LEITIS IN WAITING is the story of Joey Mataele and the Tonga leitis, an intrepid group of indigenous transgender women fighting a rising tide of religious fundamentalism and intolerance in their South Pacific Kingdom.

The film follows devout Catholic Joey as she organises an exuberant beauty pageant presided over by a princess, provides shelter and training for a young contestant rejected by her family, and spars with American-financed evangelicals who threaten to resurrect colonial-era laws which would criminalise the leitis’ lives.

With unexpected humour and extraordinary access to the kingdom’s royals and religious leaders, Joey’s emotional journey illuminates what it means to be different in a society ruled by tradition, and what it takes to be accepted without forsaking that tradition and culture.

This film won the Audience Awards at FIFO International Documentary Festival in Tahiti 2018 and the Commonwealth Film Festival 2018 in London. Joey was recently awarded the Commonwealth heads of Government Award as one of the influential LGBTI leaders in the Commonwealth.…more

40 Samoan teams from Australia, Samoa and New Zealand compete in the Auckland Samoan Basketball Competition!

Ratu Kadavulevu Schools under 18 side have created history by becoming the first Fijian school to win the Sanix World Youth Rugby Tournament in Japan!

RKS defeated New Zealand's champion high school, Hastings Boys High School 35 - 5 in the final and beat out Framesby High School from South Africa in the quarter finals and Australia's St Augustine's College in the semis.

Awesome for development for the game in the Pacific! 

Watch the 1st half of the game in the video above and the 2nd half in the video below 

Photo credit: Facebook/Sanix World Rugby Youth Tournament

WANTOK -'One Talk' is a gathering of Melanesian artists, who explore the spiritual and symbolic nature of hair

"We are taking ownership over ourselves, our bodies, our stories, and telling them ourselves." – Reina Sutton. 

Curated by Luisa Tora, the show acts as a voice to empower and amplify the artists’ stories. “This conversation about hair is one we've all had at some point, with family, with friends, with complete strangers. I think people with curly hair stand on the front line in the battle against othering and attempts to control brown bodies.” – Luisa Tora.

Nine Melanesian female artists based in Australia and Aotearoa, contributed the high impact works, commenting on the power and the colonisation of Pacifica women's hair in different ways.

‘Black Birds’ members Emele Ugavule and Ayeesha Ash opened the morning with a performance in the gallery space. “It was important for us to be a voice for those who’ve lived outside of Fiji because that’s our lived experience and it’s a valid one, just as valid as those who do live back in Fiji.…more

Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson was on the Graham Norton show recently promoting his latest movie 'Rampage'.

He talks about his grandfather High Chief Peter Maivia being the inspiration behind his character Maui in the Moana movie, Samoan tatau and then raps one of his Maui verses!  

Joey "Q" Quenga 

Owner/Creative Director of Island Block Radio 

Chamorro 

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Tell us a bit about yourself 

My name is Joey Quenga but most people know me as “Q”.  I am co-owner of Island Block Radio where I have many hats, producer, creative director, on-air personality as well as program director.  

I grew up in Long Beach, CA., which is a city in Los Angeles County.  

My family is from the village of Talofofo on Guam.…more

We're keepin it Fresh at One Love Festival with Charlie Pome'e from Three Houses Down! 

By Patrick Thomsen 

When your job literally is to question the ways in which society portrays groups of people through various representations, being positioned at the margins gives you unique insights into the ways in which words shape and form people’s positions in this world. But it also condemns you to a life where you’re pummeled by relentless attacks on social and mainstream media.

Some people would say that I’m a victim of my own inability to overcome the “Oppression Olympics.” That all the hate speech that I encounter against minorities is because I seek it out myself.

I can assure you that they’re most certainly wrong.

No one in their right mind would ever choose this life. To sit in the shadows of intersections, where multiple forms of social exclusion conspire to drain you of not only your self-confidence, but on particularly bad days, your will to live.…more

By Joanna Bourke 

Yes – Im 100% Tongan, born and raised here in Aotearoa. As the eldest of 5 siblings – I had a somewhat strict upbringing – and only has been in the last 10 years have I come to understand that it has a lot to do with being a female – and being Tongan.

Today I spend most my time living in Tonga – immersing myself in the culture and the community to help make a difference – and on the face of it – looks straightforward.

Yeah right!

It gets frustrating at times – but you develop a resilience to just push through despite the challenges.

The Challenge

Being a woman – one who is educated and experienced – it doesn’t mean shit in Tonga. People get by and succeed by who you know – and not necessarily what you know – but over time (a long time) people get you – they get you – but yet they are still dubious – eventually – the penny drops.…more

SEPELINI MUA'AU 

VICTORIA UNIVERSITY TUTOR 

SAMOAN

My name is Sepelini Pati Mua’au and I am a New Zealand born Samoan. I am the youngest of 4, my mother is from the village of Falelatai and my father from Levi-Saleimoa. I was raised in Wainuiomata, completed my Secondary schooling at St. Bernard’s College in Lower Hutt and tertiary education at Victoria University of Wellington. I currently work at Victoria Univeristy in the School of English, Film, Theatre & Media Studies as a support tutor for 100-level Maori and Pasifika students, I also tutor for the theatre programme and write plays on the side.

You have a Master of Arts in Theatre - What did that degree entail and why do you think you were drawn to theatre?

Theatre definitely started off as an interest, like many Samoan parents, ideally they wanted me to be a lawyer or doctor. In 2010, my last year of College, I was fortunate enough to travel to London to perform on the Globe Theatre stage, so my family knew there was something there for me.…more