Tusi Tamasese (born in 1975 or 1976 in

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa and known until 1997 as Western Samoa, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania, in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu), two smaller, inhabited ...

) is a Samoan New Zealander

film director A film director or filmmaker is a person who controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfillment of that Goal, vision. The director has a key role ...

. He is of high chiefly descent, of the

Tupua Tamasese Tupua Tamasese, formally known as Tupua, is a State (polity), state dynasty and one of the four paramount Fa'amatai, chiefly titles of Samoa, known as the ''Tamaʻāiga, tama a ʻāiga''. It is the titular head of one of Samoa's two ...

lineage. He came to

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

at the age of 18 with the intention to go to university, but, lacking a scholarship, began by working "picking tomatoes". He eventually did study at the New Zealand Film School, at the International Institute of Modern Letters at

Victoria University of Wellington Victoria University of Wellington (), also known by its shorter names "VUW" or "Vic", is a public university, public research university in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of New Zealand Parliament, Parliament, and w ...

and at the

University of Waikato The University of Waikato (), established in 1964, is a Public university, public research university located in Hamilton, New Zealand, Hamilton, New Zealand. An additional campus is located in Tauranga. The university performs research in nume ...

; he obtained a bachelor's degree in

social science Social science (often rendered in the plural as the social sciences) is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among members within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the ...

s, and a Master of Arts degree in

creative writing Creative writing is any writing that goes beyond the boundaries of normal professional, journalistic, academic, or technical forms of literature, typically identified by an emphasis on craft and technique, such as narrative structure, character ...

. The feature film script that Tamasese wrote for his MA degree won the Embassy Trust Award and Dominion Post Award. He lives in

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

."The Orator"
ABC 4, 20 January 2012 He wrote and directed his first short film, ''Va Tapuia'' (''Sacred Spaces''), which was "screened at the 2010 NZ Film Festival and then at festivals around the world". He went on to make Samoa's first ever

feature film A feature film or feature-length film (often abbreviated to feature), also called a theatrical film, is a film (Film, motion picture, "movie" or simply “picture”) with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole present ...

, '' The Orator'' (''O Le Tulafale''), which was screened in 2011 and submitted to the

84th Academy Awards The 84th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best films of 2011 in the United States and took place on February 26, 2012, at the Hollywood and Highland Center Theatre in H ...

. It was funded by the

New Zealand Film Commission The New Zealand Film Commission (NZFC; ) is a New Zealand government agency formed to assist with creating and promoting New Zealand films. It was established under the New Zealand Film Commission Act 1978 (as amended in 1981, 1985, 1988, 1994 a ...

and the

Samoan government Politics of Samoa takes place in a framework of a parliamentary system, parliamentary representative democracy, representative democratic state whereby the Prime Minister of Samoa is the head of government. Existing alongside the country's Weste ...

. He described it as "my image of what I see of growing up in Samoa". Tamasese received the New Generation award from the Art Foundation in 2015. '' One Thousand Ropes'' was released in 2017, directed by Tusi Tamasese, produced by Catherine Fitzgerald. It is the story of a father and daughter relationship in Samoa, in Samoan and English, mixing reality and mythological narratives. It was the Panorama Special at the Berlin Film Festival.

References

1970s births Living people University of Waikato alumni Samoan film directors New Zealand film directors International Institute of Modern Letters alumni Year of birth missing (living people) {{NewZealand-film-director-stub