The Lighthouse Keeper of Opononi

'The Lighthouse Keeper of Opononi' is a slice of life documentary about Tagi, a Fijian woman who ventured from the concrete jungle of Auckland to become the ‘lighthouse keeper’ of the Opononi Lighthouse Motel.

Born into a lighthouse keeper family, Tagi’s first memory was sliding down a grass slope near Cape Reinga, an old cardboard box beneath her. Nowadays, Tagi tends to the Opononi Lighthouse Motel along with her husband Brian, caring for those who find their way there.

Settled within the beautiful Hokianga Harbour, the small town of Opononi overflows with character and community. The people of 'Opo' were quick to accept Tagi within their midst as their 'lighthouse keeper' of the Opononi Lighthouse Motel. Tagi guides us through the town, paddling Waka Ama with a strong group of women and visiting the local market; a mosaic of homemade crafts, jams and paua fritters.  

In the morning, Tagi laughs and gossips with her cleaning crew before the beds are stripped, and in the evening the sunset reflects off the yellowing walls of the motel. Guests pass through often, providing an element of the unknown as to who Tagi will meet each day. Sitting on the deck at dusk, Tagi and Brian watch the sunset drown beneath the sand-dunes. With a glass of wine in hand and the dogs at their feet; that’s the life. 

This documentary will be captured by duo, Shayla Crombie (Director) and Ngato-Zharnaye Livingstone (Producer).

With this documentary being our final university project at AUT, we aim to capture this significant chapter in Tagi's life and most importantly, we want to showcase the heart this small-town community of Opononi has to offer.

Why we need your help to tell this story:

This documentary will be shot in Opononi which is approximately 4 hours away from where we are based (Auckland). Therefore we need your help to cover essentials costs such as:

• Travel - we need petrol to get our slick crew and ourselves safely to the wonderful Opononi
• Food - so that we're energised enough to complete this beast of a project, our crew of 4, as well as Tagi and other participants, need to be catered for
• Accommodation - we need beds to rest our crew and us, as the shoot will be happening over a period of 3 days in Opononi
• Participants - to acknowledge the time our participants have given us to help with this documentary, we are wanting to compensate them

Any donations, whether it's $2 or $1800, is greatly appreciated!! To acknowledge this, we have decided that all donors will be mentioned in the end credits of our documentary because without your input, whether big or small, we will not be able to tell this special story!  

Ngā mihi nui ki a koutou katoa,

Shayla & Ngato x