Southside Rise Behind the show

In a recent project "Southside Rise" we the Black Friars, a pan-pacific theatre company from South Auckland, documented the journey it took from initial planning to the stage. Now we're ready to take it to the big screen!

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hEkFl5r3x0]

Southside Rise brought together 60 young leaders from 8 South Auckland schools in an all-singing, all-dancing, full scale original musical production. It shared our stories, challenges and the adversities we face living in South Auckland, answering the question "What is leadership to you?"

In honour of both this project and the continuous growth of our collective, I used this footage to collate a submission to the Nukualofa Tongan Film Festival. This festival provides a platform for pan Pacific artists to showcase and retell their stories and journeys through film.

Our submission documents the journey we underwent to bring Southside Rise to the stage. It allows our viewers an inside glimpse of our collective in its raw essence, and a view of the mahi, alofa and passion that goes into producing and directing a Black Friars show.

As a collective, we plan on attending the Festival and potentially connect with local artists along the way. What you will be funding is our collective to take our Southside Stories and share alongside the beautiful ethos of the Nuku'alofa Film Festival, how we can serve, lead and rise.

Your donations are greatly appreciated to help us get there!