For My Father's Kingdom
A family reconnects to their father and heritage as they try to heal old wounds.
- Filmmaker(s)
- Vea Mafileʻo
- Category
- Full-Length Film
- Subject Matter
- Family, Culture, Religion & Faith
- Featured In
For My Father's Kingdom follows Tongan pensioner Saia Mafile’o and his family as they are stretched to breaking point by the commitment and passion to God that has driven Saia’s life.
This debut feature documentary offers a rich view of how contemporary secular families deal with the rigors of devout Christian tithing, as well as a unique insight into traditional Tongan culture.
Vea Mafile'o - Director & Producer
Vea Mafile’o (Tongan/Maori/Scottish/English) is a freelance television and film director who has filmed extensively throughout the Pacific. For My Father’s Kingdom is her debut feature, which will have its World Premiere at the prestigious Berlin Film Festival 2019. It is the first Tongan feature documentary for cinema, directed by a Tongan female in the World. Her short film ‘Toaipuapuaga - Strength in Suffering ’, was also accepted into Berlin and again will have its World Premiere in the NATIVe section. For My Father`s Kingdom received a special Jury award in the International Documentary section and she received an award for ‘Toaipuapuaga - Strength in Suffering’ at the Wairua film festival.
She has directed television productions, such as TVNZ’s Fresh, Tagata Pasifika and for the web portal The Coconet.tv. She co-founded production company Malosi pictures and she produced and co-directed Digital Fananga filmed in Tonga and produced the award winning Aho`eitu which won the Breakthrough Award at the Sydney Pasifika Film Festival in 2015.
Vea has been a Set Designer and Art Director for numerous features and award-winning short films. She is a co- founder of The Nuku`alofa film festival in Tonga and founder of the Okalani film festival, the first Tongan film festival in Aotearoa. Vea was nominated in 2011 for the prestigious International Signature Art Prize (SAPB).
Four years later, Vea fulfilled a major personal milestone, when her video work Monomono 2.0 was selected for Imaginary Date Line which exhibited at the Venice Biennale that year. She had her first solo exhibition in 2018, Digital Launima at St Paul’s Gallery, Auckland.
She was selected for the Script to Screen Film Up programme and awarded the mentorship of Pietra BrettKelly. She has an Arts Degree, a Post Graduate Diploma in Fine Arts and is the mother of three beautiful boys. She currently has NZFC development funding for her next feature documentary Toa The Stigmata of Samoa.
Jeremiah Taumiti - Director & Cinematographer
Jeremiah Tauamiti is a writer/director, with a passion for Pacific stories. After directing television for 10 years, he directed his first NZFC Short Maria (Written by Taofia Pelesasa), in 2015, which was accepted into many festivals, including ImagineNative, Skábmagovat Film Festival (Finland), Hawaiian Film Festival. Maria won the inaugural PBS online Film Festival with over one million viewers and the Best Pasifika Short Award at Maoriland Film Festival.
In 2016, Jeremiah received NZFC funding to travel to Toronto’s ImagineNative Film Festival, for a short film Ra’stat’ste, which he co-wrote/directed /cinematographer/acted. In 2017, he debuted as writer/director with his short film, Liliu, a post WWI courtroom drama set and shot in Sāmoa, now about to enter its festival run, having its World Premiere at the prestigious Berlin Film Festival 2019, in the NATIVe section. He is also a co-writer for the short film team ‘Goodfellas’, which won Sir Peter Jackson Awards, a record 6 times in the NZ national HP48hour film festival, with Jeremiah also winning Best Actor twice from 4 nominations. Jeremiah holds the High-Chief titles Fa’alava’au and Nanai, bestowed from his father’s family in the district of Falelātai, in Sāmoa. He has a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in Sociology and Political Science, and a Bachelor of Broadcast Communications (Digital Film & Television Production).
This year he was a recipient of a Writing Seed Grant, from the New Zealand Writers Guild, for his next feature film drama, Garden City Nights. He is currently writing a third feature drama based in Samoa. He is the proud father of boys Malosi, Talavou, and Manako with his partner Vea Mafile’o. For My Father’s Kingdom is Jeremiah’s first feature documentary recently accepted into the Berlin Film Festival 2019.
