Selection of FIFO 2026 Films
COMPETING FILMS
Ten to fifteen films are selected in the Competing Films category each year because they are the very essence of FIFO. While several themes mesh the FIFO selection, the films in this category testify both to the great diversity of Oceania but also to the technical quality of film productions in the region.
Before the Moon Falls
After being diagnosed with a mental illness, acclaimed Samoan writer Sia Figiel uncovers the origins of her pain. But her journey toward healing carries an unspeakable cost, revealing a deeply personal and profoundly affecting story…
Being Niuean
The film reflects the story of many Pacific Islands, where migration empties homelands and turns villages into ghost towns. It follows those who stayed, those who left, and those who returned, exploring how identity continues to evolve in the hearts of the diaspora and the steadfast guardians of home.
Emily: I Am Kam
This film honours the legacy of Emily Kam Kngwarray, one of Australia’s most significant and prolific artists. It explores the power of her work and the role it plays in protecting her Country, Alhalker.
Ma Rue
In Papeete, 38-year-old Marama bears the marks of a disability and a life spent on the streets since her adolescence. Through hardship, motherhood, and addiction, she keeps moving forward, still holding onto her smile. Now enrolled in a reintegration program, she remains deeply connected to “her street,” questioning both the possibility and the meaning of ...
Manae Feleu, Captain Futuna
Captain Futuna profiles Manae Feleu, captain of the French women’s rugby team, future doctor, and ambassador for the often-overlooked island of Futuna. Through her journey and commitment, the film explores identity, tradition, and the challenges facing France’s overseas territories, a path navigated between cultural roots and modern aspirations.
The Haka Party Incident
On May 1st, 1979, a group of young Māori and Pasifika activists, which later became known as “He Taua”, confronted engineering students at the University of Auckland who were rehearsing a “mock” haka for their end-of-year parade. The clash that followed forced the entire nation to confront systemic racism and set in motion a process ...
The Promise
In the 1960’s, West Papua was moving toward independence, until global power struggles intervened. Using uniquely restored and colorised archival footage, The Promise brings this hidden history to life, exposing how an entire people were systematically betrayed and oppressed.
The Stolen Children of Aotearoa
A historical and contemporary account of the New Zealand governments’ systematic war against Māori children. The Stolen Children of Aotearoa exposes a legacy of harmful policies and the lasting impact they continue to have on Māori families and communities.
The War Below: Restoring Hope in the Solomon Islands
In the Solomon Islands, the forgotten centre of the Pacific War, WWII bombs continue to kill and injure families every year. The film follows Loretta, widowed and crippled, struggling to raise her children, and Maeverlyn, scarred for life. Through their stories, it exposes a humanitarian crisis the world still refuses to confront.
Yurlu | Country
A vivid tribute to land and an intimate, moving portrait of an Aboriginal Elder in his final year, fighting to reclaim his homeland, a place scarred by Australia’s “Chernobyl,” the most contaminated site in the Southern Hemisphere.
NON-COMPETING FILMS
The non-competing films presented at FIFO are a selection of complementary films which can shed new light, or even a new approach in the way of approaching the issues of the Pacific.
De Gaulle, la bombe à tout prix !
How did France acquire its nuclear capability? This documentary explores the origins of the French atomic program, from the early tests in Algeria to those carried out in Polynesia. Featuring rare footage of de Gaulle in Moruroa and exclusive firsthand accounts, it sheds light on the political and military decisions behind a long-hidden chapter of ...
Fatal Watch
Four marine observers disappear under troubling circumstances. This gripping investigation seeks to uncover why. From the islands of Fiji to the coasts of Ghana, the film exposes the dark side of the global tuna trade, a sprawling oceanic realm where the pursuit of profit all too often outweighs human life.
Fenua Vice
Beneath its postcard beauty, Polynesia is being eroded by ICE. Heimoana, Ingrid and Charles share intimate accounts of the drug’s devastation: shattered children, fractured families, and a suffocating taboo. As the crisis spreads across all layers of society, a grassroots movement emerges, calling for urgent action to confront this growing epidemic.
Hortense, la reine de l’île des Pins
This film tells the story of Kanak leader Hortense Kanedjo Vendegou, a key figure for the Kunie people. Through the testimonies of those who keep her legacy alive, her journey intersects with the stories of the Paris Commune deportees and the Kabyle uprising. An inspiring heroine from the past whose vision continues to illuminate the ...
How To Poison A Planet
This film uncovers how “forever chemicals” came to contaminate every corner of the planet, triggering an environmental crisis that stretches from the heart of New York City to the shores of Australia and far beyond.
L’héritage des Lapita
A journey through time following the Lapita people of the Pacific ocean, ancestors of today’s Polynesians. Combining archaeology and contemporary history, the film traces their remarkable migration and explores how their legacy continues to shape Pacific societies today.
Le Sanctuaire Sasi de Papouasie
Raja Ampat is one of the most pristine places on Earth. The Sasi sanctuary in Papua stands as a tribute to environmental protection and traditional stewardship. This film reveals how, with limited resources, Papuan communities have successfully protected their habitat and natural wealth—offering an inspiring model of conservation.
Les foulards rouges, l’histoire oubliée
“We’re going to create a new people! That was their vision!” recalls L. Chivot. “A desire to breathe, to speak, to love,” adds N. Naisseline. This film brings to light a forgotten chapter: an inclusive decolonial dream born in the spirit of May ‘68, shattered by the violence that marked the 1980’s. It tells the ...
Les Mots Qui Blessent
Heiva Taure’a 2024: students from Maco Tevane College create a heartfelt performance addressing the issue of bullying. The film follows the making of their show, revealing a new generation using culture and creativity to deliver a powerful message: bullying destroys and must be confronted.
Marlon Williams: Two Worlds (Ngã Ao e Rua)
Follow a singer-songwriter from Aotearoa on an introspective journey as he explores his roots and creates his very first album in Te Reo Māori. An intimate quest for identity, where artistic creation becomes a language, and language becomes a message.
Nouvelle-Calédonie : un retour aux racines
Born deaf in New Caledonia and raised in mainland France in pursuit of a better future, Wallès returns to his homeland forty years later. There, he meets the local deaf community and confronts his complex, layered identity: deaf, Kanak, and raised in France. An intimate journey toward belonging and self-reconnection.
Ŋa Hinarere
In 1955, Thor Heyerdahl’s expedition drew global attention to Rapa Nui. While the world focused on the fallen moai, the island’s people continued to live under Chilean naval rule. This film revisits how Lázaro Hotu and his community, defying colonial doubt, raised their ancestors’ faces once again and reclaimed a stolen memory.
The Raftsmen
Twelve misfits from seven different countries join an explorer’s audacious dream: to cross the Pacific Ocean on three handmade wooden rafts, navigating only by the stars and the sun. Battling storms, sharks, and their own inner demons, they embark on an extraordinary six-month voyage, the longest raft expedition in history.
The Shape of Things, the Dick Brewer Story
This documentary traces the life of Dick Brewer, a pivotal figure in surfboard design. It explores the inventive mind of a visionary whose innovations reshaped the sport of surfing not once, but three different times.
Sukundimi Walks Before Me
As a mining project threatens the headwaters of one of the last great wild rivers, the people of the Sepik in Papua New Guinea launch an Indigenous-led resistance to protect its waters. Through stories of struggle and life along this “mother river”, the film explores an existential fight for the survival of a land and ...
SHORT FILMS
The “Short Films” is the annual event that opens the door to the region’s audiovisual know-how and on the storytelling talent of our Oceanian cousins. An evening to travel to the borders of Oceanian stories, cultures and imaginary worlds! This evening will focus on the themes of family, love and identity.
He Mo’olelo Wahi Pana
Told in the Hawaiian oral tradition, this moʻolelo follows two sisters traveling across Hawaiʻi. Their journey weaves together love, ancestry, memory, and land, revealing the island as both an ancient family and a living archive of culture and transformation.
Nothing is Impossible: The Primanavia Story
With only six weeks to prepare for the World Choir Games, the newly formed Fijian choir “Primanavia” faces seemingly impossible odds. What unfolds is a moving story of faith, a deep love of music, and an unrelenting drive that proves anything is possible.
Papa Tom, From the Seas to the Stars
This film traces the extraordinary life of “Papa” Tom Davis, a major figure from the Cook Islands. A traditional navigator, the first Pacific scientist to work with NASA and a doctor devoted to island communities. He pushed the boundaries of both the seas and the stars. The documentary shows how his brilliance and dedication saved ...
Ngadjuri, Spirit and Songs of Country
What does it mean to be Aboriginal, the first people of Country? This film shares culture, knowledge, and a deep connection to Country. Filmed on Ngadjuri First Nations land in regional South Australia, it offers an intimate reflection on identity, heritage, and belonging.
Land Back!
From Aotearoa New Zealand, this film takes us on an immersive journey into the Hīkoi, the Māori people’s long walk, driven by their steadfast fight to protect their rights and lands from Christopher Luxon’s conservative government. Through this powerful movement, the film highlights the enduring shadows of colonisation and the struggles that persist today.
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Fearlessli
After her gender identity was denied in her homeland, Lee Li, a transgender asylum seeker, was forced to leave behind her country, her family, and her language. What follows is a profound journey toward freedom, belonging, and self-empowerment.
The Forgotten Soldiers of Niue
The little-known story of Niue’s “Forgotten Soldiers”: 150 men taken from their island home and sent to the freezing frontlines of WWI France to fight a war that was not their own. But the Niuean soldiers never reached the battlefield, many died along the way, lost to illness and the brutal journey itself.
16th Oceanian Fiction Night
Since 2007, FIFO has opened its screens to fiction. The idea: a selection of short fiction films, each lasting less than 30 minutes. Diversity, creativity, identity, originality, traditions and modernity, a few portraits, a quality selection. Not to be missed… and to be enjoyed without moderation!
Fa’aheimoe
After discovering a mysterious book, a woman is drawn into a world of dreams. She wanders through a realm where reality and imagination blur.
The Pumpkin
On Halloween night, in the dim hallways of an apartment building, a young girl finds herself hunted by a mysterious man. The line between danger and imagination grows thinner.
Pākehā
In 1980s, New Zealand, a young Pākehā mother’s determination to learn Te Reo Māori, exposes her struggles, resilience, and courage, in an inspiring true story of cultural reconciliation.
Wait, Wait, Now!
Two best friends raid mum’s wardrobe and discover a world where they can be fearless, fabulous, and free. But when the parents catch on and their secret queer bubble faces the test of reality.
Live from the Alice
A sensationalist news reporter is sent to the remote outback town of Alice Springs to cover the town’s struggle with social disorder and is reluctantly paired with an easy going local camera operator with deep ties to the community.
Pierrot Lenquette
Pierrot Lenquette is a man, that it shows. He is also a private detective and that, it doesn’t show. One morning he reads in the News: “There is nickel in the tap water…” His day changes suddenly, driven by an investigation he hadn’t planned.
The Sandbank
Alone on a strip of sand in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, three young girls play happily on the beach surrounded by crystal clear waters. As the high tide approaches, their whole world would be undone by the arrival of a single plastic bottle.
First Drop
Ted, a reclusive retiree, is reluctantly tasked with caring for his Pakistani neighbour’s 8-year-old daughter, Saleha. What begins as an awkward favour blossoms into an unlikely friendship, until painful memories threaten to break it apart.
Rapido
A Māori boy’s favourite war comic, filled with fantastical action and adventure, sparks his imagination. During a spiritual cleansing, he discovers his estranged grandfather was a World War II veteran.
Küī
Inspired by a true story. In the face of her mother’s absence and her father’s alcoholism, 12 year old girl, Küī, rises above her age, caring for her brothers and confronting life’s harsh realities.
The Arrangements
In Kalihi, a working-class neighborhood of Oʻahu, three Micronesian boys have just one day to arrange the funeral of their friend who passed away too soon and to search for the treasure he claimed to have hidden. A sensitive portrayal of childhood, grief, and solidarity within Hawaiʻi’s Micronesian community.
The Wake
Following the death of his father, an emotionally deflective son’s attempt to return home and reconnect with his mother are strained when she reveals that she has seen a giant sea monster carcass on the beach.
French