It’s a tradition of FIFO: organizing a special evening on the eve of the festival’s opening. This year, the Maori film Cousins was screened in the Grand Theatre of the House of Culture. Adapted from the eponymous novel, this film recounts the story of three Maori cousins. A story written, directed and performed by Maori women.
Three women, three paths, three perspectives… The Cousins film It tells the story of three Maori cousins with different destinies. They are linked by blood but separated by circumstances. Mata is abducted from her family and lives a lonely childhood, in fear. Makareta runs away from an arranged marriage to study law. Missy, on the other hand, takes on the role of land guardian. The two women have made a promise: to bring their stolen cousin Mata home… Adapted from the eponymous novel by Patricia Grace, published in 1992, Cousins highlights the perspective of Maori women on their lives and the impact of British colonization. The novel was written by a Maori woman, and the film was also directed by two Maori women. «It was time for stories about Maori women to be heard and seen because there was a great drought at that time in the community. That’s why I was very keen to tell this story but also to inspire Maori women to get behind the camera,» says co-director Briar Grace-Smith during a Zoom meeting a few minutes before the film’s screening at the Grand Theatre on Monday evening. It took years to see this novel adapted on the big screen. It took time for time to do its work and for the times to change, finally, for Maori women to emerge behind the camera but also on the big screen.
Tell a story
Bria Grace-Smith teamed up with another director to write the screenplay, Ainsley Conder. Although the idea of co-writing a screenplay might seem surprising for a fiction film, it takes on a whole new meaning in its construction. «We knew that we would have the same vision and we had decided that we didn’t have to have only one director. It was even a pleasure because I didn’t have all the responsibility; I had someone to help me. We had disagreements before filming but not on set. We both decided which scenes we would inspire and which we wanted to make. For the editing, we were together in the editing room and we edited in four weeks during the lockdown via Zoom.» From page to screen, it took four years for the directors, who also had to face another challenge: that of finding the right actresses to play the roles of the characters at their different ages Child, young adult and adult. A difficult casting since it was necessary to find children and Maori actresses. «We searched in the region where the protagonists of the book came from. We held many auditions for the children in many schools. We had to find children with talent but who also had to embody the spirit of the older actresses. It was a huge puzzle,» the director tells Franck Philippon, an acclaimed screenwriter who moderated this meeting before the screening at the Grand Théâtre. A screening that left no stone unturned among the Polynesian audience of the Maison de la Culture.
The link, this essential element
Heimiti is a student at the ISEPP; she came with these classmates for this evening. All of them felt emotional at the end of this special screening of FIFO. «I cried… This film touched me very much; we are all brothers, we are all connected,» the young student said. Hererii, her friend, was touched by the strong bond between the members of the family of these three cousins. « It is inspiring and also shows the importance of the bond and attachment to the land of the ancestors. ». Tevahitua, a master's student at the University of French Polynesia, identified with the protagonists of the film.« I recognized myself as a Polynesian in this connection to family and to the land, Especially for us who are currently experiencing a real estate boom. Returning to the land is important and is not just a matter of economics but of belonging and identity,» explains the 23-year-old young man. The story of these three Maori cousins resonates throughout Oceania. That is also the strength of FIFO.
Article written by Sulianne Favennec
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