PFF FILMS
2016 PFF PREMIERE
FEATURE FILMS
A PIECE OF THE CAKE (YUMI GO KALE)
New Zealand 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
AUCKLAND
WESTGATE
Thurs 17 Feb
7.00pm
BEING BRUNO BANANI
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
AUCKLAND
MANUKAU
Sat 18 Feb
7pm
WELLINGTON
THE EMBASSY
Sun 26 Feb
5.30pm
MERCENARY
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
AUCKLAND
MANUKAU
Fri 17 Feb
8.30pm
WELLINGTON
THE EMBASSY
Fri 24 Feb
6.30pm
SHORT FILMS
THE SPECTACULAR IMAGINATION OF THE POHARA BROTHERS
Niu Kids on the Block 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
AUCKLAND
WESTGATE
Sat 18 Feb
3.00pm
WELLINGTON
THE EMBASSY
Sat 25 Feb
2.00pm
MAISA THE CHAMORU GIRL WHO SAVES GUAHAN
Niu Kids on the Block Shorts
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
AUCKLAND
WESTGATE
Sat 18 Feb
3.00pm
WELLINGTON
THE EMBASSY
Sat 25 Feb
2.00pm
BLACKBIRD
Talanoa Shorts
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
AUCKLAND
QUEEN ST
Sun 19 Feb 5.00pm
WELLINGTON
THE EMBASSY
Sun 26 Feb
3.00pm
SMITHS AVE
Talanoa Shorts
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
AUCKLAND
QUEEN ST
Sun 19 Feb 5.00pm
WELLINGTON
THE EMBASSY
Sun 26 Feb
3.00pm
ADORN
Tales of Oceania
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
AUCKLAND
MANUKAU
Tales of Oceania
Sat 18 Feb
5.00pm
WESTGATE
Tales of Oceania
Sun 19 Feb
12.00pm
WELLINGTON
THE EMBASSY
Tales of Oceania
Sat 25 Feb
6.00pm
THE CHIEFS SPEECH (TO THE UNITED NATIONS)
Tales of Oceania
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
AUCKLAND
MANUKAU
Tales of Oceania
Sat 18 Feb
5.00pm
WESTGATE
Tales of Oceania
Sun 19 Feb
12.00pm
WELLINGTON
THE EMBASSY
Tales of Oceania
Sat 25 Feb
6.00pm
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
AUCKLAND
MANUKAU
Tales of Oceania
Sat 18 Feb
5.00pm
WESTGATE
Tales of Oceania
Sun 19 Feb
12.00pm
WELLINGTON
THE EMBASSY
Tales of Oceania
Sat 25 Feb
6.00pm
BOY STRIKES BACK
Niu Kids on the Block Shorts \ NZ 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
AUCKLAND
WESTGATE
Sat 18 Feb
3.00pm
WELLINGTON
THE EMBASSY
Sat 25 Feb
2.00pm
SLINGSHOT
Niu Kids on the Block Shorts
Frankie is a 10 year old kid on
summer vacation at a run down
trailer park. When Tayla, a 10 year oldgirl, shows a romantic interest,
Frankie’s holiday becomes a whole lot more complicated. Slingshot is an amusing analogy on modern love told through the eyes of one of its latest
victims.
Recommended for all audiences
AUCKLAND
WESTGATE
Sat 18 Feb
3.00pm
WELLINGTON
THE EMBASSY
Sat 25 Feb
2.00pm
FORGOTTEN DAWN CHILDREN
Talanoa Shorts
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
AUCKLAND
QUEEN ST
Sun 19 Feb 5.00pm
WELLINGTON
THE EMBASSY
Sun 26 Feb
3.00pm
THE PROMISE OF PIHA
Talanoa Shorts
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
AUCKLAND
QUEEN ST
Sun 19 Feb 5.00pm
WELLINGTON
THE EMBASSY
Sun 26 Feb
3.00pm
TWO STEPS BEHIND
Talanoa Shorts
Pressure from the world they live in cause Chris to think twice about older brother
Mana and himself. Whether he lets this rule their brotherhood will see the course
of his life forever.
AUCKLAND
QUEEN ST
Sun 19 Feb 5.00pm
WELLINGTON
THE EMBASSY
Sun 26 Feb
3.00pm
FALEVAI FLAVA
Tales of Oceania Shorts \ NZ 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
AUCKLAND
MANUKAU
Tales of Oceania
Sat 18 Feb
5.00pm
WESTGATE
Tales of Oceania
Sun 19 Feb
12.00pm
WELLINGTON
THE EMBASSY
Tales of Oceania
Sat 25 Feb
6.00pm
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
AUCKLAND
MANUKAU
Tales of Oceania
Sat 18 Feb
5.00pm
WESTGATE
Tales of Oceania
Sun 19 Feb
12.00pm
WELLINGTON
THE EMBASSY
Tales of Oceania
Sat 25 Feb
6.00pm
DOCUMENTARY FILMS
TE MANA O TE MOANA
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
AUCKLAND
WESTGATE
Sat 18 Feb
6.00pm
WELLINGTON
THE EMBASSY
Sat 25 Feb
4.00pm
IN FOOTBALL WE TRUST
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
AUCKLAND
MANUKAU
Fri 17 Feb 6.30pm
WELLINGTON
THE EMBASSY
Fri 24 Feb 8.45pm
SONS OF HALAWA
The last native resident of a sacred Hawaiian valley searches for a successor to keep cultural traditions alive.
Recommended for all audiences
AUCKLAND
MANUKAU
Thurs 16 Feb
7.00pm
MELE MURALS
New Zealand Premiere
Mele Murals is a documentary on the transformative power of modern graffiti art and ancestral wisdom for a new generation of Native Hawaiians. At the center of the story are two former illegal graffiti writers turned community artists - Estria Miyashiro (aka Estria) and John Hina (aka Prime) - a group of Native Hawaiian youth, and the rural community of Waimea.
AUCKLAND
WESTGATE
Fri 17 Feb
7.00pm
WELLINGTON
THE EMBASSY
Thurs 23 Feb
8.30pm
KUMU HINA
Kumu Hina is a powerful feature documentary about the struggle to maintain Pacific Islander culture and values within the Westernized society of modern day Hawaiʻi. It is told through the lens of an extraordinary Native Hawaiian who is both a proud and confident māhū, or transgender woman, and an honored and respected kumu, or teacher, cultural practitioner, and community leader.
AUCKLAND
QUEEN ST
(Opening night)
Wed 15 Feb
7.00pm start
8.30pm screening
WELLINGTON
THE EMBASSY
Thurs 23 Feb
6.30pm
TEP TOK
The documentary follows four women of Papua New Guinea and Australian descent as they explore their tattooing traditions on a journey which takes them from Australia to Papua New Guinea, New Zealand, Samoa, Tahiti, Cook Islands and back.
AUCKLAND
MANUKAU
Sun 19 Feb
2.00pm