Meet the siblings taking a Pacific perspective to the big screen

Stallone and Abba-Rose Dinah Vaiaoga-Ioasa have come a long way in creating Pacific stories on screen.

It's been eight years since the Sāmoan siblings produced their first film, Three Wise Cousins. And they have not looked back since 2016.

Following their debut, the duo have released Hibiscus & Ruthless (2018), Take Home Pay (2019), and Christmas special Mama's Music Box (2020).

The pair also co-founded the NGO Pacific Islands Screen Artists (PISA) in 2020 which "supports, encourages and promotes Pasifika working in the New Zealand Screen sector".

On Friday, the Vaiaoga-Ioasas are fronting the Whau Pasifika Festival in West Auckland with their 12-hour Polyfilms Marathon at Hollywood Cinema, Avondale.

Watch Stallone and Abba-Rose Dinah Vaiaoga-Ioasa's interview below.

The duo joined Pacific Days to talanoa about the most important part of making movies and why they do it.

This year's festival theme is a well-known Samoan proverb, Stallone says.

"E le tu fa'amauga se tagata - No one stands alone, no one succeeds alone. And in the words of the late Efeso Collins, no one suffers alone.

"It fits the theme of all the films that we put together and in terms of how the Pacific Island screen artists work, it was the basis of what we aim to do for our Pacific screen artists, which is bring everyone together.

"For anyone who's worked in the screen industry as an actor in front or as part of a crew behind the camera, it can be quite an isolating journey.

"In a big city like Auckland, a country like New Zealand, it is very easy to be isolated. So, it's really important to come together and to have these initiatives where sometimes you meet someone, you bring people together to share in a common event."

As for Friday's 12-hour film marathon, Stallone says there is no need to stay for the entire show.

Photo/supplied

He says sharing the opportunity and finding those connections are key.

"Pacific Islands Screen Artists try to bring all these artists together to really support each other and be motivated as well.

"There are other people there who share your interests and it just lifts your spirits when you get to share that with other people who sort of are on the same wavelength as you."

Abba Rose says it was a challenge putting together this year's selection of films because of the huge talent of Pasifika actors, directors, writers, and producers.

She says they were only able to select five short films and five feature shows including Hiama, Lilo & Stitch, Take Home Pay, Legend of Baron Toa, Pacific Mother, and Inky Pinky Ponky.

"We're just going back and forth trying to find the right balance in terms of genre. Also thinking about who's going to come on to our polyfilm marathon.

"We do want not just those in our age group, but also our kids, our families, our grandparents that come along to enjoy this. So, we've tried to curate it to not only reflect the different Pacific filmmakers.

Stallone Vaiaoga-Ioasa at work. Photo/supplied

"We have Fiji, the Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, and Sāmoa, we've also tried to celebrate and showcase someone like Mele Tupou, who is a student and at a very young age, has already created an amazing film.

"We 'also wanted to include our films for our blind or low vision community. One of the things that we heard is that they were interested in maybe seeing like an action film or something similar that would be audio described."

This is the second year the siblings are taking part in the festival and Stallone says they were invited to host a panel of filmmakers last year, which gets to curate formally.

Stallone, who has been in the industry since 2008, says it has been a "great opportunity to take stock" of all the Pacific films out there, and "it's growing".

"There's a wealth of Pacific talent. Pisa is always looking for Pacific talent. We're trying to build capacity, when we crew up or cast.

"But we also realise that there's this absence of a Pacific voice, advocating for Pacific artists.

"We've been here a while. We have certainly paid our dues in terms of contributing in front and behind the camera, but it was just ensuring that there's an industry acknowledgement of that, of the efforts that we bring in."

The 12-hour Polyfilm Marathon screens at the Hollywood Cinema in Avondale from 9am to 9pm.