Last Wednesday at Gallery Tavioni a special event was held with the crew of the locally made and produced film Taonga: An Artists Activist.

The film is a 15 minute short documentary on the the life of Cook Islands legendary artist and social commentator Mike Tavioni.

Directed and produced by Glenda Tuaine of Motone Productions and funded by Pacific Islanders in Communication, Creative New Zealand, Bank of the Cook Islands, crowd sourcing and the producers own money, the film not only tells the story of Tavioni’s desire to build the Gallery and Vananga, but deeper than that it weaves part of his life experiences to highlight the resilience and unwavering determination of the man. 

Tuaine said: “Having the private crew screening was a way for me to acknowledge the team that helped me create this film. It is a work I am incredibly proud of. The crew was a creative collective. They all understood the vision I wanted to portray of Mike and Awhitia and through that we all developed new strengths as creatives.”

The all local crew also included Raed Teariki Ra as director of photography and editor, Mo Newport on sound and sound design, Jim Perkins on sound design and music composition, Rudy Aquino on music composition, Mii Taokia as director of animation, Alex King on still photography and second camera, Joy Allsworth as production assistant and stills capture and Ruby Newport and Arikitoa Allsworth as our youth film interns.

“The crew screening was the first time that Mike and Awhitia Tavioni had seen the film and to my relief they loved it as did the crew and my interview subjects. We all had a few tears of celebration at the end of it. I am truly grateful to Mike and Awhitia for trusting me to tell this story,” said Tuaine.

The film has taken 18 months to make with interviews, animation sequences, an original soundtrack and many locations on Rarotonga captured.

The next steps are the film will be finalised by the executive producers in Hawaii over the coming months and then distributed internationally and screened here in the Cook Islands.

“As Covid has forced many businesses to change tack, being able to make this film through the support of Pacific Islanders in Communication and CNZ who funded the bulk of this film meant that new commercial directions have been made possible for Motone and our creative team mates. Again I say the creative sector is the future for the Cook Islands, we just need to create the proper ecosystem here for it to really flourish.”