FIFO 2025. Stephen Stehlin is the producer of Maisuka – Diabetes the Silent Killer, a film screened out of competition at this year’s festival. Stephen has been a pioneer in Pacific broadcasting for nearly 40 years with his production company, SunPix, and its flagship program, Tagata Pasifika. This show has become a cultural reference that amplifies the voices of Indigenous and Pacific communities. His battle cry: transmission and giving visibility to the region’s communities.
Taualeo’o Stephen Stehlin is a great sage. A regular at FIFO for 21 years, as usual, he approaches this festival with love, respect, and admiration. Indeed, Stephen is one of the first professional festivalgoers of the event. “Creating a festival every year in a small country is an achievement that deserves to be celebrated,” Stephen admires. He adds, “And then, it’s like coming home.”
This pioneer of Pacific broadcasting for nearly 40 years, with his production company SunPix and its flagship program, Tagata Pasifika in New Zealand, knows the fenua well. In his youth, he participated in a school exchange in Tahiti with Dr. Jean-Paul Theron. Since then, the two men have maintained a bond of brotherhood for 52 years. Naturally, the producer became the godfather of Laura Theron, the General Delegate of FIFO since 2024. “I am in love with French Polynesia,” he declares.
While the fenua is like his second home, this lover of raw fish has not forgotten where he comes from: Aotearoa, the land of the long white cloud. The man with a heart of gold recalls his early career in New Zealand. “When I was young, I didn’t really know what to do with my life, but I was fortunate to be selected from many young people to work on Māori programs at TVNZ. Back then, I looked a bit like a Māori because my father is Samoan. So, I jumped at the opportunity to work on the only Pacific program that existed: Tagata Pasifika.”
It was a dream opportunity that sometimes turned into a long struggle to make the show legitimate and a cultural reference today. “We must remember that Aotearoa is a Māori nation, but at the time, it was hardly visible. The Palagi / Pākeha / Popoà controlled everything, and we weren’t even represented on television. When Tagata Pasifika hit the screen, there was an immediate connection with the Pacific peoples, and this relationship continues to this day. In the Anglo-Pacific world, our journalists and presenters, as well as the show itself, are very well-known. This recognition continues to surprise us,” Stephen rejoices.
After taking a well-deserved retirement last year, Stephen, as a reminder, points out, “There was a time when, in Aotearoa, the only stories told about Māori and Pacific Islanders were negative, and that still continues today. Our identity is rooted in the moana, the ocean that unites us. We must help each other and value our cultures.”
A mission of visibility and transmission
For 40 years, the one who cherishes his island of Waiheke has defended the indigenous visibility of the Pacific by telling their stories. A hardworking individual, the most important thing for him is that people recognize “our place as a people of this region. Our ancestors made incredible journeys across the ocean; they were sophisticated navigators. The ocean does not separate us, it is what unites us, and that includes French Polynesia too!”
If Tagata Pasifika is now considered a cultural bridge, this collector of films, documentaries, and books humbly celebrates: “Today, it’s less of a bridge than it used to be because we no longer need to justify ourselves to anyone. We celebrate our successes and the beauty of what we are.”
What has always driven him: showing the past to the new generation. “There’s a Māori saying: ka mua, ka muri, which means ‘moving forward by looking back.’ It reflects the idea that by looking at the past, we find the wisdom and direction for the future. Our mission is to ensure this transmission, especially through our elders, who hold the language and culture.”
Resilience, respect, and teamwork are the values he carries every day to achieve everything he undertakes and to change mindsets. To succeed, as a mantra, he repeats and shares this message with anyone who will listen: “Stay true to yourself. Do what’s right. Love your neighbor – even when they drive you crazy.” (laughs)
Although he has announced his retirement from SunPix, the one who enjoys If It Be Your Will by Leonard Cohen has new projects in mind. He is currently working on a documentary about two Samoan brothers who excel in the world of opera.
And while he’s unsure whether this will be his last film, this lively person admits, with a cheeky grin, that he spends too much time watching Netflix with his husband because he’s too lazy to run marathons anymore.
While waiting to return to his island near Auckland to tend to his French tomatoes, which he proudly claims, he is enjoying the Oceanian Documentary Film Festival and reminds everyone of its importance: “There is only one Pacific documentary festival, and it’s called FIFO, right here!”
Jenny Hunter
French