BOY EATS GOD

Ghost House Productions is proud to bring the incredible writings of Litia Tuiburelevu to life in her scripted directorial debut ‘Boy Eats God’. We (Aumua and Litia) met on the award-winning The Panthers production and have been itching to work together since. We are two fafine Pasifika who have applauded each other for years, now coming together to bring a story rich with culture and people to the fore. This is a deeply personal project, and we are so passionate about sharing this unique vision with the world.

WHY WE NEED A CAMPAIGN:

Short films are a labour of love and we’re so lucky to have our team come together to bring Litia’s unique vision to life.

First and foremost, we want to pay our amazing crew a fair remuneration for their time and talent. Times are tough. Much of our industry is in crisis mode, and it feels even harder to make art in the current economic climate. Nevertheless, we are eternally grateful to collaborate with talented creatives who are offering their skills at a heavily discounted rate to get this story on screen.

Across all our projects we are passionate about growing our Pacific screen industry and hiring Pacific talent both in front of and behind the camera. We are blessed to have many talented Pasifika creatives in our cast and crew, all at different levels of experience, and we hope this film can contribute to their future success

WHO'S BEHIND THIS?

Aumua Crystal Vaega is a proud Sāmoan and a talented producer with a deep passion for Indigenous storytelling. Most recently she Co-Produced the award-winning drama THE PANTHERS and Executive Produced MADAM, a co-production between Tavake and XYZ Films featuring Rachel Griffiths and Martin Henderson. 

Initially pursuing a career in journalism, Aumua discovered her true calling behind the camera after joining Tikilounge Productions to work in unscripted television. She then went on to produce work for renowned Māori and Pasifika production companies including Tikilounge Productions, Sunpix, BSAG Productions, South Pacific Pictures, Māori Television and Four Knights Film. 

Aumua’s other credits include HOMEBOUND, DOUBLE PARKED, CAGED: KAI KARA-FRANCE and STAN WALKER: IMPOSSIBLE. Her contributions have played a vital role in enhancing the visibility and richness of Pasifika content on screens, big and small.

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Litia Tuiburelevu (Fijian, Tongan, Pākehā), is a writer and director born and raised in Tāmaki Makaurau. As a former lawyer, Litia did legal work on several television shows before directing both seasons of the award-winning docu-series STILL HERE for Re: news/TVNZ+. She has gone on to direct work for RNZ Music, The Spinoff, TikTok, and The Pantograph Punch. BOY EATS GOD is her narrative directorial debut, selected by the New Zealand Film Commission's Fresh Shorts programme. She aspires to make beautiful, strange and surreal stories about Pacific characters for the screen, drawing inspiration from Oceanic mythology/folklore, her friends and family, and contemporary social issues.

With a limited budget, we hope these funds will also give us:

-Fees for our chaperones as we have child actors.

-Koha for our extras and volunteer crew.

-Grip team and gear, although not initially allowed for, we can see that shooting with child actors within their shorter working times means that we need to move faster and a grip team with gear would help this hugely in keeping our actors within their capacity and supporting the technical filming.

-An original music score composed by the brilliant duo, David Feauai-Afaese and Navākatoa Tekela-Pule (as Hanisi Garue).

- Access to a top-quality colour grader to achieve the film’s highly stylised look.

-Festival entries.

-Archiving of media.

THE FILM:

'BOYS EATS GOD' is a whimsical and gently surreal story about a Tongan boy trying to understand who God is. When he gets in trouble for misbehaving at Church, he journeys to right his wrongs finding divine guidance from unexpected sources. Told entirely through a child’s eyes, the film explores how divinity, community and culture intersect in contemporary Tāmaki Makaurau.

HOW TO HELP:

1. DONATE! Even if a few dollars. We are community-driven and would be grateful for any donations that come our way, whatever you can help us with we won't forget it!
2. SHARE! Please share our Boosted campaign with your community on social media, word of mouth and friends who owe you a favour…
3. FOLLOW! Stay up-to-date with us via our Instagram @boyeatsgodproduction 

We don't get any money if we don't hit our goal, so every little bit counts! If you can’t donate, even just sharing this campaign across your socials will be a huge help. 

If you live in Aotearoa, you can claim back 33% of your donation in your annual tax return.