutes, the basic instruments of Polynesian music, were thus banned. Only choral singing was permitted.

Many dancers, group leaders, musicians, all generations, all "schools", all sensibilities combined, under the leadership of Coco Hotahota have decided to pay tribute to Pauline Dexter, to bring together their talents, to share their emotions so that the memory of the one who dedicated her life to dance and who guided them with so much passion will never be extinguished. "Horo'a" is a film that opens and closes the parentheses of a great moment of generosity.

Michel Toofa Pouira Krainer, known as Chief Miko (born 3 April 1959) is a French Polynesian speaker, sculptor, traditional navigator, musician, singer, customary chief and activist. He played a major role in the Polynesian cultural revival, particularly in the revival of Polynesian tattoos. We accompany Chef Miko to choose good wood. This is an opportunity to hear the testimony of his Dusseldorf counterpart, Andreas Dettloff. Dettloff is a German visual artist living in Tahiti for around twenty years, who works on popular culture. The meeting with Chief Miko goes so well that a few days later we go to visit Dettloff at his home.

Semetua was Sem Manutahi, master of ceremonies and central figure of the "Tipaerui Valley" association. His role in the association was to find legends, and to set up traditional activities or ceremonies, in the upper valley of Tipaerui in the heart of the island of Tahiti. "This valley has a soul, a spirit that we always respect when we come. He said. It is animated by the spirit of the Mamaia. These people that we rarely met, that we feared and respected also, in the days of royalty. Some say they were healers, others say they were seers." Speaker on several occasions for troops at Heiva i Tahiti, master of ceremonies for the Tipaeui Valley association, Semetua has made his voice resonate on numerous occasions, to tell stories, protect a valley or quite simply defend his convictions.

“Ariipaea-Vahine” is originally a poem by Henri Hiro. This poem will become a play performed several times at the Grand Théâtre and in Moorea by the Pupu Arioi. In 1978, the Matarau cinema unit was created at the Maison des Jeunes et de la Culture. The first film in this department will be an adaptation of the play. In his book "Autonomous Tahiti", Philippe Mazelier defines the piece as follows: "The theme is classic, the parabola transparent: as long as it was faithful to ancestral convictions, Ariipaea passed from the world of men to the world of gods, and Maohi culture was alive. When she converted, the gods stopped speaking to her, and Tahitian culture died. To revive it implies for Henri Hiro to fight Western culture. He calls for a return to basics against the consumer society while the latter, at the same time, is working twice as hard.

Through Maori poet, filmmaker and activist Henri Hiro's life and work, Tahitians struggle to safeguard their own identity in the face of colonial invasion and nuclear tests in Mururoa.

William Albert Robinson became famous in 1931 after a world tour of more than 3 years on a sailboat of only 10 meters long. In 2019, a research centre in his name was inaugurated in Tahiti where he fought to eradicate filariasis. Between these two dates, the film traces the extraordinary life of one of the last navigators of the 20th century. But the film also seeks to reveal the intimate truth of an elusive, complex, and fascinating man.

Te Puna Ora intertwines mythology and reality to tell a powerful story of resistance on the lush island of Mo'orea. Inspired by the legend of the goddess Hina, the film follows three exceptional Tahitian women who unite to protect their cherished beach from privatisation, determined to prevent their island from facing the same challenges of Tahiti.

A visual investigation into 12 abandoned luxury resorts in the Society Islands in the South Pacific. These sites tell unique stories of nature reclaiming architecture, of temporality and the impact of resort development. Filmed on Tahiti, Mo’orea, Huahine and Bora Bora, Dream Resort contemplates the complexities of tourism which lie at the intersection of climate change, ocean dynamics, human action and economic policy decisions.

Aged 83, Taverio Richmond is doing well. He is very involved in defending the indigenous rights of the Polynesian people. Particularly when it comes to land. He still climbs trees like a real chimpanzee. He is worse than Tarzan, his friend Tapu says of him.

In Tahiti, Vaininiore has the reputation of being a red-light district. However, while walking there, we will meet young people full of joie de vivre, smiling, a little rowdy... They spend their days playing football on the field, and at five o'clock every evening they have training with Hentz Tinomoe, the neighborhood colossus, three times Polynesian Thai boxing champion in the super-heavyweight category. His club, Team Arupa, is one of those fairly tight sub-groups: to be admitted you must first run to the dike, then put on gloves and exchange blows. Unknown to the general public, they chose pragmatism.

Tatak ng apat na alon tribe, is better known in English as Mark of the four wawes tribe. Made up of just over 150 members, this collective based in Los Angeles popularizes traditional Filipino tattooing around the world. At its head for more than twenty years, we find the famous artist Elle Festin and his wife, Zelle Festin.

The first time Patu joined a tattoo shop was in 2004 with Tavae Norbert. Wanting to deepen his knowledge of Polynesian history and culture, which he did not know at all, he then joined the Tahiti Art Craft Center. At the Center Patu is lucky to have Philippe Aukara as a sculpture teacher. This new guide teaches him a lot about composition and patterns. The legends, the traditional songs, the design of the nasal flutes, the canoes, the instruments, the percussion. The language too. Today Patu has his own salon and makes a living from tattooing. He dances and fully lives what he loves to do. When you love what you do, you can only be smiling and feel good about yourself... For the young people who know him in his neighborhood and who see him evolve today, he is a very good example.

Coming from a long line of singers, since his father, his grandfather and even his great-grandfather were known for their musical talents, Barthélémy Arakino was born in 1956. He grew up among the Tuamotu and its district of Outumaoro, in Tahiti. The boy learned to write songs from his father, in the Paumotu language of Hao. At nineteen, he went to France for the first time with the army. The success of his first song recorded in the studio, On my return from metropolis, opened the world to him. He was thus able to travel in Europe and the United States, performing on various stages. Barthélémy has long been the only singer to make a decent living from his royalties in French Polynesia. Filmed just before his death in 2015, this film is the only documentary dedicated to this sacred monster.

They were unveiled to the world through Herman Melville's immortalizing novels, Gauguin's paintings and Jacques Brel's songs. The Marquesas Islands, this archipelago of French Polynesia, still remain hazy in the western world. They are wild lands still scarcely inhabited; they are a land with rough relief; they are a land where men and nature, still primitive and untouched, live side by side. But most of all, the Marquesas Islands are the land of a an exceptional people: men.

Roonui Anania, Chimé and Purotu started tattooing themselves and tattooing in the street, by snatch, that means with sewing needles attached to match sticks, then electric razors. Indian ink in a beer cap and off we went. Then Tavana Salmon brought back the first pig tooth combs, which they were not able to use for long due to hygiene. Impossible to sterilize. We had to go back to the electric razor, look for solutions. This film tells the story of the rebirth of Polynesian tattooing, then its expansion, told by the three greatest masters of Polynesian tattooing.

Sampaguita Jay is one of the black and gray tattoo specialists in France. With the Mark of the Four Wawes Tribe collective, she popularized traditional Filipino tattooing, where she was originally from.

Tefana Tufaimea is a figure from the commune of Faa'a, on the island of Tahiti. He is the champion of traditional Maohi sports in the aito category (stone lifting, fruit carrier race and canoe). He is also a dancer and Mister Mini Heiva. Portrait of a discreet man who deserves to be known.

The "Globe of Death" is a sensational, very dangerous circus act, which was popularized in the United States by Douglas Mac Valley. Mac Valley ended his days in Samoa, and he passed the baton to Bruno Loyale who has been presenting the "Globe of Death" in his Magic Circus of Samoa for thirty years. Within the Magic Circus of Samoa, three motorcycles compete in the metal globe. In 2019, for the first time a woman is at the helm: Yudy Serna Rodriguez is Colombian. In his family, all his brothers fly around the globe. She is the only girl. Her husband Sébastien Moreno Delgado is her partner in the globe. The third man is Brazilian. Together Yudy and Sébastien open and close the Magic Circus show, first with an aerial acrobatics number, then in the globe. They also rehearse a spectacular new number.

Team Arupa is Hentz Tinomoe. He is a good coach, patient, a little tough when it comes to training... There is a good atmosphere, good understanding, a good spirit of cohesion at Vaininiore, VNR for the young people... A united team. This film chronicles the Team Black Devil gala in Vairao, a slightly hectic evening of Thai boxing, but which allowed the Federation to move things in the right direction.

Almost all young people in Vaininiore are into sports. Some in the dugout, others in football, volleyball, but most are in boxing. Thai boxing. Behind the Eastern Bridge fire station in Papeete, the Vaininiore district has the reputation of being a red-light district. This is where a hard core of around twenty fighters trains in the evening, but there are new ones arriving all the time... Not all of them last long... Team Arupa is Hentz Tinomoe. He is a good coach, patient, a little tough when it comes to training... There is a good atmosphere, good understanding, a good spirit of cohesion at Vaininiore, VNR for the young people... A united team. In this film, Team Arupa VNR goes down to the Vairao peninsula for Team Black Devil.

Roland Tiaipoi is a Thai boxing trainer in Tahiti. He takes care of the young people in his neighborhood of Tipaerui, he channels them. It's long-term work, as Roland Darrouzes, president of the Tahitian Federation of Thai Boxing and associated disciplines, says. Roland is not alone, Polynesia has around fifteen clubs. Unknown to the general public, he chose pragmatism.