Pacific Film Series, Spring 2014

Thursdays, 6:00 pm start-time HSS 110 (Anthro Lab)

Jan. 30 Once were Warriors. (102 min, 1995). Adapted from Alan Duffs 1990 best-selling first novel, this film is a powerful, disturbing story of domestic violence, urban gangs, and economic stress among working-class Maori families in Auckland.

Feb. 6 What Becomes of the Broken-Hearted? (108 min, 1999). Based on Alan Duff's 1996 novel, What Becomes of the Broken-Hearted?, this sequel to Once Were Warriors follows the main characters reform and redemption. The film won 9 of its 13 New Zealand Film Award nominations in 1999, including Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor and Best Original Music.

Feb. 13 Sons for the Return Home (115 min, 1979) Based on the seminal novel by Albert Wendt, this film is a love story of a Samoan college student in New Zealand and his Pakeha (white) girlfriend. The film reveals the challenges of cross-cultural relationships, and the difficulties of Pacific Islander diasporic individuals, poised between two cultural worlds but fully at home in neither.

Feb. 20 Flying Fox in a Freedom Tree (92 min, 1989). Based on Albert Wendts novel, the film tells the story of young Pepe, growing up in Samoa, and the many tutors who offer him guidance. His friend Tagata teaches him street smarts. His father expounds the trinity of God, Money, and Success. American movies teach him the ways of crime and emotional illusion. But beyond them all stands Toasa, the old high chief who teaches Pepe his true name, and his duty to the continuity of life and his people.

Feb. 27 The New Oceania: Albert Wendt, writer (73 min, 2005). Samoa-born Albert Wendtnovelist, poet, and dramatistis one of the Pacifics leading literary figures. This deeply personal documentary of this influential figure and the renaissance occuring in contemporary Pacific culture was filmed in Samoa, Fiji, New Zealand, and Hawaii. The film traces Wendts life and career and the cultural and artistic activity permeating the region today.

Mar. 6 Siones Wedding: Join the Party (93 min, 2005). A New Zealand Samoan comedy, set in Auckland, the film centers around four Samoans: ladies man Michael, party boy Sefa, good boy Albert, and weird Stanley, who although they are in their mid-20s to early 30s, have a reputation for behaving immaturely at special occasions such as family weddings. Starring the comedy group,The Laughing Samoans.

Mar. 13 Siones 2: Unfinished Business (92 min, 2011). More New Zealand Samoan comedy from The Laughing Samoans; sequel to Siones Wedding: Join the Party.

Mar. 20 Nights in the Garden of Spain (78 min, 2010). Film adaptation of novel by acclaimed Maori author Witi Ihimaera (author of Whale Rider, among other novels and short story collections). Nights in the Garden of Spain was the first gay-themed novel by a major Polynesian writer.

Apr. 3 The Land has Eyes (87 min, 2005). The Land Has Eyes is a full-length feature lm set on the Polynesian island of Rotuma in Fiji. The lm was written and directed by University of Hawaii film professor Vilsoni Hereniko, who was born and raised on the island. The film is a coming-of-age-story about a young woman, Viki, attempting to escape the stifling conformity of island culture. Inspired by the myth of the Warrior Woman, Viki recovers from the death of her father and fights for justice and freedom.

Apr. 10 Morning Comes so Soon (85 min, 2008). This was the first feature-length film to come from the Marshall Islands and it has impressed audiences with not only its artistic filmmaking style but also the fine performances of the amateur actors, most of whom were Marshall Islander and Chinese high school students at the time the film was made. The power of Morning Comes So Soon comes from the rawness of its acting and the immediacy of the themes of both teen suicide and racial hatred; it was in fact the epidemic of teen suicide in Micronesia that first inspired the idea for the film.

Apr. 17 a Noniep (I am the Good Fairy) (108 min, 2009). In Marshallese, with English subtitles. a Noniep deals with the spiritual battle between a ri-anijnij (maker of black magic) and a noniep (a Marshallese fairy-like creature) for the soul of a 13-year old boy, Liki. After a serious car accident involving his father and the family of his best friend, Miko, Liki finds his life threatened by Miko's evil grandmother, Lijimu, who is a woman known throughout the islands as a horribly diabolical maker of black magic. Lijimu casts a spell on Liki, and this drives the unusually nice, polite and studious boy, insane. Only the noniep can help him, but first the noniep must overcome the enormous power of the evil Lijimu. This enchanting battle is waged before the eyes of the boy's parents, his best friend Miko, and his classmates who are all powerless to help him as he descends into a hellish existence. They are forced to watch as Liki deteriorates at an alarmingly rapid pace fighting an illness that no doctor or hospital can cure.

Apr. 24 Yokwe Bartowe (90 min, 2010). In Marshallese, with English subtitles. Yokwe Bartowe is the story of a beautiful young island girl who is kidnapped by an evil demon bird. Bartowe is the girls 20-year-old brother and he was supposed to be watching his sister on the day she mysteriously vanished while swimming in the lagoon. The story follows the life of Bartowe on the first anniversary of his sisters disappearance. The immense sorrow in his life drives him to drinking and disillusionment. Just when his life seems to be heading toward complete disaster, hope comes from an unexpected source: an old woman, who is despised by the island community because shes believed to be a sorceress and capable of performing powerful black magic, attempts to come to the young mans rescue.

May 1 Lainbwils Gift (99 min, 2011). In Marshallese, with English subtitles. Lainbwils Gift is the story of Jacob, an old island man with a complicated secret. When Jacob was a teenager, a noniep, a Marshallese fairy known for helping troubled souls, transformed him from a simpleton into a normal young man. This favor, however, came with a cost: The noniep made Jacob promise that one day he must bestow this new-found intelligence upon another deserving person. After a lifetime of pondering this otherwordly commitment to the noniep, Jacob discovers Lainbwil, a homeless young man...