SPASIFIKmag.com intern DOMINIKA WHITE was at Pollywood Six08 and finds out why it is one of Celebrate Pasifika month’s most popular events.
The highlights of this year’s Pollywood Six08 short films capture the passion of the Pacific people through rhythm – with a film about a Fijian dance competition and one of a church group from Mt Albert.
Kate Stevenson’s film, Laga Meke: The Koro Island Meke Competition, documents a Fijian school dance contest held on the remote Koro island in Fiji.
Stevenson experiments with freeze frame to capture the essence of the often energetic and expressive meke dance.
“I really like going to watch live dance but it’s kind of annoying when it’s gone,” she says, “with filming you’re never going to get the same experience, I like playing with the way that you can document dance,” she tells SPASIFIKmag.com.
Olivia Muliaumasealii’s fast-paced, rhythmic documentary follows a mainly Pacific Island church-based group in Mt Albert who run the ‘Dream Centre’.
Her film uses a quick-cutting technique and uplifting soundtrack to set the mood of a busy volunteer organisation working hard in the community - a topic she hopes to capture more of on film.
“I’m really interested in grass roots stories because those are the stories that are untold. Those are the stories that celebrate what our people are doing. Other than being statistics in the media they are helping (the fight against) crime and graffiti. They are basically the unsung heroes for not only Pacific but ethnic communities,” she says.
Other films include a documentation of Christchurch talent group ‘Pacific Underground’, a story about a half-cast Tongan girl and a very short art film about an ancient chief who returns to modern day Guahan (Guam).
These films were part of nine picked for their representation of Pacific people by Craig Fasi of the Media and Interdisciplinary Arts Centre (MIC).
The final screening of Pollywood Six08 is on Thursday 20 March at the Otara Music and Arts Centre.
