A Samoan teacher (Anapela Polataivao) leads a private school choir to glory in Miki Magasiva's debut feature film Tinā. Photo: Supplied
Auckland director Miki Magasiva wasn't sure how to best pay tribute to the power of Samoan motherhood in a film. Then a YouTube clip of an amazing school choir got him thinking.
As someone who could believably lead and inspire a group of young singers, a spirited Samoan mother seemed a "natural fit", he tells RNZ's Susie Ferguson.
In his debut feature film Tinā - out in cinemas next week - a relief teacher at a private school starts up a choir to help support students traumatised by the 2011 earthquakes.
While the realities of racism within New Zealand secondary schools are not "sugarcoated" in Tinā, Magasiva says they are couched in comedy.
"That's what we Samoans do. It's at our own expense, really, because we had to suffer through it, right? But I [introduce racism] as comic moments to say 'Yes, we went through that."
Mareta Percival proudly wears Samoan traditional dress to work, despite it raising eyebrows. Photo: Supplied
When Samoan teacher Mareta Percival (Anapela Polataivao) wears a traditional brightly-coloured dress to work, she's told by deputy principal Peter Wadsworth that it'd be nice if she "blended in a bit more".
As Wadsworth, actor Jamie Irvine pitches his lines perfectly, Magasiva says, while being super hilarious.
Rejecting any suggestion that the Wadsworth character is "overplayed" or unrealistic, Magasiva says the racist comments directed at Percival by some fellow teachers realistically reflect his own experiences and also the stories he heard from Christchurch teachers and other locals he spoke to while researching Tinā.
Originally set in Auckland, the story was relocated to Christchurch after producer Dan Higgins pointed out his home city hadn't been seen much onscreen since the 2011 earthquakes.
Tinā is in part a tribute to the city, Magasiva says, and the way residents had to embrace each other as a community after the earthquakes fit well with the film's overriding message of unity.
To ensure the film's musical aspects were authentic, he wanted the young people cast as Percival's singing students to be real singers who really understood music.
It was a "blessing" to find Antonia Robertson who plays the student lead Sophie, Magasiva says.
"We had long conversations about [the role of] music in the character's life and her own life, which just made for a much richer, hopefully more genuine story."
Sophie (Antonia Robertson) exchanges a look with her choir teacher. Photo: Supplied
Magasiva was just seven years old when he first discovered that movie sets were somewhere "magical" when his whole class appeared in a short film.
At 16, he got an acting agent on the encouragement of his brother, the actor Robbie Magasiva, but after leaving school set himself on the path to becoming a film-maker.
Although he's occasionally been on screen since, Magasiva says behind the camera is where he was "always supposed to be".
While getting any film made in New Zealand is an uphill battle these days, Pacific film-makers are still fighting to show potential backers that audiences will pay hard-earned cash to sit in movie theatres and watch Pacific stories.
To champion Pacific creatives, Magasiva co-founded the production company The Brown Factory in 2018. Seven years on, his message for them is 'keep at it'.
"We certainly haven't broken that ceiling yet. We're just trying to do it now. "
For the Polynesian Panthers miniseries The Panthers, Miki Magasiva was named Best Director at the 2022 NZTV Awards. Photo: Supplied
Offering some good music, some laughs and maybe a good cry, Magasiva hopes Tinā will appeal to a broad audience.
The grief Percival struggles with, for her daughter lost in the 2011 earthquake, reflects what the director experienced when his brother Pua died suddenly in 2019.
Magasiva had started writing the Tinā script not long before Pua's death and says his brother gave him some precious encouragement.
'[Pua] meant a lot to me and [his memory] continues to drive me in whatever I do… I was like 'You know what, bro, this is for you'."
Tinā is in New Zealand cinemas from 27 February.
