The Last Sunday was filmed last year by a group of Unitec-Te Pūkenga Screen Arts students as their graduation project after COVID had put off their plans to shoot it at the end of 2021. The story was inspired by the Pacific communities that writer/director, Saito Lilo grew up in, and it was indeed a collective effort with close friends, family and even members of his partner’s church in Mangere coming together to help make the film.

 

The Last Sunday joins eight other short films selected from across Aotearoa and the Pacific for the festival's Nga Whanaunga Maori Pasifika Shorts programme that will screen during NZIFF in all festival locations across New Zealand. Speaking about this year’s films, Nga Whanaunga Maori Pasifika Shorts co-curators Craig Fasi (Director of the Pollywood Film Festival) and Leo Koziol (Director of the Wairoa Maori Film Festival) remarked: “At the heart of it all - he tangata, he tangata, he tangata - it is people and the stories we tell, the struggles we overcome, the grief we grapple, the forever wisdom of each living day up on screen as Natives all, telling their own stories, their own way."

 

The short films selected for the Nga Whanaunga Maori Pasifika Shorts programme are: Tulounga Le Lagi (dir: Pati Tyrell), Kokako (dir: Douglas F. Brooks), Whakaako kia Whakaora / Educate to Liberate (dir: Robert George), The Last Sunday (dir: Saito Lilo), Mako (dir: Mark Papali’i), Bringing Mere Home (dir: Keelan Walker), He Pounamu Ko Au (dir: Tia Barrett), and I Am Paradise (dir: Hiona Henare).

 

Co-curator Craig Fasi says The Last Sunday raises some confronting questions: "The burden of any form of responsibility will distort the true nature of simple intent. Would you make the ultimate sacrifice for family, religion and status?"

Saito Lilo says the film is close to his heart and was a “passion project” for him. “What drove the idea was just a question of money and church within our cultures and how these two aspects played a part in the way I was raised in South Auckland and Mt Druitt, Sydney,” he explains.

 

"The combination of exceptional performances, direction, and production of this very moving short film provides a potent example of the power of film to open our eyes and hearts to something bigger. There are real and pressing matters being explored here. The particular Pacific perspectives so carefully navigated in The Last Sunday are rich and varied, and the collaboration at work here is nothing short of brilliant. We are thrilled and humbled to have this beautiful short film recognised by the NZIFF. Congratulations to Saito, Lilo, and the Screen Arts team,"  said Unitec's Head of School, Associate Professor Vanessa Byrnes.

 

Find out more about the films selected for NZIFF 2023 here: https://www.nziff.co.nz/2023/nziff-2023/news/announcing-nga-whanaunga-maori-pasifika-shorts-1/