Tokelau: Living by the Sun

Sons from Afar

January 2011 •English

New Zealand hip-hop artist Che Fu and his father Tigi Ness travel to their island homeland Niue for the first time to unravel the shared histories. There they also wow the locals with a performance at the Niue Arts and Cultural Festival.

Kon-Tiki

January 1950 •Norwegian

"Kon-Tiki" was the name of a wooden raft used by six Scandinavian scientists, led by Thor Heyerdahl, to make a 101-day journey from South America to the Polynesian Islands. The purpose of the expedition was to prove Heyerdal's theory that the Polynesian Islands were populated from the east- specifically Peru- rather than from the west (Asia) as had been the theory for hundreds of years. Heyerdahl made a study of the winds and tides in the Pacific, and by simulating conditions as closely as possible to those he theorized the Peruvians encountered, set out on the voyage.

Welcome to Kiribati

June 2012 •English

A oneminutesjr. workshop held in June 2012 in The Republic of Kiribati.

River Deep, Mountain High: James Nesbitt in New Zealand

December 2013 •English

James Nesbitt moved to New Zealand in 2011 when he landed the role of Bofur in Peter Jackson's Hobbit trilogy, but he says the country remains largely unknown to him. Travelling more than 1,000 miles from the tip of the North Island down to the South, the actor finds out more about the place he has called home, visiting areas of natural beauty and learning about the nation's history and traditions. Along the way, he meets former All Blacks player the late great Jonah Lomu, takes a trip around film star Sam Neill's vineyards in Queenstown, catches up with Peter Jackson and goes Base-jumping from the tallest building in Auckland.

Nauru, an Island Adrift

March 2009 •French

A quiet island, lost in the pacific ocean. Nothing worth of interest, until the day a stroke of luck, phosphate, provided by the island's coral core, led the country to incredible heights: in 1975, it became the second richest country per inhabitant in the world after Saudi Arabia... Only to plunge into ruins a few years later.

Niue: This Is Your Land

January 2003 •English

A third generation NZ born Niuean Female surfer, visits her Island of heritage for the first time only to discover there is no surf on Niue. But Mella's visit opens her eyes to the island's other beautiful qualities, the magical water, warm people, and clean unpolluted land. However she also discovers the low population has left the countries future hanging by a thread. This documentary is a record of Mella's journey to regaining her identity and first steps at becoming part of the solution in Niue's restoration of itself.

Tuna: A Fish with a Special Place in My Heart

January 2012 •English

The director explains his love for tuna meat which was in his family for generations.

Paradise Found: The Phoenix Islands

January 2008 •English

In a remote corner of the Pacific, the nation of Kiribati has created the world's largest marine reserve, the Phoenix Islands Protected Area. The reserve covers 410,500 square kilometers and is home to thriving coral reefs and abundant sea life, including sharks and manta rays.

Under the Sea 3D

February 2009 •English

Imagine a world of incredible color and beauty. Of crabs wearing jellyfish for hats. Of fish disguised as frogs, stones and shag carpets. Of a kaleidoscope of life dancing and weaving, floating and darting in an underwater wonderland. Now, go explore it! Howard Hall and his filmmaking team, who brought you Deep Sea and Into the Deep, take you into tropical waters alive with adventure: the Great Barrier Reef and other South Pacific realms. Narrated by Jim Carrey and featuring astonishing camerawork, this amazing film brings you face to fin with Nature's marvels, from the terrible grandeur (and terrible teeth) of a Great White to the comic antics of a lovestruck cuttlefish. Excitement and fun run deep Under the Sea!

Someplace with a Mountain

April 2011 •English

One hour documentary about a special group of pacific islanders. The Lapita Navigators. The proud forefathers of many cultures in the tropical Pacific. They are losing their homes and crops because of sea level rise. Their livelihood and culture are dramatically threatened as the islands they live on are flooding day by day. By chance, a sailor, Steve Goodall, came across them on his travels and discovered they knew nothing about the current forecasts for sea level rise. Once informed they asked for his help. The outcome and conclusion of this story will be told in the context of an event celebrating their living culture, a culture at a cross roads of great importance for all of us.

Banner Bandits

July 2017 •English

During the most celebrated cultural event on the island of Guam, USA (the annual Liberation Day Parade), a group of brave and determined youth come together to effect policy change on the use of alcohol and tobacco signage island-wide.

Anote's Ark

January 2018 •English

How does a nation survive being swallowed by the sea? Kiribati, on a low-lying Pacific atoll, will disappear within decades due to rising sea levels, population growth, and climate change. This exploration of how to migrate an entire nation with dignity interweaves personal stories of survival and resilience.

Nuclear Savage: The Islands of Secret Project 4.1

November 2011 •English

A shocking political exposé, and an intimate ethnographic portrait of Pacific Islanders struggling for survival, dignity, and justice after decades of top-secret human radiation experiments conducted on them by the U.S. government.

Lon Marum

January 2012 •English

A TV-hour length documentary film depicting the relationship between language, culture, place, music, tradition, and magic on an active volcano, in the Pacific nation of Vanuatu, on the island of Ambrym.

Home

June 2009 •French

In 200,000 years of existence, man has upset the balance on which the Earth had lived for 4 billion years. Global warming, resource depletion, species extinction: man has endangered his own home. But it is too late to be pessimistic: humanity has barely ten years left to reverse the trend, become aware of its excessive exploitation of the Earth's riches, and change its consumption pattern.

Vive La France

August 2014 •English

Kua and Teriki will soon get married. They live on the distant Tureia island in the French Polynesia, Pacific Ocean and have just been told that something is wrong with their son Maokis heart. It is a consequence of living only 100 km away from the island of Moruroa, where France has tested 193 atom bombs for 30 years. Several of their family members are sick and Moruroa can soon collapse, which can lead to a tsunami likely to drown all of them. Vive La France is a personal and intimate story about harvesting the consequences of the French atomic program.

Islands of Creation

June 2015 •English

In the jungles of the Solomon Islands, a remote archipelago in the South Pacific, a biologist is attempting to do something Charles Darwin and Ernst Mayr never accomplished: catch evolution in the act of creating new species. Albert Uy is on the verge of an amazing discovery in the Solomon Islands, but there's a threat looming on the horizon. The islands' resources are being exploited, putting all local wildlife at risk. It's a race against time to gather the evidence necessary to prove the existence of a new species before it's lost forever.

Le peuple du requin et moi

October 2023 •French

Iwo Jima: From Combat to Comrades

November 2015 •English

For the men who fought perhaps the fiercest battle of WWII, seventy years have passed. But the memories of those 36 bloody days on Iwo Jima have not. In the spring of 2015, survivors of both sides of the battle returned for the last time to join a Reunion of Honor — a unique, now-peaceful fellowship first forged of fire and bullets.

Hunting in the South Seas

August 1940 •German

The film depicts one of the great hunts the South Sea Islanders. Come schools of fish in one of the bays on the island, so hurry on an alarm signal all the people out to sea to seal off the bay to drive the fish towards the coast and to impose there with spears.