Oceania

KORIAM’S LAW is set in the Jacquinot Bay area of Papua New Guinea’s East New Britain Province. Here the Aus­tralian anthro­pol­o­gist Andrew Lattas meets the philoso­pher-infor­mant Peter Avarea of Matong … read more

Told by a sort of inti­mate voice, the film is the nar­ra­tive of eth­nol­o­gist Stéphane Breton’s last trip to a small coun­try in the New Guinea high­lands, where he used … read more

Silent movie with musi­cal accom­pa­ni­ment by Günter A. Buchwald In the wake of the raging suc­cess of his first fea­ture-length docu­d­ra­ma NANOOK OF THE NORTH, Para­mount Pic­tures com­mis­sioned R. J. … read more

Sima Urale’s film O TAMAITI por­trays dif­fi­cul­ties expe­ri­enced by Poly­ne­sian people migrat­ing to Aotearoa New Zealand. Through an explo­ration of her own Samoan cul­ture, Urale address­es issues of finan­cial hard­ship … read more

PARADISE BENT is one of the first cin­e­mat­ic con­sid­er­a­tions of Samoan fa’afafines-male chil­dren who are raised to be women. The film doc­u­ments how in large Samoan fam­i­lies there may be one or two fa’afafines who are not only accept­ed, but also appre­ci­at­ed. Through inter­views with fa’afafines, Samoan elders, aca­d­e­mics, and other res­i­dents of Samoa, the film explores con­struc­tions of gender iden­ti­ty, and the trans­for­ma­tion of gen­dered tra­di­tions with the advent of global cap­i­tal­ism and cul­tur­al tourism. Rep­re­sent­ing how con­tem­po­rary fa’afafines are becom­ing more west­ern­ized, moving away from family units and iden­ti­fy­ing as “trans­gen­der,” the doc­u­men­tary grap­ples with change, per­son­al strug­gle and plea­sure, and shift­ing identities. 

Viki, a sen­si­tive Rotu­man girl lis­tens intent­ly to her father who is telling her the story of the myth­i­cal first inhab­i­tant of the island, the “War­rior Woman”. With her strength … read more

TWO CARS, ONE NIGHT is a tale of first love. Romeo and his broth­er, Ed, sit in the car wait­ing for their par­ents to come out of the pub. This … read more