On the night I saw Film Raro, five of the seven short films were playing. The series was designed to expose the world to the Cook Islands and to help the people of the Cook Islands learn more about telling their own stories on a digital platform – that can aid their own social and economic development.
The Film Raro project asked directors around the world to send in short scripts as a part of the Film Raro Challenge. The requirements for the scripts set that the film must be filmed in ten days or less on Rarotonga. The film must be between 10 to 15 minutes long and in English (or with English subtitles). It can be any genre but must be suitable for the general audience. Out of the thousands of scripts they received, only seven were chose.
Islands
This film tells a story of freedom and difficulty to break away – without dialogue. A beautiful young woman is trapped on an island with a brutish man. Each day, she escapes to a beach over-looking a narrow straight separating her from another island. On the other island, a gentle man shares gifts with her by throwing them over the straight. Eventually, the brute man finds her hidden stash of treasures and destroys them. That night, she walks across the water where she is welcomed by the gentle man’s arms.
The Offshore Pirate
Directed by Eric Heimbold, this story is based on F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel of the same title. The film is about finding your roots and your “tribe.” A spoiled, smart woman Ardita, refuses to leave her uncle’s yacht to meet her long lost family on Rarotonga. He leaves her alone on the yacht, which is then overtaken by pirates. She is “kidnapped” and taken across the island on a scavenger hunt where she falls in love with the island, it’s people (who are actually her family) and her “captor.” The whole thing is revealed as a scheme by her uncle to make her recognize this is where she belongs.
What is a Cook Islands kid?
This is my favorite Raro Film by far. Directed by Stan Wolfgramm, this project features elementary and middle school-age children of the Cook Islands. They have children introduce themselves and what is means to be a “Cook Islands kid.” Some of them say family is most important to them and that it is most important to them; other reveal the more materialistic (and honest) side of themselves by admitting they love their Gameboy and electronic toys. They even urge one girl sing on camera when she says she wants to be a famous singer. The kids are adorable and it is interesting to hear their accents and tell their own stories on camera for the first time.
The Seed
The Seed is about telling the truth and how it can be rewarding. It begins as a story of a young Kiwi boy who arrives in Rarotonga with his mom and her fiancé for their wedding. He is obviously opposed to the marriage and runs away – stealing the rings when he leaves. He tries to sell them to anyone he meets to buy a ticket back to New Zealand. His family and the police spend all night looking for him. The boy spends the night in the forest and finds his way to a remote beach area the next morning. He meets an old fisherman who tells the story of truth telling form his childhood.
When the fisherman was a child, he grew up in a village where the chief called all the boys together. He gave them each a seed to plant and told them the boy with the tallest plant in six months will get his boat. When all the boys grow giant palms but him, he faces the village chief in shame. Only then does the chief reward the boy with the boat, revealing that the seeds were all boiled before he gave them out and would not grow. Showing that the other children were all dishonest.
Dog Save the Queen
A boy and his mother living on the island are struggling to meet ends meet. The boy’s dog ends up being a cross-bread with a royal dog and the Queen wants to buy him. The boy struggles with giving up his best friend to save his family. Eventually he does, and the neighbor’s dog has a puppy because of the boy’s dog. He gets to keep the new puppy. The family was able to save their land and his brother moved home. The story reflects on the unbreakable ties between family and ancestral lands.
Island Shenanigans 