Vai

Fiji: In a modest dwelling in Fiji a 7 year-old girl with boundless energy tries to understand why she has to say goodbye to her home country and extended family as her mother prepares her to leave Fiji. Tonga...
New Zealand Production
Feature 2019 Drama 88.00 minutes
Vai20 Image2023202
Vai is a portmanteau feature film made by nine female Pacific filmmakers, filmed in seven different Pacific countries: Fiji, Tonga, Solomon Islands, Kuki Airani (Cook Islands), Samoa, Niue and Aotearoa (New Zealand). It is about the journey of Vai, played by a different indigenous actress in each of the Pacific countries. In each of these Pacific nations ‘vai’ means water.
2019: Berlinale
Māoriland
SXSW
Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian ‘Native Cinema Showcase’ New York
LA Asian Pacific Film Festival
Seattle International Film Festival
Roxbury International Film Festival
Sydney Film Festival
Taormina Film Festival Sicily
Edinburgh International Film Festival
Durban International Film Festival
Woods Hole Film Festival Cape Cod
Asinabka Film Festival Ottawa
Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian ‘Native Cinema Showcase Santa Fe
Film Festival Ludwigshafen
We Are Here Film Festival New York
Port Townsend Film Festival Washington
Women Make Waves Film Festival Taiwan
Arica Nativa Film Festival Chile
Casa Asia Film Festival Barcelona
San Diego Asian Film Festival
Rocky Mountain Women's Film Festival Colorado
Perspectives Film Festival Singapore
Terres des Femmes Women’s Worlds Film Festival Germany
Leiden International Film Festival Netherlands
Polish Federation of Film Societies’ 56th Annual Film Seminal
Aussie & Kiwi Film Festival Prague
Papua New Guinea Human Rights Film Festival
imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival
Hawaii International Film Festival
Musée du Quai Branly Paris ‘D'Auteur-Langues Ancestrales’ film programme
2021: Cinéma des Antipodes Cannes
Festival International du Film Insulaire de Groix
Dublin Feminist Film Festival
2022: Vermont International Film Festival - Indigenous Cinema Showcase
Folk Film Gathering Edinburgh

Directors

Nicole Whippy
‘Ofa-Ki-Levuka Guttenbeil-Likiliki
Matasila Freshwater
Amberley Jo Aumua
Mīria George
Marina Alofagia McCartney
Dianna Fuemana
Becs Arahanga

Producers

Kerry Warkia
Kiel McNaughton

Screenplay Writers

Sharon Whippy
Nicole Whippy
‘Ofa-Ki-Levuka Guttenbeil-Likiliki
Matasila Freshwater
Amberley Jo Aumua
Mīria George
Marina Alofagia McCartney
Dianna Fuemana
Becs Arahanga

Crew

Drew Sturge | Director of Photography
Dione Chard | Editor
Lauren King | Music
Riria Lee | Production Designer

Production Company

Distributor

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