Festival

Thursday, September 17th
Opening Night: Pasifika On Air Launch
📍Playwrights Horizon
⏱ 5:00pm - 8:00pm

Global debut of Pasifika On Air, a wave-making new platform dedicated to celebrating and amplifying Pasifika stories, voices, and creativity.

Be part of this landmark event as we unveil the platform, hear from special guests, and celebrate this milestone with the Pasifika community.

Join us for an evening of short films followed by a Q&A with filmmakers and a cocktail hour, offering the chance to continue the conversation and connect with fellow audiences and guests.

Malo aupito (thank you) to PCBL and Pasifika On Air for making this possible.

Films: Love and Kastom, Descendants of Niue, Dollar to Dreams

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Pasifika On Air (POA) is a funding programme for Pacific broadcasters to create and tell their own stories. Funded by Pacific Cooperation Broadcasting Limited (PCBL), it is the first initiative of its kind, empowering Pasifika broadcasters to share local stories on a global stage. 
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Friday, September 18th
Dreams to Screens
📍Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian
⏱7:00pm - 9:00pm

Returning for a third year in a row, the Smithsonian's Museum of the American Indian will host a screening and talk back with New Zealand's first gothic horror, Mārama. Grounded in the colonised history of Aotearoa, New Zealand; Mārama was chosen in 2020 imagineNATIVE Indigenous Screenwriting Intensive program, supported by Netflix then for further development in the 2021 Toronto I.F.F. ‘Writers’ Studio’, the inaugural 2021 ‘Black List New Zealand Project’ and the 2022 Zurich F.F. ‘Academy’. MĀRAMA was an Official Project in the 2023 Berlinale Co-Production Market.A bold reimagining of gothic horror, Mārama follows a young Māori woman confronting the violent legacy of colonialism through ancestral power, spiritual awakening and righteous vengeance. Writer-director Taratoa Stappard crafts a visually stunning and culturally resonant film that has been praised for its atmospheric storytelling, unforgettable lead performance and powerful emotional catharsis.
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Presented by
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Saturday, September 19th
Pacific Cinema All Day Long
📍Angelika Film Center
⏱ 2:00pm - 10:00pm
đŸŽŸïž Seven curated screenings

Experience a full day of extraordinary Pacific cinema, featuring award-winning documentaries, feature films and short film collections from across Oceania.

Discover powerful stories of identity, culture, resilience and community that celebrate the voices and traditions shaping the Pacific today. Join us at the Angelika Film Center for an unforgettable celebration of Pacific storytelling.
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SUNDAY, September 20th
Community Screening
📍AMC Lincoln Center 13
⏱ 2:00pm - 5:30pm

Experience a full day of extraordinary Pacific cinema, featuring award-winning documentaries, feature films and short film collections from across Oceania.

Films: Remathau: People of the Ocean, Te Ara - The Path
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Closing Night Gala
📍Ascent Lounge, Columbus Circle
⏱ 6:00pm - 10:00pm

The Closing Night Gala where seven lucky films will walk away with an award and you will get treated to the International Cultural Arts Network's Changemakers Talk. Bringing the forces of Hawai'i writers and actors together to speak upon this year's theme 'Honoring our History' and what they are doing to 'Secure our Future'. And ending the night with the soothing music from Keilana.
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Film Blocks

Special EventsTidal WavesFresh WavesMana WāhineDeep Currents'Onipa’aPacific GiantTOITĆȘ: Visual Sovereignty
Special Events
A Dollar to Dream
LOCATION
OPENING NIGHT — Playwrights Horizon
DATE / TIME
Thursday, September 17th — 5:00pm - 8:00pm
RUNTIME
30 mins
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A Dollar to Dream is a Samoan-language musical about a young street vendor in Apia, Samoa who is determined to provide for his family.
DIRECTED BY
Abba-Rose Vaiaoga-Ioasa
ORIGIN
Samoa
Descendants of Niue
LOCATION
OPENING NIGHT — Playwrights Horizon
DATE / TIME
Thursday, September 17th — 5:00pm - 8:00pm
RUNTIME
—
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Stories of Niue follows the journey of preservation and celebration of Niuean culture, language, and heritage, highlighting the voices and stories of the island's local community navigating life in Niue and the diaspora.
DIRECTED BY
Sandra Kailahi, Vela Manusaute, Jack Tarrant
ORIGIN
Niue
Love and Katsom
LOCATION
OPENING NIGHT — Playwrights Horizon
DATE / TIME
Thursday, September 17th — 5:00pm - 8:00pm
RUNTIME
—
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A Vanuatu-New Zealand documentary following real-life couple Kersom and Benina as they navigate modern romance and traditional kastom around their wedding.
DIRECTED BY
Adrian Stevanon, Rick Malao
ORIGIN
Vanuatu
Mārama
LOCATION
Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian
DATE / TIME
Friday, September 18th — 6:30pm - 9:00pm
RUNTIME
1hr 29mins
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A bold reimagining of gothic horror, Mārama follows a young Māori woman confronting the violent legacy of colonialism through ancestral power, spiritual awakening and righteous vengeance. Writer-director Taratoa Stappard crafts a visually stunning and culturally resonant film that has been praised for its atmospheric storytelling, unforgettable lead performance and powerful emotional catharsis.
DIRECTED BY
Toa Stappard
ORIGIN
New Zealand
Remathau: People of the Ocean
LOCATION
TBA
DATE / TIME
Sunday, September 20th — 2:00 PM - 5:30 PM
RUNTIME
1 hr 12 mins
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The take a journey to the bottom of the ocean with Remathau: People of the Ocean which follows the journey of Dr. Nicole Yamase, the first Micronesian and Indigenous person to dive to the deepest part of the ocean, Challenger Deep, in the Marianas Trench.
DIRECTED BY
Daniel H. Lin
ORIGIN
Micronesia
Te Ara - The Path
LOCATION
TBA
DATE / TIME
Sunday, September 20th — 2:00 PM - 5:30 PM
RUNTIME
48 mins
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A film the follows Holly Beckham (Ngāpuhi) is on a mission to be the first Māori woman to scale Everest. She has no alpine experience, but she has survived the depths of addiction and is climbing a mountain to recovery.
DIRECTED BY
Alexis Smith
ORIGIN
New Zealand
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Tidal Waves -Village East Angelika - Theater 2
Dasher
LOCATION
Village East Angelika - Theater 1
DATE/TIME
Saturday, September 19th — 2:00 pm
RUNTIME
26 minutes
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A down-and-out food delivery driver and a wayward restaurant worker team up for a chaotic night of deliveries on Christmas Eve in Honolulu.
DIRECTED BY
Alexander Bocchieri
ORIGIN
Hawaii
Don’t - Get Married
LOCATION
Village East Angelika - Theater 1
DATE/TIME
Saturday, September 19th — 2:00 pm
RUNTIME
44 mins
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This show follows comedian Bubbah Olo as she is turning 30 and goes to conquer the challenges of adulthood. She dives into the major life topics like homeownership, marriage, and parenthood along with other comedians and real world experts.
DIRECTED BY
Aidee Walker
ORIGIN
Aotearoa
O Alofa Nei, O Alofa Na
LOCATION
Village East Angelika - Theatre 1
DATE/TIME
Saturday, September 19th — 2:00 pm
RUNTIME
9 mins
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Manaia, a young woman caught between expectation and self-acceptance, finds herself confronting her repressed sexuality when a chance reunion with her first love stirs old feelings.
DIRECTED BY
Giselle Ilaoa
ORIGIN
Samoa, Aotearoa
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Fresh Waves - Village East Angelika - Theater 2
Cereal Killers
LOCATION
Village East Angelika - Theater 2
DATE / TIME
Saturday, September 19th — 2:00 pm
RUNTIME
30 mins
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Private Detective-turned-High School Principal James Bundy interrogates three students while trying to solve what he believes to be a serious crime.
DIRECTED BY
Conner Yoshioka
ORIGIN
Hawaii
Cuppa' Joe
LOCATION
Village East Angelika - Theater 2
DATE / TIME
Saturday, September 19th — 2:00 pm
RUNTIME
8 mins
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Beneath the canned laughter of a 1950s sitcom, an Asian-Native Hawaiian couple navigates a dystopian allegory of diaspora, identity, and the cost of belonging in America.
DIRECTED BY
Pono Wong
ORIGIN
Hawaii
Denial
LOCATION
Village East Angelika - Theater 2
DATE / TIME
Saturday, September 19th — 2:00 pm
RUNTIME
7 mins
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A young man struggles with Bipolar Disorder as he begins a new job and flirtation.
DIRECTED BY
Erek Elliott
ORIGIN
Hawaii
Falling
LOCATION
Village East Angelika - Theater 2
DATE / TIME
Saturday, September 19th — 2:00 pm
RUNTIME
16 mins
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Alone in the suffocating quiet of his surrogate sister’s apartment, fifteen-year-old Analu clings desperately to memories of his lost loved one, Iolani, the one person who made him feel seen. The night becomes a battleground of haunting flashbacks and quiet suffering, as Analu teeters between holding on and letting go. Malu, his surrogate sister, fights to reach the part of him still holding on. Falling is a raw, intimate journey through trauma, where the weight of the past threatens to eclipse the connections that remain.
DIRECTED BY
ORIGIN
Hawaii
Ka Pō Lōʻihi
LOCATION
Village East Angelika
DATE / TIME
Saturday, September 19th — 2:00 pm
RUNTIME
12 mins
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Ka pƍ lĆÊ»ihi is an experimental short film about Kekai, a native Hawaiian born into a broken family where violence, drug abuse, and corruption rob him of his innocence. When his single mother passes away, Kekai is left to his own devices and struggles to break free of the generational curse of systemic drug abuse and incarceration. Kekai, a defeated and will-stricken adult, is forced to face his childhood trauma alone in his cell. Will Kekai’s ignorance prevent his journey through the vast darkness to Ho’oponopono?
DIRECTED BY
Josiah Jordan Castillo
ORIGIN
Hawaii
The Whimsical Tale of Wes & Frank
LOCATION
Village East Angelika - Theater 2
DATE / TIME
Saturday, September 19th — 2:00 pm
RUNTIME
5 mins
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Two roommates clash over differing views.
DIRECTED BY
Emi Catanzariti, Kasen Isa
ORIGIN
Hawaii
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Mana Wāhine - Village East Angelika - Theater 1
Adi (Girl Chief)
LOCATION
Village East Angelika - Theater 1
DATE / TIME
Saturday, September 19th — 4:00 pm
RUNTIME
1 hr 5 mins
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A narrative set in the present time, the story follows two siblings of chiefly status in the province of Ra. The natural order of things is that the older sibling takes the role of chief when called upon. Through an unexpected turn of events and retribution of the older sibling, the role of chief ends up falling on the younger sibling, his sister. What unfolds is the struggle of identity and role acceptance within a chiefly household, the courage to own up to one's mistakes and the power of forgiveness.
DIRECTED BY
Adi Tulia Nacola
ORIGIN
Aotearoa, Tahiti, Tokelau, Samoa
I Am Not Your Dusky Maiden
LOCATION
Village East Angelika - Theater 1
DATE / TIME
Saturday, September 19th — 4:00 pm
RUNTIME
16 mins
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I Am Not Your Dusky Maiden is a bold and emotionally charged short drama that follows Ala, a Samoan woman, as she navigates a therapy session to confront the trauma of her past. Living with Dissociative Identity Disorder, Ala shifts between distinct alter egos—each representing a fragment of her psyche and cultural identity.
DIRECTED BY
Vea Mafile'o
ORIGIN
Aotearoa, Samoa
Lady Shaka: Sonic Sands
LOCATION
Village East Angelika - Theater 1
DATE / TIME
Saturday, September 19th — 4:00 pm
RUNTIME
24 mins
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A poetic essay film that moves through the rhythms, bodies, and atmospheres surrounding Lady Shaka, tracing how diasporic nightlife becomes a site of cultural return and reinvention. The film drifts between dancefloors, oceans, memory, and lineage, where sound and movement carry histories that refuse to be erased. At its centre is Lady Shaka, not as a fixed subject, but as a conduit through which ancestral knowledge, queer identity, and Pacific futurity flow. Choreography becomes genealogy, basslines echo whakapapa, and the dancefloor transforms into a space of collective remembering. Here, joy is not escapism but resistance, an assertion of presence in worlds that have long sought to marginalise or silence Pacific bodies.
DIRECTED BY
Ursula Grace Williams
ORIGIN
Aotearoa, Tahiti, Tokelau, Samoa
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Deep Currents - Village East Angelika - Theater 2
Distant Roots
LOCATION
Village East Angelika - Theater 2
DATE / TIME
Saturday, September 19th — 4:00 pm
RUNTIME
15 mins
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In New Zealand, a Tongan father in his seventies labours through the unchanging rhythm of construction work, long after his children have grown and moved on. As the days blur together and time slips away, he is haunted by distance, from his roots in Vava’u, Tonga, and from the family he is still trying to hold onto.
DIRECTED BY
ORIGIN
Tonga
Ei
LOCATION
Village East Angelika - Theater 2
DATE / TIME
Saturday, September 19 — 4:00 pm
RUNTIME
19 mins
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Rebecca escapes her abusive marriage in Aotearoa and returns home to the Cook Islands with her son, where they struggle to reintegrate with the small island culture and her familyʻs tradition of ei (floral garland) making.
DIRECTED BY
Aukai Ligairi
ORIGIN
Cook Islands
Grey
LOCATION
Village East Angelika - Theater 2
DATE / TIME
Saturday, September 19th — 4:00 pm
RUNTIME
9 mins
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A woman's flirtatious encounter at a bar explores the grey area between connection and danger.
DIRECTED BY
'Ana Ika
ORIGIN
Tonga
Tamai
LOCATION
Village East Angelika - Theater 2
DATE / TIME
Saturday, September 19th — 4:00 pm
RUNTIME
5 mins
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A son faces his biggest fear of reuniting with his distant father, who spent 15 years in prison, and now faces a new lifetime sentence - deportation.
DIRECTED BY
Enoch J Lui
ORIGIN
Tonga
What We Carry
LOCATION
Village East Angelika - Theater 2
DATE / TIME
Saturday, September 19th — 4:00 pm
RUNTIME
15 mins
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After years of heartbreaking miscarriages, a woman is ready to abandon her dream of motherhood- until she uncovers a secret that forces her to make an impossible choice about becoming a mom.
DIRECTED BY
Lindsay Watson
ORIGIN
Hawaii
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'Onipa’a - Village East Angelika - Theater 2
Lāhainā: Voices of Change Documentary
LOCATION
Village East Angelika - Theater 2
DATE / TIME
Saturday, September 19th — 6:00 pm
RUNTIME
53 mins
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On August 8, 2024, the town of Lahaina was devastated by a massive wildfire, leaving most of the historic town in ruins. It became one of the deadliest wildfires in U.S. history, displacing thousands of residents and claiming many lives. A year later, this small, close-knit community continues to struggle with rebuilding. The disaster has revealed deeper issues, including the impacts of climate change, land management challenges, dependence on tourism, and the housing crisis. Once the capital of the Hawaiian monarchy, Lahaina holds deep ancestral ties, with families tracing their roots back multiple generations. Now, as the town starts the long process of healing.
DIRECTED BY
Ty Sanga
ORIGIN
Hawaii
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Pacific Giant - Village East Angelika - Theater 1
‘Pacific Giant’ Lomu
LOCATION
Village East Angelika - Theater 1
DATE / TIME
Saturday, September 19th — 7:30 pm
RUNTIME
2 hrs
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Jonah Lomu was rugby’s first global superstar, and for good reason - he was absolutely unstoppable. A sporting warrior who battled all odds to become the All Black’s youngest ever player, he was a superhuman talent who captured the hearts of fans worldwide. Ten years on from his untimely passing, and with exclusive access to his family, friends and teammates, LOMU is the definitive, final chapter on the greatest rugby player the world has ever known.
DIRECTED BY
Gavin FitzGerald, Vea Mafile'o
ORIGIN
Tonga, Aotearoa
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TOITĆȘ: Visual Sovereignty - Village East Angelika - Theater 2
TOITĆȘ: Visual Sovereignty
LOCATION
Village East Angelika - Theater 2
DATE / TIME
Saturday, September 19th — 7:30 pm
RUNTIME
1 hr 41 mins
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TOITĆȘ is a documentary that explores the creation of the largest Māori art exhibition in New Zealand’s history. It illustrates the indigenous self determination challenging institutional power. Highlight the tensions that arrive when challenging those traditional colonial institutions. Q&A Reuben Patterson and Dan Taulapapa McMullin two featured artist in the films, and Chelsea Winstanley.
DIRECTED BY
Chelsea Winstanley
ORIGIN
Aotearoa