AUCKLAND (Pacific Media Watch): After participating in the Raro Challenge on Rarotonga, British filmmaker Tajinder Singh Hayer is full of praise for the inaugural Cook Islands film festival Film Raro.
When arriving on Rarotonga in mid-May, Singh Hayer and his crew had only just over a week to shoot a short film for the festival, organised by Drum Productions of Auckland.
Five other film crews from around the took part in the same social documentary event as the English filmmakers.
To succeed, Singh Hayer and his team were dependent on local support – but that was never a problem.
Singh Hayer explained:
“The people were wonderful. The support that we had from people who had taken time off work - you know, a real level of commitment, performers and production crew, meant that while it was tricky shooting at Oneroa in the lagoon at Muri beach, it meant that we were kind of properly supported,”Singh Hayer told Pacific Media Watch after speaking at a Pacific Media Centre seminar at AUT University on Thursday.
The seminar, co-hosted by the British Council in Auckland, also included the screening of his film Islands.
The film is about a young woman, who is ill-treated in the relationship she is currently in, and attracted to another man on a different island.
No dialogue
Singh Hayer’s film is remarkable by not including one single spoken word during the entire 16 minutes of its duration.
The director explains that this was due to a New Zealand filmmaker, Virginia Heath, who was his tutor at a media production school in Sheffield, England. She challenged Singh Hayer to write a film script without dialogue.
This idea had laid dormant in the 33-year-old’s mind for several years until the Raro Challenge came up.
“[T]he initial idea was a test for myself because coming from a theatrical and radio background I’ve been quite dependent on dialogue, and so to see the visual possibilities of a film, and you know, whether I could do it as a writer, as a director, whether I could tell a story without dialogue. I think that was the initial trigger, but it’s also this type of story, the story that formed, it felt to me it only could be told without dialogue, you know,” Singh Hayer explained.
Multicultural filmmaking
Tajinder Singh Hayer is a second generation Sikh immigrant to England. In his previous projects he has dealt with British-Asian themes relating to his background.
In this film, Singh Hayer has departed from his previous projects in creating a film with a Pacific setting. Although the setting of the film is unmistakably Pacific, the theme in the film is universal, he explains:
“I hope that I created a story that was kind of flexible enough, to kind of allow for different interpretations, but also kind of a meaningful, creative dialogue with Cook Islands crews. On another level as well the story’s quite archetypal, you know, it’s got a kind of universal…and yeah, it’s not told in verbal language, so it’s got a kind of universal element to it as well. So it was a mix of things about the very specific and the universal.”
The filmmaker describes his film as a “fairytale” and a “love story”.
Film Raro
The Hawai'ian film Little Girls War Cry, which looks at domestic abuse through the eyes of a 10-year old girl, won the social impact award.
Nevertheless, Islands was well received, Singh Hayer says:
“It had a really good response. I mean all of the films had a really good response. I think there’s a really positive atmosphere. A lot of people found it beautiful. They found it moving, which is great.”
The Film Raro festival aims to help establishing the Cook Islands as “the film friendliest tropical location in the world – COOKIWOOD,” according to the website of the film festival. It seeks to promote tourism in the Pacific country, which today accounts for 75 percent of its annual income.
Its core objectives are to aid the social and economic development in the Cook Islands through “a global strategy of engagement with filmmakers and audiences from around the world,” according its website.
And it seems like The Raro Film Festival succeeded in at least engaging its local citizens. 4000 people on two consecutive days attended the screenings of the six short films in the competition in late May.
The audio interview with film director/writer of the film Islands, Tajinder Singh Hayer, is featured on YouTube. And here is the interview transcript:
“DD: What is your film about?
TSH: It’s basically, it’s a love story, it’s a kind of fairy story, and it’s told entirely without dialogue. It’s about a character called Vainya who’s stuck on an island basically with a guy called Putu. And she’s in a repressive relationship in a way, and has the beginning of a relationship with a man on another island. That makes it seem very prosaic, but it’s quite hard to talk about a film without any dialogue that’s a short film without giving the game away so I don’t wanna talk too much about it, but yeah…I kinda always saw it as…as a kind of dialogue-less fairytale.
DD: Why no dialogue?
TSH: It was a bit of a challenge basically. I think the germ of the idea came in 2009. Myself, I’d met the other members of the British side of the crew at a film course at Sheffield Hallam University, and one evening – wet windy evening in Sheffield – one of our teachers…one of our tutors, Virginia Heath, who’s actually a New Zealand film maker who now lives in the UK, just said this task of hers ‘write a film without dialogue’. And just the initial germ of an idea came into my head and sort of settled down, and faded away, and was reignited when I saw Film Raro. So, the initial idea was a test for myself because coming from a theatrical and radio background I’ve been quite dependent on dialogue, and so to see the visual possibilities of a film, and you know, whether I could do it as a writer, as a director, whether I could tell a story without dialogue. I think that was the initial trigger, but it’s also this type of story, the story that formed, it felt to me it only could be told without dialogue, you know. So those are the reasons yes.
DD: What was it like working in the Cook Islands?
TSH: The people were wonderful. The support that we had from people who had taken time off work, you know, a real level of commitment, performers and production crew, meant that whilst it was tricky shooting at Oneroa in the lagoon at Muri beach, it meant that we were kind of properly supported. I’d say more than supported actually, because we were supporting each other, so it was a really positive experience, the film-making experience, and I think quite gratifying seeing this kind of film work. Because you can’t just have a read through with actors and get a flavour of it, you know you’ve got see it one’s it’s cut together in the editing space. So once we had like for instance, there was a key scene with Vainya and Tamatoa across the straights, and we were showing it back in the communal space where all the other crews were also there, and just seeing people just stop and getting the story just from what we shot. It was great.
DD: And how was it received?
TSH: It had a really good response. I mean all of the films had a really good response. I think there’s a really positive atmosphere. A lot of people found it beautiful. They found it moving, which is great. Different people have had different interpretations, which I’m fine with actually. I mean I’m not too precious about that it’s gonna be one way. And I guess you also got to be aware of that in a story without dialogue is that there is greater space for different interpretations.
DD: What can you tell me about the Raro Film Festival?
TSH: Well, the Raro Film Festival it’s the kind of festival…well, there’s the ‘Raro Challenge’ which is, you know, an integral part of it, which is like no other than I’ve really come across in that you get international and local crews kind of mingling, telling stories, and going really from shooting to screening in a very short period of time, and screening it to people on the islands. So it’s very intense, but it’s…it’s very intense, but it’s also on Rarotonga which is quite chilled out as well, so people’s response to films is quite warm and, you know, kind of…I think quite appreciative. That it’s not a jaded audience in any way, you know, that they kind of really were vibing off it, and I think so amongst the crew as well.
DD: How is it different working in Rarotonga compared to other projects you’ve worked on?
TSH: Well, it’s not really like any project I’ve done before on one level because I’m working on a film without dialogue. And not, I guess not just simple geography, you know, because there’s lots of places you can go to in the world. I think coming from a British context, there are obviously geographical factors in how we work in Britain, you’re not able to trust the weather quite frankly, so the notion of creating a script that’s primarily set outdoors is a risky enterprise in Britain. But then also I think maybe attitudes towards the filming experience is slightly different in Britain, you know, you get people who are incredibly enthusiastic and willing to show it, but you also have some people who might not respond in such a kind of excited way. The Rarotongan crews that we worked with just regularly they had a level of commitment, which kind of created a real professionalism, you know, but also a professionalism that was allied to a kind of idealism and a real sense of enthusiasm. Those two things don’t always go together, because you know if you’ve been professional for many years you can sometimes become blasé about things. But yes, it was great seeing that mixture of dedication with a kind of almost…there were times where it was almost just joyous really, you know.
DD: And of course you’re background is English, but you’re also of multicultural background. A Sikh, right?
TSH: Yeah yeah.
DD: And this film was made in the Cook Islands, so a multicultural films as well. How important is it for you to make multicultural films?
TSH: It’s interesting because I think…I was put in an interesting position because I think not only was it a script without dialogue, but it was also not dealing with British-Asian themes which a lot of stuff I’d written had done that. So I was aware that I was sort of leaping into the unknown as a writer. I was also conscious as someone having written from a minority background it would be very easy for me to kind of sort of stumble all over the Cook Islands with my own perceptions. So I hope that I created a story that was kinda flexible enough, to kinda allow for different interpretations, but also kind of a meaningful, creative dialogue with Cook Islands crews. On another level as well the story’s quite archetypal, you know, it’s got a kind of universal…and yeah, it’s not told in verbal language, so it’s got a kind of universal element to it as well. So it was a mix of things about the very specific and the universal, so yeah, it was interesting.
DD: Just one final question: Would you like to come back to the Pacific and work here?
TSH: I [would] do at the drop of a hat. I’d like to move my family here if I could.”
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 New Zealand Licence.
Daniel Drageset
