The film crew of a Samoan historical short film hope to see more Pacific historical films made by Pacific people, as there aren't many on record.
This comes from the filming of a new product called Liliu or 'to turn around', which touches on two distinctive Samoans in the 1920s.
Director Nanai Jeremiah Tauamiti says the filming has been done and are currently at the stage of post-production.
Sela Jane Aholelei has more.
Cast and film crew for Liliu Photo: Liliu Facebook page
Liliu takes viewers to a time when Samoa was administered by New Zealand on behalf of England.
The short film highlights a part of Samoan history of how a courtroom interpreter tried to manipulate a traditional female chief who is standing up for her rights.
Mr Tauamiti says he's always had a passion for stories about the history of the Pacific.
"I really love learning about things that have happened in the Pacific Islands. With this film Liliu, I was very much inspired by things that happened with the Mau movement, which was the independence movement of Samoa, so when I read about that and did research about that, there were just quite a lot of injustices that took place in Samoa at the time post World War I, so I really wanted to make a story about that because we don't really have a lot of historical films about the Pacific, especially made by the Pacific people."
Actor Vito Vito plays the courtroom interpreter and says more Pacific historical films are needed to help educate Pacific people and the wider audience.
"It's a really sad, sad story. I didn't even know that history before, but being in the film, it was like a great opportunity so I can learn about that, that I didn't know about it."
Actress Ana Tuigamala Tuisila plays the character of the traditional female chief.
Ms Tuisila says having a female heroine in a Pacific historical drama definitely pushes boundaries.
"When I read this script, I thought, how wonderful! A female heroine especially in a patriarchal society like Samoa, whose been given the opportunity to pronounce that she's a matai (chief) in the 1920s and be able to speak and stand up for who she is and where she's from against foreigners."
She says there needs to be more Pacific people telling historical Pacific stories.
"It needs to be told that women in Samoa are not oppressed. That women in Samoa back in 1920s had a voice and this character truly displays and portrays the great influence in this woman that could be a matriarchal society as well, so there's equal rights in my view and that needs to be told."
The short film is funded through the Fresh Shorts 30 grant from the New Zealand Film Commission.
Mr Tauamiti and his film crew also planned to release a fundraising boosted campaign, allowing artists to raise funds towards their project in order to get the film out there, and to do justice to the story.
"We were fortunate enough to get given $30,000 (NZD) to make Liliu and had we filmed Liliu in New Zealand then we could have made the whole film with that $30,000 grant, but because we filmed in Samoa and the travel cost and accommodation cost to take over a film crew, it ends up being quite a lot."
He says the donated support will go towards post-production work.
"The Liliu short film boosted campaign, we're trying to raise $10,000 for editing and the grading and the sound post-production, but to be honest, the real aim is $15k and that's just a more realistic figure of finishing off this film."
Mr Tauamiti hopes to deliver to the film commission for critique by November.
The release date of the short film is to be confirmed at a later date.
The boosted page link is https://www.boosted.org.nz/projects/liliu-short-film
Film crew in Samoa for the short film Liliu Photo: Liliu Facebook page
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