Toa Takitini

Synopsis 

Toa Takitini is a short film directed by Caitlin Head and produced by Patrick Sharrow. The story follows a 17-year-old wahine, Wai, after she witnessed her pāpā’s death a year ago. She ends up struggling with severe mental health battles while her older brother, Tangaroa, goes numb to his emotions. A year after his death they mysteriously find themselves in his room, stuck there by Hine-nui-te-pō, to face their traumas of his drowning, grieve his loss and mend their small broken whānau. 

About the Team 

Director/Writer 

Caitlin Head 

I’m Pākehā-Niuean, and my village is Tuapa. We hearty out here. 

I’ve been learning reo Māori for the past two years and it has sparked a fire in my belly for seeing indigenous representation on the screen. My biggest goal is to help with the decolonization of the screen and have more cultural representation in classically Pākehā presenting forums.  

My culture was colonized out of my tūpuna (ancestors) and I am now having to fight to understand what it means to be Niuean. This is the reality with so many of our Pasifika and Māori whānau and I want this to change. I want to do this with my films and show the experience to many who don’t encounter this as reality too.  

So, ya girl wrote a screenplay embracing the reo and culture of this whenua.  

Producer 

Patrick Sharrow 

I am half NZ European/Irish, half Samoan and my villages in Samoa stem from Siumu and Fausaga. 

I have always been passionate about media throughout my 22 years of existence but doing a bachelors of communications at AUT solidified that this was something I want to do as a pathway. Just like my amazing director, I am very passionate about culture and indigenous representation and I am genuinely looking forward to seeing our amazing and talented people thrive in this complex industry, both on and off-screen. As someone who has struggled with cultural identity and is still learning about their culture, I aim to do my part in educating myself and telling our stories. 

As the producer for ‘Toa Takitini’, I completely support my director's vision as I really gravitated towards the themes that were represented throughout the script as it was something I could relate to in a sense. Moving forward, I can't wait to see this meaningful short film surrounding deep issues of mental health issues amongst other things be explored on screen. 

Fa’afetai lava,

Patrick. 

Why we want to tell the story 

The aim of our film is to see an accurate representation of Māori in film, rather than the negative portrayal seen in a significant amount of Aotearoa media. There needs to be more Māori stories because of Māori voices being oppressed since the 1800s when colonization started. Our aim is to give that voice in this film while also exploring a very humanized struggle between our two characters, Wai and Tangaroa. 

The main theme in this film is grief, with Wai and Tangaroa having not grieved the death of their father. We wanted to expose the difficulties and coping mechanisms of grief from the rangatahi experience. 

In Aotearoa the mental health of Māori and Pasifika are much higher than those of any other ethnicity in this country – so we want to assist in normalizing these conversations between whānau. We aim to show the breaking of generational chains by Wai and Tangaroa being the first in their whānau to discuss their struggles with mental health.  

Why we need your help

We’re needing to fundraise to be able to create this film to the best of our abilities. Any donations no matter how big or small, that you guys are able to provide mean the absolute world to us, as it will aid us in covering the most essential of costs that will allow our film to be brought to life. This includes: 

Catering costs for our amazing cast & crew (We have a cast and crew of around 10 individuals who formulate our ‘Toa Takitini team, and we would love to be able to make sure that they are well fed and hydrated during our three-day shoot).

Location costs (This is to cover the expenses of renting out the house that we are planning to use for filming). 

Travel costs (This is to cover travel expenses to make sure our cast and crew are able to get to and from the location nice and easy). 

Props & set design (This is for us to make the set as detailed as possible, and make our vision come to life). 

Payment for our actors (To thank them for their hard work, commitment, and talent towards our project). 

To add on to this, any money that we have left over from our target goal of $2000 will go towards submitting in film festivals that will assist us in our aim to get our film out there and hopefully encourage more conversations a. We are very grateful and thankful for your consideration. 

To conclude, as we are in our final year of study for our communications degree, in which we major in TV screen & production we are confident in the skills that we have learned over the past three years and we promise to make a meaningful story that is worthy of being told. Also, everyone who donates towards our project will be given a shoutout in the end credits as your contribution has played a vital part in getting our story told.

Ngā mihi,

Patrick & Caitlin