Page 42 - Fiji Traveller 7

POLITICS IN FRAME

Filmmakers bring Fiji’s 2022 election to the big screen

By Ben Wheeler “Where I’m like, ‘Cool, I’d like to learn about a situation’, Dave
is like that, times a hundred! He’ll dive deep and take every
If anyone deserves the moniker of Fijian Traveller right now, it opportunity he can to expand his horizons,” Tuqota explains.
is Tumeli ‘Meli' Tuqota Jr. “The idea we had was to shoot short films following politicians
In recent years, his work as Fiji’s premier film producer and in Fiji leading up to the elections,” he says laughing. “What could
director has seen him voyage from the Maoriland Film Festival possibly go wrong?
in New Zealand to the Rochefort Film Festival in France. He has “Well for starters, during the campaign, the writ for the elections
also had spells in Germany where he collaborated on the Oceanic had not yet been issued. When Dave and I were asking around
Refractions Transmedia Project, and the United Kingdom where – FijiFirst, National Federation Party, People’s Alliance – nobody
he contributed to the Living Democracy Exhibition in London. wanted to talk to us. So, we were getting nervous. We’d received
We settle down in the shadow of the Fiji Museum’s mighty drua this grant to shoot the film and we couldn’t do anything.”
installation – a nod to his short film, Soli Bula – to chat about his It took a suggestion from the lead anthropologists on the
new movie, Elections in Paradise, and I ask him about this prolifically project back in London to nudge the film in the direction it would
and profoundly busy time. finally take, with Tuqota and Lavaki taking centre stage.
“It has come after some years in a creative coma,” he says “We were like, 'We don’t know anything about politics!'” Tuqota
with a chuckle, jokes.
“Idling?” I enquire, to which he raises a hand in mock affront. “But as we turned the cameras on ourselves and started
“Collecting life experiences.” yapping away, we were like, 'Hold on, we may not know the nitty-
Tuqota is all playfulness and modesty on the surface, but gritty, but we’ve been affected by plenty of politics.' We decided
beneath this is a strong desire to connect with and communicate that we do know a bit about our own politics.
about his Fijian identity. “When we were boys, our school was next to Parliament
“My parents brought me up in English because, you know, during the 2000 coup,” he recalls. “We could hear the gunshots
they believed it was good for education. And I love my parents from our classroom. So of course, our generation was affected
for that, they were correct, and I did fairly okay in English. by this, and Elections in Paradise became a space to explore the still
“But the downside is that I didn’t really learn my language – my 'tabu' history of how governments change and how governments
Mother Tongue – properly. And because of that, I was always rule in Fiji.”
separated from my culture. I’m cut off from it… a real city boy!” To attend the exhibition and screening of their film, Tuqota and
he says smiling. “Only as an adult did I start to realise I was Lavaki arrived in London and found themselves bidding “Yadra!”
missing out on all this stuff. So, I’m basically playing catch up. to Piccadilly Circus as it woke up to a cold and indifferent day.
“There are many ways to learn about your culture. For me, it’s “We didn’t have any internet. I didn’t have any gloves,” he says,
by doing the research and telling Fijian stories,” he explains, his shaking his head. “My fingers were dying, and Dave and I were
eyes shining at the thought. there with our big suitcases, just walking around at 6.30am.”
You can see why this makes him happy. Even in his years It wasn’t long, however, before these affable Fijians found their
‘collecting life experiences’, he was lending his skills to other hotel and then hospitality.
movie projects: producing the seminal early horror films of “After we checked in, we said, ‘Let’s go find a pub!’”
Clarence Dass, creating visual effects, designing heart-stopping It was still only 9.30am, and the first place they found was
title sequences and, as one does, cameoing as the occasional closed, but the owner was moving around inside. They knocked
flesh-eating zombie. on the door and used that Oceanian charm to gain entry and
But the personal flavour and distinct Fijian-ness of his output before long, they were laughing and discussing rugby with the
in the last few years – along with the sheer volume – marks a Irish landlord – a fan of the Flying Fijians – over Guinness and
distinct shift that is underpinning and inspiring a new moment in whiskey.
local cinema production and exhibition. Tuqota and Lavaki went on to become a hit with the teams on
“Now I want to make cool Fijian films for myself,” he explains, the Living Democracy Exhibition, who had come to the UK from
his eyes flashing again. “But I’m always open to collaboration.” India, Brazil, Ethiopia, and the United States.
Amongst his most frequent collaborators is cinematographer When entering restricted areas, people who had been
Laisiasa Dave Lavaki, with whom he made Elections in Paradise, a working at the exhibition venue for months were being asked for
project commissioned by London’s School of Oriental and African identification, while Tuqota and Lavaki were on first name terms
Studies as part of their global Living Democracy Exhibition. with security and were waved through.
The pair embarked upon this project – unlike any that they had It’s easy to see why. The pair radiate positivity and beam
attempted before in both style and substance – with gusto. excitement when they talk about the movies they make.

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