PFF 2016 FILMS
2016 PFF PREMIERE
FEATURE FILMS
POI E
‘Poi E’, a simple song with a catchy beat released 32 years ago, has become New Zealand’s unofficial national anthem. With humour, energy and emotion, the movie POI E is the story of how that iconic song gave pride to generations of New Zealanders. From Taika Waititi giving Stan Walker his quirky take on life in the 1980s to Patea Maori Club members’ straight-talking and funny memories of the song’s visionary originator Dalvanius Prime, director Tearepa Kahi (Mt Zion) captures a unique story that taps into the heart of the nation.
Recommended for all audiences
Tickets available soon
Tickets available soon
BELIEF: THE POSSESSION OF JANET MOSES (MA15+)
New South Wales Premiere
Belief: The Possession of Janet Moses is a documentary film that lifts the veil of secrecy on what became known as “The Wainuiomata exorcism”, to reveal the extra-ordinary true story of how both love and fear could drive a New Zealand family to unwittingly kill one of their own.
A PIECE OF CAKE (YUMI GO KALE)
World Premiere
Life in Vanuatu isn’t all sea, sun and palm trees. For Timothy and his family life is hard. His daughter Betty is out of school because he can’t pay her school fees. His wife works as a house girl and his son hangs around with his friends smoking dope, like many other unemployed, young men. Timothy’s only hope is the political party he supports, and when the man Timothy has collected votes for becomes a Minister, Timothy dreams he will get a job and earn the money to send Betty back into school. But he is not the only supporter looking for work. And to get the job he wants he has to do things that make him question the whole system.
Recommended for audiences 15 years and older
Tickets available soon
BEING BRUNO BANANI
Australian Premiere
Being Bruno Banani tells the unique story of the first and only Tongan Luger who managed to qualify in an amazingly short amount of time for the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi. Through his name he also acted as the first “living brand” using a completely new and disputed way to get around the strict IOC’s Olympic advertising regulations.
Recommended for all audiences
Tickets available soon
MERCENARY
New South Wales Premiere
Soane, a young man of Wallisian origin from New Caledonia, defies his father’s authority to go play rugby in France. Left to his own devices on the other side of the world, his odyssey will take him on the path to becoming a man in a world where there is a price to be paid for success
Recommended for audiences 15 years and older
Tickets available soon
SHORT FILMS
THE SPECTACULAR IMAGINATION OF THE POHARA BROTHERS
Little Coconuts Shorts
Nathan and Christian overhear their Mum needs money to pay her power bill before it's disconnected in twenty-four hours. They use their wit and imagination to try and raise the funds. Upon setting up a lemonade stand they meet Tamara and Alexis whom live next door. With time running out and unsuccessful attempts at selling lemonade, they decide to sell flying lessons to a Grumpy Kuia. She dismisses their lessons but is goaded into trying them- she wagers that if the boys don't make her fly then they will owe her $60. Will she fly? What have they got planned? Will they pay the power before it gets disconnected?
Recommended for all audiences
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MAISA THE CHAMORU GIRL WHO SAVES GUAHAN
Little Coconuts Shorts | Australian Premiere
Based on a beloved classic Legend from the island of Guam, 'Maisa the Chamoru Girl who Saves Guåhan' tells the story of how a young Chamoru girl finds the strength, wisdom, and courage to lead the women of Guåhan (Guam) into battle against a giant creature from the Marianas trench that is devouring their island home. 'Maisa' is the first animated film to feature the endangered indigenous Chamorro language of Guam. For this film cultural and language experts along with the GDOE Chamorro Studies Special Projects Division worked diligently on bringing the language back to its historical pre contact era.
Recommended for all audiences
Tickets available soon
BLACKBIRD
Talanoa Shorts | Australian Premiere
Forced to work on a sugar plantation in Queensland, Australia in the late 1800s, a spirited young Pacific Islander, Kiko, journeys into manhood, and amidst severe oppression and loss, must find his will to survive.
Recommended for all audiences
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SMITHS AVE
Talanoa Shorts | Australian Premiere
An avant-garde look at when a young Maori (indigenous to New Zealand) man's routine is interrupted with a phone call from his estranged father which leaves him pondering events from his childhood before his father left him.
Recommended for audiences 15 years and over
Tickets available soon
ADORN
Tales of Oceania \ Australian Premiere
Adorn is a collection of stories from women around the Pacific about their relationship with their hair. Its a living tapestry of images of our Hair History, Rituals of our Hair and our Hair Stories - a digital conversation that needs to be continued by the viewer
Recommended for all audiences
Tickets available soon
THE CHIEFS SPEECH TO THE UNITED NATIONS
Tales of Oceania \ Australian Premiere
Chief Telematua addresses the nations of the world about climate change, especially sea level rise and its impact on the Pacific islands. He is dressed in traditional attire that includes symbols of authority and wisdom (including a wooden staff, sennit whisk, body tattoos), as well as a gift for oratory.
Recommended for all audiences
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BOY STRIKES BACK
Little Coconuts Shorts | World Premiere
Roni arrives home with his older sister Lola. As he begins to play and build a Lego robot his sister smashes it out of his hands, ruining his work.
Recommended for all audiences
Tickets available soon
SLINGSHOT
Little Coconuts Shorts
An Aboriginal girl, lost and empty after the death of her mother, discovers her past in an unlikely place.
Recommended for all audiences
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FORGOTTEN DAWN CHILDREN
Talanoa Shorts | Australian Premiere
Ioane wakes up to another lonely, cold morning. He turns on his radio, makes his tea, and goes to work. In the middle of his daily routine, he starts to remember how things used to be. Before they came. When people knew.
Recommended for children to view with an adult
Tickets available soon
THE PROMISE OF PIHA
Talanoa Shorts | Australian Premiere
White Sunday weekend has arrived at West Harbourview Church. The church is bustling in preparation and it's youth group is in full-flight as they rehearse for Sunday’s festivities. Amidst the harmonies, Pule struggles with the reality that he will soon be leaving this, his future sealed as a pastor in training at a prestigious Bible College in Samoa. But before he leaves, he will reveal his truth.
Recommended for audiences 15 years and older
Tickets available soon
FALEVAI FLAVA
Talanoa Shorts | World Premiere
A Kiwi mother and daughter who are tapa artists travel from Auckland to the mother's home village of Falevai in Vava'u, Tonga, to work on two big ngatu with the women there. But they don't realise that tapa art is no longer practised there and their visit will resuscitate a heritage art form. For Tui, the daughter, it is her first visit to Vava'u and the idyllic village she has grown up hearing about, but this island paradise comes with a healthy dose of culture shock for the woman used to the hustle and bustle of Auckland.
Recommended for all audiences
Tickets available soon
Karroyul
Tales of Oceania
An Aboriginal girl, lost and empty after the death of her mother, discovers her past in an unlikely place.
Recommended for children to view with an adult
Tickets available soon
I MATAI
Tales of Oceania
A fallen warrior is honored by his brother in an experimental take of the Ancient Chamoru Death Ceremony.
Recommended for children to view with an adult
Tickets available soon
DOCUMENTARY FILMS
TE MANA O TE MOANA
Australian Premiere
In 2011, a group of Pacific people did something extraordinary: In seven traditional voyaging waka/vaka moana they traversed over 20,000 nautical miles of the Pacific ocean, from New Zealand/Aotearoa to Fakarava, Hawaii, America, Mexico, Tahiti and to the Solomons. This voyage was of a scale not seen since the great journeys of Kupe, Tamatea and Nukutawhiti, and it united Pacific People, honouring their teachers and carrying a message of stewardship for the ocean - the vast continent they call home.
Recommended for all audiences
Tickets available soon
IN FOOTBALL WE TRUST
Queensland Premiere
IN FOOTBALL WE TRUST intimately portrays four young Polynesian football players struggling to overcome gang violence, family pressures and near poverty as they enter the high stakes world of college recruiting and the promise of professional sports.
“Engaging...a reflection on the common experience of readjusting one’s youthful dreams.” - VARIETY
Recommended for children to view with an adult
Tickets available soon
SONS OF HALAWA
Australian Premiere
The last native resident of a sacred Hawaiian valley searches for a successor to keep cultural traditions alive.
Recommended for all audiences
Tickets available soon