New Film "Te Pito o Te Henua" (The Navel of the World) to Make World Premiere at the 22nd International Oceanian Documentary Film Festival
The film, which is in competition for the Best Short Documentary Award, explores the cultural identity and close connection to the land and water shared by the Rapa Nui People.
SEATTLE, Jan. 28, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- We are thrilled to announce that "Te Pito o Te Henua" (The Navel of the World) is an official selection for the 22nd International Oceanian Documentary Film Festival (FIFO), which takes place from January 31 to February 9, 2025.
The festival will be held both online and in person at the Te Fare Tauhiti Nui - Maison de la Culture in Tahiti.
"Te Pito o Te Henua" follows the Rapa Nui Indigenous community on Rapa Nui Island, also known as Easter Island, one of the world's most remote inhabited islands, as they prepare to host their most important cultural festival – Tãpati Rapa Nui – and reinforce deep connections to culture, language, and land.
Directed by Martin Kingman and Nils Cowan and coproduced with the Rapa Nui People through the Municipality of Rapa Nui, the documentary captures the family and community story at the heart of the festival by showing the incredible ingenuity and complexity of the Rapa Nui culture.
"We survived from (being) only 111 people. (...) We are here to continue this legacy; we are the living face of our ancestors. And if we don't take hold of our culture, it will be lost," says Lynn Rapu, a practitioner and promoter of the arts and traditions of the Rapa Nui People, also featured in the film.
"A product of deep collaboration, 'Te Pito o Te Henua' is our shared effort to show the joy and unity of the Tāpati festival and how this work translates to self-determination, land and ocean guardianship, and cultural revitalization among youth," said the directors in a joint statement.
The documentary is part of a series of films created by the Wayfinders Circle, a global network of Indigenous Peoples who work to strengthen self-determination in managing their lands and territories, and who maintain cultural and spiritual continuity through intergenerational transmission. It is a co-production between the Wayfinders Circle conveners (Nia Tero, Pawanka Fund, the World Union of Indigenous Spiritual Practitioners) and the Rapa Nui People through the Municipality of Rapa Nui.
About the International Oceanian Documentary Film Festival
Since 2004, the International Oceanian Documentary Film Festival celebrates the richness and diversity of the cultures and stories of the Pacific, providing a unique platform to discover films that explore contemporary issues and the ancestral traditions of the Oceanian islands.
Learn more about "Te Pito o Te Henua."
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