THE LAND HAS EYES
(Pear ta ma ‘on maf)

Vilsoni Hereniko
Fiji 2004 | 90 Min. | 35 mm, OmeU

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 and deter­mi­na­tion to sur­vive, she became a role model for young Viki who is shamed by her vil­lage for being poor and the daugh­ter of a wrong­ly con­vict­ed thief. In her fight for the redeem of her family’s name and against a cor­rupt­ed court she enters into a sur­re­al realm tem­porar­i­ly before coming to terms with her per­son­al sit­u­a­tion in a chang­ing world.
Vil­soni Hereniko: “I see myself as a sto­ry­teller who rec­og­nizes that film is the most pow­er­ful medium for telling a story, a medium that has his­tor­i­cal­ly not been acces­si­ble or avail­able to Pacif­ic Islanders. It is my hope that audi­ences every­where will not only be enter­tained by this story, but will walk away with a pre­cious sense about Rotuma, its cul­ture and its people. More than ever before, may we all rec­og­nize that we need the wisdom of our ances­tors. With this film I want to express the ancient Rotu­man belief that: the land has eyes the land has teeth and knows the truth.”