New movie set to be a highlight for Tongan culture

From the field to film, a moment of a lifetime for a Tongan family is being recreated, this time on the big screen.

The brand new Tongan feature film, ‘Red, White and Brass’ released their teaser poster in celebration of Uike Kātoanga’i ‘o e Lea Faka-Tonga Tongan Language Week.

Shot in Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Wellington, it's based on a true story of a group of Tongans forming a brass band to get free tickets to go to the 2011 Rugby World Cup.

Co-producer and co-writer Halaifonua Finau, who created the recent drama series ‘The Panthers’, is an original member of the band that performed at the 2011 RWC.

“It all started in 2011 when we actually didn’t have tickets to go to the game. We saw all the guys at the airport and thought damn we gotta be there.”

With no tickets to the Tonga versus France game and no formal musical training, the idea sprung to create the band as a way to get in.

Finau says, “It was actually my dad that came up with the idea of putting the band together - we had no band, we had no instruments, and no one could actually read music.

“What we did have was a guy from Tonga, Eloni Niu, and it took 10 months or so to learn our set.”

Finau was studying dancing during the start-up times of the band when his mother assigned him as the drum major - a person that marches at the front of the band to keep the timing.

“Because I was a dancer my mum says ‘hey, come you're gonna be doing this thing,’ and I ended up going and being a part of the band.

“By the time we had performed, I had already performed around the world, at festivals, and at All Black games. I wasn’t really too hoha’a (worried) about performing at the game.”

He says the moment performing with his family is what changed it all.

“It wasn't until actually being on the field and looking around at the stadium full of Tongans. My aunties, uncles, cousins, and brothers said this was the performance of their life.

“It was straight māfana (a feeling of warmth), it hit me that this is something special.”

Finau started writing the film in 2015.

Fast-tracking to now, production companies behind The Breaker Upperers, Cousins and Hunt for the Wilderpeople, Piki Films and Miss Conception Films are co-producing.

Starring a stellar ensemble of Tongan talent including John-Paul Foliaki (Popstars), Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi (Panthers), Ilaisaane Green (Brutal Lives), Onetoto Ikavuka, Mikey Falesiu (Toke), Lupeti Finau, Lotima Pome’e (Under the Vines), and Haanz Fa’avae-Jackson (Savage).

Finau says the film is the pinnacle of his life's work.

“Going through the process of making this film with my family it’s definitely going to be the peak of my career no matter what I do just because it’s putting on for Tongans, representing our people and showing the beauty of our language and our culture to the world.”

Red, White and Brass is set to release in cinemas nationwide next year.