Down Under Berlin - Maria
When a family crisis strikes, an ailing Polynesian matriarch must find the strength to unite her fractured family.
Interview with Director Jeremiah Tauamiti
Watch Maria on NZ films on demand
Congratulations! Why did you make your film?
This film is based on a true story from the writer’s own family and the passing of his niece, to whom the film is dedicated. Taofia Pelesasa wrote the script as a tribute to the women of his ‘aiga – extended family – and their resilience. Fia wanted to show the quiet strength of mothers who shoulder the burden of responsibility for elderly parents and young children, often in silence. Maria is a film about loneliness and grief, but also about hope and love. The film was shot in Fia’shome community of Rotorua, in New Zealand’s North Island.
For myself, I loved the honesty of Taofia’s writing, and wanted to try and honour it by putting my own take on it as a director. I had seen our Producer Karin Williams’ work as a director with her own documentary/drama ‘Mou Piri- A Rarotongan Love Song’, so I knew I was going to be working with Pacific Island film makers that were guardians to speak, of different Taoga or treasures of our communities.
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
This film is based on family, and the fractured relationships that can exist in families. But it’s a real homage to the woman in families, who often are left to hold them together.
How do personal and universal themes work in your film?
Everyone wants to feel like they belong to someone or something special. Family is everything in Pacific Island societies. Much like culture, it plays a big part in our way of life as Pacific people. As a director, I want to make films that emphasize these kind of themes because personal themes like love, forgiveness, hate, they’re all universal themes and whether they play out in big political arenas or at home, they all come down to a personal story.
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development?
When I was first approached with this script, it was a slightly different story but significantly different in the grand scheme of things (I can’t say too much if you haven’t seen it) While talking with Taofia, I tried to peel back some of the layers of why he wanted to tell this story. I hassled the poor guy at crazy hours of the night and morning about questions about his family. What his grandmother was like, what she looked like, what was his aunty like, everything. I went to him with some thoughts of my own and he was really giving as a writer and ultimately as an uncle, a brother, a brother in law, because this is based on his family.
We made one small change, however, that changed everything in the film and we took it to our producer Karin Williams and she challenged us to make sure we still had structure, and clarity and kept us honest as story tellers. As a producer Karin is very protective of our stories, and a real fighter which you need as a director and I always felt both challenged but really supported by her. She has a great relationship with Taofia too, which was made our whole process transparent, and you need that honesty in a film production at those crucial early stages of script development. In the end, our process as Pacific film makers enabled us to make a film that we are very proud of and humbled by.
What type of feedback have you received so far?
The feedback has been overwhelming. Our pacific community are a thriving online community, we stay in touch via online because the Pacific diaspora is world wide - from Europe to the Americas we are everywhere! But no matter where you go, family is everything so we’ve heard from Pacific communities from all over the world and winning the ‘Crowd Favourite’ Award in the PBS online film festival was testament to that.
That award was a result of over 1 million watchers and that’s really humbling for us. It also played at the Wairoa Maori Film Festival, and it won the “Moana Award”, for Best Pasifika Film. It played recently at Présence Autochtone: Montreal First Peoples Festival, and soon at the Nukualofa Film Festival, so we’re really happy that Maria is really spreading her wings so to speak, and it makes us strive to keep telling our stories and to keep honest to who we are as film makers.
Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
Surprised in a way because the feedback has come from so far away, but not surprised as well because we knew that our people would connect with this story. It’s universal themes however speaks to all people. We had a small screening recently and a European woman came up to me and at the end of the film, she just came up to me and hugged me, she was very emotional but she couldn’t speak English. She didn’t have to really. Those moments you never forget as a film maker.
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
We really just want people to acknowledge our way of life, and our beliefs. Seeing minorities on screen is something important to us, and this cast is spearheaded by strong Pacific women.
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?
The film is still in its festival run, and we’re really happy that it’s continued for so long. I guess with all the different kind of films that have epic looks and feels to it, some people just want a simple story that’s relevant to them. We just want viewers to feel connected to one another especially their families when they watch this.
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?
For people to be open when they watch this. It is a very spiritual film, based on Pacific Island families, but it’s universal as well. If people can go come away from this film feeling love and empathy for others then we’ve done what we set out to do.
What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?
How long has it been since you honored your family members?
What other projects are the key creatives developing or working on now?
My producer Karin Williams is now working for The New Zealand Film Commission and is deeply involved in all films produced in New Zealand. She has been influential in supporting Pacific film makers throughout the country.
I am in post production with my next short film called “Liliu”, a Samoan courtroom drama set in post WWI Samoa, and I am also in post with a feature documentary called “Paper Run”, that I am the co-director of with Vea Mafile’o.
The writer, Taofia Pelesasa is currently based out of Sydney, Australia & working on the initial stages of a documentary on the Pacific Slave trade to Peru (Blackbirding) as well as a web-series called "Parramatta" set around Pacific boys pursuing the Rugby League's cut-throat dream in Western Sydney.
Interview: September 2017
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We Are Moving Stories embraces new voices in drama, documentary, animation, TV, web series and music video. If you have just made a film - we'd love to hear from you. Or if you know a filmmaker - can you recommend us? More info: Carmela
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MARIA
When a family crisis strikes, an ailing Polynesian matriarch must find the strength to unite her fractured family.
Length: 13mins
Director: Jeremiah Tauamiti
Producer: Karin Williams
Writer: Taofia Pelesasa
About the writer, director and producer:
Jeremiah Tauamiti is a New Zealand-born Samoan raised in Christchurch. Jeremiah graduated from the New Zealand Broadcasting School and works as a director and camera operator for national Pasifika programmes, including Tagata Pasifika, Fresh and The Coconet. He is a member of Goodfellas, the team chosen six times by Sir Peter Jackson as Wild Card finalists in NZ’s 48 Hours Film Festival. Jeremiah runs acting and directing workshops with community groups, and helped establish Pacific Islands film festivals in Melbourne and Tonga.
Karin Williams began her career as a journalist on the South Pacific island of Rarotonga and went on to work for broadcast networks in New Zealand and the United States, where she wrote, produced and directed award-winning programming for US and international television. Karin’s independent film projects have screened at festivals around the world. Now based in Aotearoa (New Zealand), Karin continues to champion indigenous stories through her work as an independent producer and development executive.
Taofia Pelesasa is an actor and writer from Rotorua in New Zealand’s central North Island, now living in Sydney. His first international performance was with the New Zealand Young Shakespeare Company, performing Antony and Cleopatra at London’s Globe Theatre in 2006. Fia graduated from Auckland’s Unitec School of Performing and Screen Arts with a degree in screen performance, and has appeared in television programmes and theatre productions in New Zealand, Australia and Edinburgh. Maria is his third short film script.
Key cast: Leiataua “Ma” Siulepa, Mary Lauait, Fua’o Teli
Social media handles:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MARIA-745025995594906/
Funders: The New Zealand Film Commission
Made in association with: Multinesia Productions
Where can I see it in the next month?
FIFO (Tahiti), ImagiNative (Canada)