Daunitukutuku – An Action Short Film set in Ancient Fiji

DAUNITUKUTUKU – In 1800s Fiji, a woman must find the strength to fight against divisive voices from within her village to save it from impending doom.

In the early 1800s, Fiji was still a relatively unknown frontier, relegated to the imaginations of explorers and brave traders as the lands of cannibals and heathens.

But within Fiji, life was as complex, dangerous and beautiful as any other place.

And within one village, a young woman, Kaliti, discovers that her home is about to come under attack from invading forces. Desperate, she seeks help from her mother, the Chief, who appoints her as the Messenger to recruit back up from a neighboring village.

As she leaves, unbeknownst to her, her brother, Inia, seeks to conspire to stand in her way and prevent her from reaching her destination. She must draw upon her inner strength and fight to save her home from impending doom.

Bula vinaka. My name is Tumeli Tuqota. And I am an aspiring iTaukei Filmmaker from Fiji.

In 2019 I created my first animated short film, ‘You, the Choice of My Parents’ which has screened in a few film festivals around the world and won the award for Best Micro-Animation at the Micromania Film Festival 2020.

In 2021, I put together a crew, all Fijian, and together we created the next animated short film, ‘Soli Bula’. We successfully raised a Kickstarter fund of just over $15,000FJD to pay everyone involved in the production.

In December 2021, completed ‘Soli Bula’ to submit to Film Festivals around the world.

‘Soli Bula’ had a successful Film Festival circuit, screening in festivals around the world, including the largest Indigenous Film Festival in the world, the ImagineNATIVE Film Festival, as well as the largest Film Festival in the Southern Hemisphere, the Maoriland Film Festival. It also screened at the 27th Red Nation International Film Festival, an American Indian & Indigenous Festival in the US.

After Soli Bula was done, I decided to make the switch to live action storytelling.

With the help of an awesome cast and crew, I first made an action grog comedy short film called ‘Jone Wise‘, sponsored by Lami Kava.

After that fun project, I have decided to switch things up to a more serious affair with a script that I’ve been working on for a few years and am finally in a position to get it made.

‘Daunitukutuku’ is a story that takes place in ancient Fiji, where older traditions and practices still held sway, including warfare. With this short film, I aim to showcase Fijian culture front and center on the big screen. We’re talking about a traditional village, complete with thatched houses and beautiful interiors. Smokey jungle, amazing natural vistas and a warrior battle at the end, blood, sweat and violence all included.

My aim as an indigenous filmmaker is to feature as much Fijian and Pacific content as possible, and put more brown faces on screen. And with ‘Daunitukutuku’ and this Kickstarter, I hope you can join in to help make this happen.

CAST

Kaliti – Giovanna Varea

Giovanna Varea is a 23 year old Professional Dancer with the VOU Dance Group. She hails from Noa’tau, Rotuma with maternal links to Yaloku, Yakete, Ba. She has worked as a dancer teacher and choreographer and has been part of 4 productions made by VOU. Besides dancing she has also assisted as a Show Manager, Marketing Rep, Light and Sound Rep for VOU.

Inia – Epi Vuruna

Epi Vuruna is an aspiring actor and filmmaker eager to make his mark in the film industry. Acting and filmmaking has been his lifelong passions since he was a kid and is driven to see more Fijian stories on the big screen with the belief that there’s nothing more powerful than seeing your own people, your own language, your own color and your own dramas on the screen. Starting off back in 2020 there wasn’t much acting opportunities for him here in Fiji and so he decided make short films to help him in honing his craft. He’s made several short films with his uncle, Juninho Black where they have founded their own production company called Ruve Ni Yawini Pictures.

More cast announcements as they’re chosen!

CRE

Writer/Director – Tumeli Tuqota

Tumeli Tuqota’s father hails from Vanua Levu, Fiji and his mother is from Ha’apai, Tonga. He has 15+ years experience with graphic design, motion design, basic 2D & 3D animation, some filmmaking and drawing stick figures with both hands. This is his third short film production.

Director of Photography – Laisiasa Dave

Laisiasa Dave is a Videographer, Music Producer and singer/songwriter with 12 years of Video and Audio production experience. He has worked on everything from award winning radio commercials, big scale video productions and continues to work on his own music under his stage name Mr. Grin which has given him some success in the Fiji and regional music scene.

Production Designer – Clarence Dass

Clarence Dass is an international award winning writer and director, with over 20 years experience in Fiji’s media industry. Having worked in both radio and television, Clarence has a passion for storytelling and his love for visual narratives has extended his art to comics and illustration.

Cultural Consultant – Simione Sevudredre

Simione Sevudredre is an experienced researcher & facilitator on indigenous knowledge and ethics of the iTaukei society. He is a passionate speaker on promoting iTaukei culture locally and at international conventions and forums.

1st Assistant Director – Lynette Lee

Sound Mixer – Albert Rolls

Line Producer/BTS Photographer – Verdine Lee

2nd Camera – Willie Usuramo

Costume Designer – Edwin Saladoka

Hair & Make Up Designer – Jedidiah Mosese

Props Master/Special Effects – Michael Jon Light

Fixer – Tudrau Talebulamaijaina

Additionally, I’m delighted to announce that the Daunitukutuku Production is collaborating with the Pacific’s most globally toured performing arts company, Vou Dance Group to bring on board some of their talent to help with production and enable them to learn and access new production skills along the way.

When putting together a short film, there are three stages: Pre-Production, Production and Post-Production.

Right now we’re in the Pre-Production of ‘Daunitukutuku’. We have a script complete, some storyboards and some character designs. Our production crew has also been put together as listed above and while we’ve selected the two main characters for the cast, we’re still in the process of casting the rest of the roles and will definitely confirm them before Production begins.

We’ve broken up our budget into two pieces: the first is the budget to pay for the production itself, including the cast, location, travel etc as well as the Kickstarter levy.

If we’re successful with hitting that first milestone, then we’ll aim for our second fundraising stretch goal which is to get the rest of the crew paid, including the Camera crew as well as have some funds put aside for Film Festival submissions.

It’s super important that we be transparent about where the money goes during the production, so we’ll be keeping all our backers updated with a production newsletter, as well as postings on the social media platforms. We’re planning to take 2 to 3 months to work on the short film, from prep work, location scouting, to shooting then the final stages of video editing to the final product.

We welcome and appreciate all of your support for this production and encourage any form of support, whether it’s a kickstarter pledge or spreading the word via social media. If you can’t pledge financially, that’s ok. We’d love if you could spread the word about our Kickstarter campaign with your own network of family and friends.

You can follow us on Social Media with our Instagram @Daunitukutukufilm , Twitter @Daunitukutuku and Facebook ‘Daunitukutukufilm’ to stay connected with the Production.