A Fijian in Maoriland – my first Film Festival experience as a newbie filmmaker

It’s March 2020. COVID is starting to rear its ugly head, poised to carve a swath of destruction across civilization. In the midst of this madness, a first time filmmaker from Fiji decides to try his luck and attend a film festival in Otaki, New Zealand. Long story short – despite borders closing, he actually made it to the Maoriland Film Festival 2020…only to be told at its doors that they had just closed the festival down.

Needless to say, I wasn’t surprised, but I was definitely gutted. One of the Trustee, Tania, who gave me a tour of the Maoriland Hub sighed. ‘You really should see this place when it’s in full swing. So full of life and creative…excitement.’ She motioned to the empty yard, ‘You need to see it for yourself. So…see you next year?’

Well it wasn’t a year later but 2 years still counts.

‘Soli Bula’, my 2nd animated short film, was accepted once again into the Maoriland Film Festival for 2022, so I knew I definitely had to make it this time.

What was I expecting at Maoriland? To be honest, I wasn’t going in with any preconceived notion of any sort, as this was, while technically my 2nd Maoriland visit, my first proper film festival attendance as a filmmaker. I’ve read tips and tricks about how to maximise your visit to a film festival, dos and don’ts, how to generate hype etc. Needless to say I immediately forgot everything once I landed in cold, windy Wellington, New Zealand.

And as luck would have it for this poor Fijian Islander, the Film Festival was held in the middle of Winter. Thankfully it wasn’t raining or that would have been an extra layer of misery, but the cold certainly made me thankful I made the effort to buy a warm jacket before flying over.

However, whatever crisp chilliness I was feeling outside, it was quickly replaced with the warm greetings I received by the organisers of Maoriland. Matilda Poasa was the front-facing visitor handler, looking after all the concerns and accommodations of all the visiting filmmakers and she was a familiar face I had the pleasure to meet, as she was the unfortunate bearer of bad news back in 2020. However, her friendly and bubbly demeanour was a welcome sight in both years and I was certainly delighted to once again meet her.

At the start of the Festival, we were taken to the nearby Marae where all the visitors were given the traditional maori welcome, a pōwhiri. It was my first time to be part of the ceremony and I was thrilled to be in it. Also witnessing the local school kids take part in the welcome, performing the haka and singing in te reo was a welcome sight. Then we were bundled inside the warm Marae where speeches in Maori were given, often with great gusto. Seeing the back and forth ceremonial calls and replies, songs and chants spoken in Maori really warmed my heart, providing a great start to a film festival that was all indigenous, all the way.

And the strong indigenous theme was apparent throughout the week, with the beginning of each event having a maori greeting and chant before starting. Also it was great to see the young people leading the events and the Q&As, comfortably MC’ing in Maori.

With each social gathering, everyone was really supportive of each other. The main questions people asked each other and me were, ‘who are you, do you have a film here, what time is it’ with a ‘I’ll go watch it if I can’ tacked on at the end. And the majority of the filmmakers I talked to did indeed show up at my screening, which in itself was a huge boost to my confidence levels.

And trust me – I needed it. The ‘imposter syndrome’ was in full effect, as I really felt shy and out of my depth. While I had indeed made 2 animated short films, I never felt like I properly belonged amongst other filmmakers who’ve made more, and even full length feature films. But during that week, ego and pride was nowhere to be seen. Filmmakers everywhere were interested in my project, asking me questions about its content, production and story. And vice versa, I was super interested in other people’s projects, their trials and tribulations getting it made and interesting aspects of their productions. In the end, while I’ll confess to never quite getting rid of that feeling, I did bury it enough to feel like I belonged. And everyone there helped me get there.

My short film ‘Soli Bula’ was due to be screened on Sunday afternoon and I was nervous. I’ve seen my own work countless times, but this was going to be the first time that strangers and non-Fijians were going to be viewing it on the big screen. When I went into the screening hall, I sat by myself, even though I knew people inside. My film was screened with a group of other short films from around the world and although I was nervous at the beginning, I was eventually lost to the dearth of amazing stories told by many talented indigenous filmmakers. I was delighted to witness 2 Hawaiian short films, ‘Ka Ho ªi: The Return’ and ‘Hawaiian Soul’, which had their filmmakers present. After cheering and whooping at their work, they then continued that energy, along with a group of other PI filmmakers, by cheering and leading the applause for ‘Soli Bula’. Needless to say I was choked up with emotion, but put on a brave face for the inaugural screening of ‘Soli Bula’.

Watching ‘Soli Bula’ unfold on the big screen, the atmosphere, sound and large visuals hit me in a way watching it on my small PC screen could never replicate. I knew exactly what was unfolding, and yet I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the film. It was mesmerising. At the end everyone applauded, as did I, both out of not being sure what to do but also at how much of a different, near transformative experience it was to witness your own work on screen, with an audience there with you.

Then they invited 4 of the filmmakers, including me, up front for a Q&A and my nervousness hit a new high. I actually can’t remember what I said exactly during the interviews up there, but I’m told I did great. So I’ll just leave it at that.

After the Q&A and the end of the screening, I was shaking hands with people who came up and said how much they loved the film, when I was ambushed by two Fijian ladies! They were super excited to have finally witnessed a Fijian short film in the Film Festival lineup and I was excited to see Fijian faces! Of course, all the jokes and ribbing soon started and I had to run away quickly afterwards because the next screening was starting up. But man was it great to see some Fijian faces. One of them punched me on the shoulder, ‘Next time you tell us so us Fijians can come down and support you eh!’ And she was right. I didn’t put too much effort into letting the local Fijian community know of my arrival. Partly because I was silly and left it too late to update, but partly because I didn’t think I was anything worth hyping up about. See, there’s that voice of doubt once again. It’s difficult getting rid of it.

On the final morning before I left Otaki and Maoriland, I was sitting outside at the back of the Maoriland Hub, having a chat with Tainui, one of the heads of the Festival. He asked me how my experience was with Maoriland and I gushed. ‘As my first Film Festival experience, it was so great to be amongst many other Pacific Island filmmakers’. He nodded. ‘We created Maoriland to be a place where Indigenous Creatives, Maori, Pacific and around the world, can come and feel connected to one another, to heal, to learn from each other and to grow together.’ I nodded as I recalled experiencing aspects of what he mentioned.

And as I said my goodbyes, he grinned at me with a twinkle in his eyes. ‘You know, next year is Maoriland’s 10th Anniversary. You definitely have to come for that.’

I groaned, then laughed. ‘But I have to make something for that! …guess I’ll have to get started then.’