By Mary Lyn Fonua

There are many different ways of being Tongan, say creative sisters Vea and Emily Mafile'o, in Nuku‘alofa today, talking about their work in photography and film making and what it means for young people of Tongan heritage to grow up in New Zealand.

The sisters are part of two interesting events open to the public this week in Nuku‘alofa. Together, the Ancient Futures Symposium and Nuku'alofa Film Festival are featuring an unprecedented number of artistic and creative events to be held at the Tanoa Hotel.

A film directed by Vea Mafile’o, called ‘For My Father’s Kingdom’, will be featured on Friday evening, October 11, at 6:00pm.  Speaking at the symposium this afternoon, Vea says the film documentary, produced by her own company Malasi Pictures in Aotearoa, looks at different ways of being a Tongan.

“It goes deep into understanding why we are frustrated,” says an emotional Vea. Her film involves her family relationships. Her father Saia comes from Tongoleleka, Hihifo, Ha‘apai, and her mother, Fiona, from New Zealand. “We love Tonga, but there are some things that are crazy that we can’t get our heads around. So we are here to talk about it.”

Her documentary, fresh from its world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival 2019, has won a special Jury Award at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival. The documentary was funded by the New Zealand Film commission in collaboration with Malosi Pictures & Kingston Productions.

Vea says her first opportunity to work in film and television came from Stan Wolfgramm (Drum Productions) in New Zealand. (Stan is also in Nuku'alofa to present at the symposium.) Vea has gone on to direct and produce several films of her own. This upcoming Tongan woman film director believes it is important to create space for older people to talk to younger people. “In New Zealand Tongans have the highest Pacific males suicide rate in New Zealand. Why is this? It is important for space for this talanoa to take place and break down barriers.”

Tongan values

Vea’s sister, Emily Mafile'o, who works at the Auckland Art Gallery in public programming, presented her photographs portraying relationships in the diasporic Tongan community. “They acknowledge that there are many ways to be Tongan.”

Emily says, “I can’t practice or live my Tongan values the same way that my father did. I live in a different way, not a traditional way.”

She asks: “As artists how do we navigate the Tongan core values when we live in Aotearoa? When we are constantly being taught about women’s rights, about LBGT rights, about self confidence and about positive body image?”

The Nuku'alofa Film Festival, which began on 25 September, saw a full house for the local premiere of Vai (with local Tongan director Ofa-Ki-Levuka Guttenbeil-Likiliki). The festival continues to feature international and national short films this week on Wednesday and Thursday evenings. It concludes on Friday showing the documentary, For My Father’s Kingdom, to be attended by the filmmakers and cast.

Tongan art and history

Tomorrow and on Thursday morning the symposium called “ ‘Amui ‘i Mu‘a -Ancient Futures: Late 18^th and Early 19^th Century Tongan Arts and Their Legacies” continues “to celebrate the material culture of Tonga and connects ancient artisans with contemporary artists, academics, and local creatives across all genres”.

A research team led by Dr Phyllis Herda of Auckland University, supported in a project funded by the Marsden Fund of the Royal Society of New Zealand, is presenting findings from their research trips to collections of Tongan artefacts in the United States, United Kingdom and Europe. Artists Sopolemalama Filipe Tohi and Dagmar Dyck; linguist Dr Melenaite Taumoefolau, anthropologists Dr Billie Lythberg, and Hilary Scothorn are also presenting.

Other international academics include Dr Frank Vorphal, Curator of the Georg Forster exhibition in Germany, which preserves 18 Tongan objects collected on Captain Cook’s second voyage to Tonga in 1772. Dr Vorphal said that Cook's voyage collected over 500 objects by trade or as gifts from Nomuka, and 18 of those had ended up in the Wörkutz Castle collection where they had been preserved for the last 250 years. Replicas of the now fragile items are to be presented by a German delegation for display in Tonga.

Several of the artists in Nuku'alofa this week, including the Mafile'o sisters, are presenting in both the Ancient Futures symposium and the Nuku'alofa Film Festival.