48 LISTENER AUGUST 3 2019
by CHRIS SCHULZT
hese days, Vea Mafile‘o finds tears
are never far away. Often, when
she least expects it. Recently,
while waiting to pick up her
mother from work at an Ōtara
primary school, the director ran into the
principal, and talk turned to Mafile‘o’s
new film, For My Father’s Kingdom. Her
mother arrived and joined in. Soon, all
three were weeping in the street.
“Mum started tearing up. He started
tearing up. I started tearing up. This is a
principal ... and we’re crying in public. It’s
weird how this film can just start pulling
the emotions out of people,” she says.
The New Zealand International Film
Festival programme page for Mafile‘o’s
first feature should come with a warning:it will tug hard at your
heartstrings. It’s showing
at the local festival as it
moves around the country
following screenings in the
indigenous section of the
Berlin International Film
Festival in February and the
Los Angeles Asian Pacific
Film Festival in May and
heads to the Melbourne
International Film Festival
next month.
The film was co-directed
by Mafile‘o, who is of Tongan, Māori and
Scottish descent, and her Samoan partner,
Jeremiah Tauamiti. A fine arts gradu-
ate, Mafile‘o began her creative career
making video installations, before she
and Tauamiti started Pacific-focused jointproduction company Malosi
Pictures, which initially
made short films and did
television work. Five years in
the making, Kingdom is their
biggest undertaking yet.
It’s also one of the more
provocative inclusions
in the festival’s line-up,
because of the spotlight it
shines on the church’s role
in the Tongan community.
It makes a compelling case
that Misinale – the annual
tithing event that sees church congrega-
tions making donations many can’t afford- should stop. To emphasise that point,
Mafile‘o turns the camera on her own
family, examining the effect her father’s
financial contributions have had on her
The almighty dollar
Film-maker Vea Mafile‘o shines a light on church tithing in an
affecting documentary about how the practice has hurt her family.
G
ET
TY
IM
AG
ES
NZ INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
BOOKS&CULTURE
Give till it hurts: young performers
adorned with New Zealand currency;
Saia Mafile‘o, opposite page, left.Vea Mafile‘o