Discoveries from Samoa World Cinema

Sadie Thompson winds up stranded on an island and while her boat is being quarantined, she manages to stir up the blood of every marine on the base.

Adam is a 22 year old New Zealand born Samoan guy who falls for Mary. On a 'chance' encounter he learns that Mary only wants to go out with a 'real island guy' - not a plastic one. Adam realizes that to get rid of his 'plastic' ways and impress Mary, he'll have to travel to Samoa and have his cousins teach him how to be a real island guy. Three Wise Cousins is a feature length comedy, that will have you laughing from start to end; it's a film unlike any other that will surprise you with it's endless amount of 'wisdom'.

Eight connecting moments of seemingly different lives thread together Vai’s journey of empowerment through culture over her lifetime. Beautifully shot over seven Pacific countries, and played by a different indigenous actress in each place, Vai links together a story of family, culture, and at times, isolation. A delicate exploration into the meaning of growth, adaptation, and most notably, a connection to water and home.

Recording a 24-hour period throughout every country in the world, we explore a greater diversity of perspectives than ever seen before on screen. We follow characters and events that evolve throughout the day, interspersed with expansive global montages that explore the progression of life from birth, to death, to birth again. In the end, despite unprecedented challenges and tragedies throughout the world, we are reminded that every day we are alive there is hope and a choice to see a better future together. Founded in 2008, it set out to explore our planet's identity and challenges in an attempt to answer the question: Who are we?

'The Forgotten Pacific' travels to five Pacific islands to discover how communities are weaving indigenous knowledge into the modern-day fight to adapt, rebuild and save their islands from climate change.

Imagine being a young, upwardly mobile executive successfully making your way in the world. You’ve got a great job, some good friends and have been tasked by the boss to close a do-or-die deal. Now, imagine that closing the deal takes you to a country where you don’t speak the language, you don’t understand the culture and, if the deal falls through, it will cost you your career. Well, that’s exactly the situation Henry faces. Henry has never known family or loyalty. Now, he has to convince the Matai of a village that these are exactly the characteristics he and his company embody. Further, his growing attraction for Tua, the Matai’s daughter, is making him question if his career is really what’s most important to him. If he can’t balance all these competing interests, Henry may lose it all: his job, his career and, most importantly, his one true chance at love and acceptance.

The Pacific region is among the most impacted in the world by climate change. As part of a legacy of systemic oppression, Indigenous Pacific Islanders with disabilities are particularly at risk. Because they are less likely to be formally employed, their livelihoods depend on fishing and farming – which have been significantly affected by climate change. Rising Tides, Raising Voices is a call for intersectional, inclusive, community-led solutions to the encroaching global crisis.

The film is a valuable treatment of archival footage that George Milner shot while conducting fieldwork in 1955 and 1959. The footage (18 minutes of the total film) focuses on the traditional Samoan way of life. Then the footage is discussed and analysed by Christina Toren, a South Pacific specialist, and Reverend Lalomilo Kamu, a Samoan scholar. The interview gives a rare opportunity to hear a scholar from the filmed group comment on and explain the symbolism behind the pictures.

Samoana recounts events and personages of Samoa's history in its 3000 years of settlement. Having left southeast Asia several centuries before, these seafaring people and exponents of the lapita culture made the Samoa island group their home. They developed a culture which retained elements of their original, and embraced new aspects as they adapted to a different environment.

A fa'afafine retelling of Cinderella, but with a cast of Samoan transgenders and drag queens!

After having a nightmare about his grandfather, Tala looks his mother for answers. She recounts a tale about Tala's grandfather and how he got his name. In this tale, she tells him about his grandfather's friend, a monkey named Susie, and their journey to Pulotu, a place without light.

Documentary about Samoa and the myth that it is paradise.

When a young Samoan woman is stricken with bleeding stigmata during an Easter church service, she is forced to confront both adoration and condemnation while struggling to maintain her life as a wife and mother.

“e lele le toloa ae ma‘au lava i le vai”—the duck flies far but will always return to water. Vaimoe dares to look at love and growth after loss and tragedy within the Samoan community. It addresses ideas of migration, identity, belonging, and exploring what it means to return to an ancestral homeland.

The western part of Samoa has been independent of New Zealand since 1962, but a strong chain of emigration to New Zealand continues to tie the two countries together. This film follows a young Samoan family over a period of some weeks before they join the migrant exodus. The young couple experience the tensions of separation from their closely knit families. There is a serious conflict between the couple and the wife's parents, which threatens the marriage. The husband considers going without his wife. Eventually, however, the family comes to an uneasy truce which allows husband and wife to emigrate together.