‘Inspired by true events’: Tinā trailer strikes emotional chord

The trailer for a new Aotearoa film has dropped and it’s got audiences emotional and eager to watch.

Tinā follows the story of Sāmoan teacher Mareta Percival, played by Anapela Polata’ivao, who is adjusting to life following her daughter’s devastating death in the Christchurch earthquakes.

The opening of the trailer shows a wholesome relationship between Percival and her daughter where she’s helping her vocally warm up over the phone. That feeling quickly disappears as the disaster unfolds.

After the tragedy, Percival reluctantly takes up a relieving position at one of the city’s elite private schools where she forms a choir, leads them to the Big Sing competition, and finds healing.

Writer and Director Miki Magasiva and Producer Mario Gaoa joined NiuFM’s The Morning Shack to speak about the journey it’s taken to get Tinā from script to screen.

“It’s a story of healing, love, community, and hope. Hopefully, it will strike a few emotional chords with audiences out there,” says Magasiva.

“(It’s) actually inspired by true events. A choir in the Big Sing had a performance that I saw and [was] super emotional watching that performance. So I set about writing a story about that.”

He says they are “super excited” about the release of the trailer as it gives everyone “a little taste”.

“In production for the last three years and then another two years on top of that, writing. Sort of like five, six years to get to this stage. So we’re super pumped to get it out there.”

Gaoa chimes in saying it’s like the fruits of their labour have finally brought good results.

“It has been a while, imagine this is a little kid of ours, that’s how it feels. It’s been with us for so long.”

Bringing to light this tear-jerker alongside Polata’ivao (Our Flag Means Death, Night Shift, The Breaker Upperers) is newcomer Antonia Robinson as “Sophie”, Beulah Koale (Hawaii Five-0, Next Goal Wins, Bad Behaviour), and Nicole Whippy (Outrageous Fortune, Shortland Street).

The film had its world premiere at the Hawai’i International Film Festival on 3 October and marked Magasiva’s feature-film directorial debut.

“They’ve been really good supporters of Pasifika material. It felt like the perfect place to launch it. It was super successful, Pacific audiences, it felt like they understood the film,” Magasiva says.

“They actually look over here to New Zealand and admire where we’ve got to as a film-making collective and an industry here.

“Taking our work there, our stories there and showcasing it in a Pacific environment and in a world-renowned festival, man, just so cool.”

Tinā opened the Hawai'i International Film Festival. Photo/Facebook

A familiar story but uniquely our own

Tinā features a powerful choir, which is led off-screen by Choir Master and Music Arranger Tuilagi Dr Igelese Ete, renowned for his work as the New Zealand Choirmaster for Sir Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.

Tuilagi is also the ‘choirmaster’ and music/choral consultant for the Disney Pacific animation Moana.

NiuFM host Regan Foa’i asks since the plot centres around a choir’s competition journey, can Tinā be a more emotional version of the cult classic film “Sister Act”?

Everyone laughs as Magasiva makes a facial expression in response to the question, but he ultimately agrees it’s a juxtaposition.

“It can be compared to a lot of teacher/student movies out there. 'Sister Act' for our PI people, well everybody loved that film. There’s a little bit of ‘To Sir, With Love’, a little bit of ‘Mr Holland’s Opus’.”

Magasiva and Gaoa list off a few notable grief metaphor pieces such as the Walt Whitman poem about the death of US President Abraham Lincoln, "O Captain! My Captain!", and the coming-of-age drama based on the novel, “Dead Poets Society”.

The ‘responsibility’ of authentic Pacific storytelling

Magasiva and Gaoa are co-founders of The Brown Factory, a production company that champions Pacific stories and builds career pathways in the film industry for Pacific talents.

They have produced some on-screen stories like Rites of Courage (2005), the Teine Sā web series in 2021 and co-directed the multi-indigenous film We Are Still Here. Magasiva won Best Director at the 2022 NZ TV Awards for The Panthers miniseries.

A light-hearted moment during the interview is when it’s revealed the cast includes host Gaby Solomona and her “beautiful face” and Magasiva teases that they need the “ticket sales”.

“Gabs came on at some point of the project and it’s been a few years now getting her in front of the screen and all that jazz. Just seeing her age through that process,” Gaoa says before Solomona interjects.

“I have like one little bit in the film, shush.”

They are both huge advocates in Pacific stories by Pacific people and say authenticity is “on all levels massive”.

“We don’t get this opportunity very often so it comes with responsibility as well, when we do stuff we gotta do it right. We want to do it the best we can possibly be, international standard.

“I think that’s the only way we’re gonna stand out and show others that we can be up there as well and we’re worth investing in.”

Made with investment from the New Zealand Film Commission, New Zealand Screen Production Rebate, and NZ On Air, Tinā is financed in association with Kiwibank Limited. Madman Entertainment will distribute the film in Aotearoa and Australia with Westend Films handling the international sales.

Tinā is set for release across Aotearoa in February 2025.