WOMEN OF THE ISLANDS - ABBA-ROSE DINAH VAIAOGA-IOASA

ABBA-ROSE DINAH VAIAOGA-IOASA

FILM PRODUCER 

SAMOAN 

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Talofa lava. My name is Abba-Rose Dinah Vaiaoga-Ioasa and I am from the villages of Alafua, Toamua and Puipa’a in Samoa. I was born and raised in Tāmaki Makaurau, Aotearoa. I’m originally from Northcote but have lived most of my life in central Auckland. I’m a former Auckland Girls Grammar School student and I am currently in the Screen industry working as a Film Producer. My Production company is called Cadness Street which pays homage to the street I grew up on in Northcote.

What were the pathways that brought you to where you are and what you're doing today?

I originally went to University and completed a Bachelor of Engineering specialising in Chemical and Materials Engineering. After working as a Process Engineer for a few years I was starting to think about my next step in my Engineering career and it just so happened to be around the same time as when my brother (Writer and Director) Stallone Vaiaoga-Ioasa was thinking about his second feature film Hibiscus and Ruthless (2018). He was looking for a Producer and I was really enjoying project management (which were similar in many ways), so I decided to give it a go and I quit my job and returned to Aotearoa to start my new role working alongside my brother.

You've just finished producing your 4th self funded feature film and there was a twist to this one - you had 30 days to complete it!  Can you tell us about the challenge and what inspired you to do this?

Oh yes our new Feature30Challenge!  This challenge was one my brother Stallone and I came up with just after the first lockdown. We saw more movies being moved to releasing online or delaying their release which meant the cinemas had less new content to screen. And we thought, wouldn’t it be cool if we had a movie to release in the cinemas right now because there was more space. That conversation led to several more discussions about how we could make it happen and whether it was even feasible. We also realised to be able to have the chance of getting it into cinemas by the end of the year we had to make it in thirty days (Note: Feature films can take years to create and we had never heard of any feature film being made in thirty days).

We ended up agreeing that yes it was a bit of a crazy idea but we were keen to give it a go, challenge ourselves and luckily our crew were on board and we could make our small budget work. So, on October 16th, 7pm we started our challenge of making a feature film from scratch - this included the idea, the script, casting, shooting, editing and music all within thirty days.

I’m excited to say we successfully completed our challenge and we now have our fourth self-funded movie - Mama’s Music Box!

Tell us a bit about the film & where people will be able to see it from this Thursday.

Mama’s Music Box is a Pasifika Christmas Comedy following two grandchildren (Unaloto Funaki & Sieni Leo’o Olo) on a search for their grandmother’s (Yvonne Maea-Brown) music box. But what starts off as a simple deed turns into an unexpected race full of obstacles and hidden family secrets.

It will be available in select NZ Cinemas from December 10th and you can head to our page @mamasmusicbox or www.flicks.co.nz to see all the locations. For those outside of NZ we are working on having it available online by Christmas day so you can enjoy it with the entire family.

What has been the biggest challenge and also what would be the most rewarding moment in your film career?

The biggest challenge in my film career thus far would be trying to make our budget stretch and bridging the gap between the story we want to tell and our budget, with creativity so that we can maintain a quality product; self-funding films is a big risk to undertake but the great thing about it is that we have the final say on everything meaning we get to have full creative control.

Two most rewarding moments in my film career would have to be seeing our people watching our movies and enjoying seeing themselves and our stories on the silver screen and secondly being able to work alongside my brother.

What is the best advice you have been given?  

Time is the most precious resource. Use it wisely.

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Cover image photo credit:  SPADA screen industry awards