PFF FILMS
2018 PFF PREMIERE
BRISBANE & CANBERRA
LAEF I SWIT (LIFE IS SWEET)
Feature
A newly formed all female singing group, 'Tamure Party' fronted by a controversial, sexually ambiguous MC, 'je suis neutral'. The group explore through song and dramatic reenactments, the life of Sonia and her partner Max. The film switches from sections reimagined in the nightclub in front of an audience to scenes from their life set in the informal settlement areas of Port Vila, Vanuatu's capital. But does the group speak with one voice? Will Max divide them? Can they really work together to free Sonia from her abusive partner?
Recommended for audiences 15 years and over
BRISBANE
QUEENSLAND MULTICULTURAL CENTRE
Thurs 27 Sept 7pm
LEITIS IN WAITING
Feature
Leitis in Waiting is the story of Joey Mataele and the Tonga leitis, an intrepid group of transgender women fighting a rising tide of religius fundamentalism and intolerance in their South Pacific kingdom. With unexpected humour and extroadinary access to Tonga's royals and leaders, this emotional journey reveals what it means to be different in a society ruled by tradition, and what it takes to be accepted without forsaking who you are.
Recommended for children to view with an adult
BRISBANE
QUEENSLAND MULTICULTURAL CENTRE
Fri Sept 28 8.30pm
CANBERRA
NATIONAL FILM & SOUND ARCHIVE
Sat 6 October 4pm
THE OPPOSITION
Feature
In a David-and-Goliath battle over land in Papua New Guinea, Joe Moses, leader of the Paga Hill Settlement, must save the families before they are evicted. Battling it out in the courts, Joe may find his community replaced with an international five star hotel and marina development.
Recommended for mature audiences
CANBERRA
NATIONAL FILM & SOUND ARCHIVE
Sun 6 Oct 2.00pm
A BOY FROM RAROTONGA
Niu Kids Shorts
A grandmother is forced to look after a grandson she never knew she had. Now in a difficult situation, she must learn to accept the mistakes of her past and reconnect with family she thought had forgotten about her.
Recommended for all audiences
CANBERRA
NATIONAL FILM & SOUND ARCHIVE
Sat 6 October 12.30pm
I HINANAO-TA (OUR JOURNEY)
Niu Kids Shorts
This film explores the origins of the Chamoru people, the first peoples to settle Micronesia almost 4000 years ago.
Recommended for all audiences
CANBERRA
NATIONAL FILM & SOUND ARCHIVE
Sat 6 October 12.30pm
PANGUNA
Talanoa Shorts
In the midst of a civil war a woman is torn between her childhood and her future. The strength of her family continues to drive her through all her troubles.
Recommended for all audiences
BRISBANE
QUEENSLAND MULTICULTURAL CENTRE
Fri 28 Sept 6.30 pm
CANBERRA
NATIONAL FILM & SOUND ARCHIVE
Sun 7 October 2.00pm
SALAMASINA'S DAUGHTERS
Tales of Oceania Shorts
Salamasina's Daughters is set in South Auckland, New Zealand, following two Samoan female chiefs, specifically orators, tulafale, a role traditionally for men only. Aruna Po-Ching follows a 73-year old grandmother and a cultural language teacher and we discover their challenges when speaking as a tulafale and what they are doing with their chief titles to serve their family and community.
Recommended for all audiences
CANBERRA
NATIONAL FILM & SOUND ARCHIVE
Sun 7 October 4pm
SCARDY PANTZ
Niu KIds Shorts
Tavales will be tavales, right? But if you spend too much time being a smarty pants it could bite you in the scaredy pants luvequ.
Recommended for all audiences
CANBERRA
NATIONAL FILM & SOUND ARCHIVE
Sat 6 October 12.30pm
THE SEED
Niu Kids Shorts
'The Seed' is about a young New Zealand boy, Toby, who arrives on Rarotonga with his mother and her fiancee. The couple have come to the island to get married, but Toby's against it. While still coming to terms with his own father's death, Toby desperately wants to return to Auckland by any means possible. He steals the wedding rings hoping to sell them to pay for his travel. During his escape he meets an old Rarotongan fisherman, Hahona, who shows Toby that telling the truth can reap rewards far beyond what you'd expect.
Recommended for all audiences
CANBERRA
NATIONAL FILM & SOUND ARCHIVE
Sat 15 Sept 12.30pm
POWER MERI
Feature
Power Meri follows Papua New Guinea's first national women's Rugby League team, the PNG Orchids, on their journey to the 2017 World Cup in Australia.
These trailblazers must beat not only the sporting competition, but also intense sexism, a lack of funding, and national prejudice to reach their biggest stage yet.
Recommended for children to view with an adult
BRISBANE
QUEENSLAND MULTICULTURAL CENTRE
Fri 28 Sept 6.30pm
CANBERRA
NATIONAL FILM & SOUND ARCHIVE
Sun 7 Oct 4.00pm
AIGA
Niu Kids Shorts
In the wake of their mothers death, Leiloa must teach her younger brother to cope without Mum's cooking.
Recommended for all audiences
CANBERRA
NATIONAL FILM & SOUND ARCHIVE
Sat 6 October 12.30pm
MEKE
Talanoa Shorts
The arrival of a trainor's daughter into the midst of backstage preparations before an important boxing match threatens to destroy the relationship between fighter and coach.
Recommended for audiences 15 years and over
BRISBANE
QUEENSLAND MULTICULTURAL CENTRE
Thurs 27 Sept 7pm
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PRAISE SONG FOR OCEANIA (MOVING IMAGE INSTALLATION)
Praise Song for Oceania is a video poem about the ecologies, histories, politics, economies, and the cultures of the Ocean. Poem is written by Chamorro poet Craig Santos Perez and video was created by Hawaiian filmmaker Justyn Ah Chong of Olona Media.
BRISBANE
QUEENSLAND MULTICULTURAL CENTRE
Fri 28 Sept 6.30pm
CANBERRA
NATIONAL FILM & SOUND ARCHIVE
Sun 7 October 4.00pm
ROPU
Niu Kids Shorts
Rōpū explores the vibrant and growing sport of Waka Ama (Outrigger Canoeing) at a secondary school level in New Zealand. The focus of the film are young men aged 15 to 18 from North Shore secondary school, Rosmini College.
The film looks at the ‘brotherhood’ of the Waka Ama team, Te Rōpū Rangatira and takes the viewer through the ups and downs of their first competition at the Secondary Schools Waka Ama Nationals in Rotorua.
Though the guidance of their Maori teacher, Waka Ama coach and their families we learn that Waka Ama for these young men is a connection to culture. It is a way to understand what it is to work as a team, a family, a brotherhood.
Recommended for all audiences
CANBERRA
NATIONAL FILM & SOUND ARCHIVE
Sat 6 October 12.30pm
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SUNDAY FUN DAY
Talanoa Shorts
A teenager's fantasy and a single mum's reality collide, leaving both to grapple a system that doesn't know how they fit in.
Recommended for all audiences
BRISBANE
QUEENSLAND MULTCULTURAL CENTRE
Fri 28 Sept 8.30pm
CANBERRA
NATIONAL FILM & SOUND ARCHIVE
Sat 6 October 4.00pm
2018 FILMS
OUT OF STATE
Shipped thousands of miles away from the tropical islands of Hawaii to a private prison thousands in the Arizona desert, two native Hawaiians discover their Indigenous traditions from a fellow inmate serving a life sentence. It's from this unlikely setting that David and Hale finish their terms and return to Hawaii, hoping for a fresh start. Eager to prove to themselves and to their families that this experience has changed them forever, David and Hale struggle with the hurdles of life as formerly incarcerated men, asking the question: can you really go home again?
Recommended for children to view with an adult
GWALA RISING
Tales of Oceania Shorts
Gwala Rising in the Bwanabwana Islands depicts the revitalisation of traditional conservation practices in the islands of Papua New Guninea. The community of Anagusa Island is combating the effects of climate change and protecting the coral reefs they rely on using gwala: the traditional practice of setting aside a reef or forest area to allow the ecosystem to recover. Gwala is helping the community of Anagusa Island prosper - empowering men and women with improved access to food and livelihoods.
Recommended for all audiences
LIBORIO: AN ARTIST OF THE SOLOMON ISLANDS
Talaes of Oceania Shorts
Liborio Maemari is a painter, carpenter, and boat builder from the artificial islands of Malaita, Solomon Islands. Liborio paints religious imagery for the Catholic church alongside paintings that represent traditional customs of the Solomon Islands.
Recommended for all audiences
NAGHOTANO - WE CANNOT GO ANYWHERE
Tales of Oceania Shorts
The island of Naghotano (Solomon Islands) is less than a kilometre squared and home to about 600 people. While the population continues to grow, rising sea levels are chewing away at Naghotano and the other islands of the Pacific archipelago year after year.
Recommended for all audiences
WAITING
Talanoa Shorts
Two boys wait outside a shop for a phone call.
Recommended for all audieces
LADY EVA
Talanoa Shorts
A brave young transgender woman sets off on a journey to become her true self in the Pacific Island kingdom of Tonga - with a little inspiration from Tina Turner along the way
Recommended for children to view with their parents
LITTLE GIRLS WAR CRY
Talanoa Shorts
Little Girls War Cry is the story of a ten year old curious local girl, Tiare, born on the island of Rarotonga, Cook Islands. Raised by a struggling single mother, whose repeatedly abused by her boyfriend. Tiare shelters herself from reality with her hero-centred imagination, until a prank goes wrong and she must directly confront the violence that stains her childhood and family. Influenced by cultural elements around her and her will to fight back, Tiare discovers not only a deeper-rooted identity, but also an inner strength driven by the power of a mother and child's love.
Recommended for children to view with an adult
MOON MELON
Talanoa Shorts
A group of young Polynesian women trying to break cultural boundaries and gender stereotypes within their community find themselves and something else.
Recommended for children to view with an adult
THE ROOTS OF ULU
Tales of Oceania Shorts
The Roots of 'Ulu transports the viewer from the Polynesian voyaging canoes that brought 'ulu from Tahiti to Hawaii, up through the present day efforts of native practitioners, medical specialists and agricultural experts who have a shared vision of the 'ulu tree playing an important role in Hawaiis cultural preservation, healht restoration and food sustainability.
Recommended for all audiences
TIFA
Talanoa Shorts
In Tifa, Jaftha Pattikawa researches the symbolic and emotional value of the Tifa drum. It is a film, the transfer of cultural heritage and the uniting power of rhythm and free sounds. Originally the 'tifa' is used to bridge the tangible world to the world of spirits and to warn the inhabitants of the Moluccan Islands (Melanesia) of the arrival of the 'Marinjo', a messenger. Every beat has a deeper meaning and belongs to a specific clan. Through time the Tifa got a symbolic significance. Moluccans say: 'as long as the Tifa sounds, our people lives'.
Recommended for all audiences
WEAVING THE FUTURE
Tales of Oceania Shorts
Andy is a Samoan who left behind his dream of studying art to chase a new passion - tourism.
Recommended for all audiences
NEW TO PFF
AEASI - AS FAR AS THE EYE CAN SEE ABOVE THE SEA (360 VR WORK)
There is no direct translation of the word 'horizon' in my family's language but 'aeasi' means: as far as the eye can see above the sea. I see the sea as a living body; a keeper of ancestral spirits and memories; the past and the future, a map for travel; and at the same time, something that remains an ominous threat to my Pacific community due to climate change.
recommended for all audiences
SYDNEY
CASULA POWERHOUSE
Exhibition space
OUR HOME, OUR PEOPLE: FIJI'S CLIMATE CHANGE STORY IN VR (360 VR WORK)
'Vei lomani' is a Fijian expression meaning 'love in action', and it is a value at the heart of Fijian life. And it is in the spirit of 'vei lomani' that Fijians are coming together to respond to the impacts of climate change. Experience the story of Catalina, Rai, Asmita and Rupeni in 360 VR.
recommended for all audiences
SYDNEY
CASULA POWERHOUSE
Exhibition space