October 2004

Interview by Reaghan Tarbell (Mohawk), Film and Video Center, NMAI

The Land Has Eyes

RT: Thank you Villi for joining us today and allowing me to interview you. Please introduce yourself and tell me where you're from.

VH: Well, thank you Reaghan and thank you for this opportunity to talk about my work. My name is Vilsoni Hereniko and I'm from the island of Rotuma, which is part of Fiji, although I live in Honolulu, Hawaii.

I am actually a Professor [of Pacific literature] at the University of Hawaii, that's my full time job. I was a playwright for more than 20 years, writing plays and directing for the stage, so filmmaking seems a logical extension for that particular interest. Movie making is something that I kind of do on the side, so I haven't had many films to my name. Actually this is the third one. I made a documentary in 1989 and then a short film in about 1995. This is a feature film, which we completed in…this year, 2004.

RT: I read that The Land Has Eyes is kind of an autobiography of your life growing up on the island of Rotuma. Can you tell me about that and which scenes in particular?

VH: Yes, when I was interested in making a feature film, when I was thinking of a story to write for the screen, a friend of mine, actually a fairly well known filmmaker from India, his name is Buddhadeb Dasgupta, read a script that I was working on. The script was based in Hawaii where I had been living for about ten years. And he said, "Vili, you must make your first film about your childhood and what it was like growing up on the island." And I said, "No way, I don't want to do that!" And he said, "Why?" I said, "Well, I ran away from that place." Not quite literally, but…I was very happy to leave the island and see the rest of the world. Buddhadeb encouraged me to revisit that time when I was growing up until the age of 16 and to mine that kind of cultural context, the background, and what it was like on the island. So finally, I agreed and said, "Ok, let me try writing a story that is based on my life growing up."

When I started I realized that one of the important things that I hadn't come to terms with was the fact that when I was 14 years old my father died. And since he was a great storyteller and an advocate for furthering my education, I was really terrified, and that caused me to run away from home. By the time my brothers and sisters discovered me-I'm the youngest of 11-my father was already buried, because there was no refrigeration on the island and people had to be buried very quickly after they died. And so they saw me as a very meek child who ran away when his father died. I know in my own heart that the reason I ran away was because I didn't want to see my father as dead. I wanted an image of a living person. I had very good reasons, but I never told them. To this day they still refer to that incident and what a terrible person I was to do that to my father.

So, I wanted to come to terms with that instant and why I ran away from home and the emotional impact of the death of my father on me. In the movie there is a very crucial scene in which the protagonist, a young girl, runs away from home when she hears that her father has died in a hospital. That scene is drawing from my own real life experiences. That's just one of many.

RT: Thank you for sharing that experience with me. I understand that you had tremendous support from the people of Rotuma, when you decided to make your movie there. I also read that most of the people in the film have never acted before. I imagine you must have felt an enormous amount of pressure in bringing this medium to the island, could you talk a little bit about that?

VH: Yes, sure. All the actors in the movie, except for two of them, are Rotumans who have never acted before. Many of them have never been in the movie theater, and so making a movie on the island was quite a novelty. In fact, when we got there, they thought we were from Hollywood. During the welcoming ceremony they had put together songs and dances in which they talked about the fact that there was this crew from Hollywood who had come to make a movie and so on and so forth. And I said to myself, "We're in big trouble here now, because now they think we have a lot of money!" If only they knew that we had maxed out our credit cards and taken out a second mortgage and were really fretting and worrying about how on earth we were going to make this movie. So, definitely the island was very new to filmmaking. The actors were very inexperienced and so was I. This was my first full [length] feature film, but I think we were driven by passion and a bit of craziness on our part thinking that we could just do anything.

My wife and I were the producers and we really believed that storytelling is very important and, particularly in the medium of film, that Native people needed to see themselves reflected on screen. And that no one can better represent who they are than they themselves. As you know, over the years many people have been represented by outsiders, which is well and good, but only up to a point. If Native people don't tell their own stories then we don't get an insider's perspective, an alternative view of reality and how things actually happened.

It was indeed quite a challenge, and I must say that, even now that we have completed the movie, it's a bit of a shock to think that now people can see it on the big screen….Maybe because of the Rotuman ancestors and the fact that we were doing a project which wasn't set out to make money, but to tell a story that has integrity and authenticity, somehow we managed to complete it.

Screening in Rotuma

RT: You've screened your film at Sundance and other such prestigious film festivals in Montreal, in Rotterdam, Australia, Hawaii. Have you shown it throughout Fiji? In Rotuma?

VH: Yes, we were determined to take the film back… to show the Rotuman people. After we finished the film I said to myself, "I will never return to that island until I finish this," because if I went back and people asked me, "Where's the movie you came and made over here?" I would be too humiliated to tell them that I haven't finished.

So, when did we go? This year, in late June, we were on the island for eight days and we had eight screenings all around the island. I would say that just about everybody who could walk came to see the movie. We set up a white sheet and we hired quite a good projectionist, from the University of South Pacific in Suva, and the sound system was really good.

At the very first screening that we had you couldn't hear anything, because people screamed and screeched and called things out to the actors on screen—because some of them were sitting in the audience—and they would say things like, "Get off the screen you ugly face, we didn't come to watch you!" This was all in jest of course. And I think they were just so shocked to think they could be on screen with these people they know….because for them filmmaking is for white people, for people in Hollywood, for movie stars. It was a very interactive experience where people kind of talked back and forth to what was going on on-screen, because they really know life on the island, and what they are watching on- screen is alive on the island at certain period in time. We actually were very pleased that we were able to take it back home and show it all around.

We also went to…Rotuma High School.…Some of the scenes in the movie were filmed in the school. The principal closed the school for one Friday afternoon and all 300 students came and sat down on the floor. We put up our sheet again and watched the movie. The protagonist came from this particular school, so you can imagine for the students the thrill of knowing that one of them could actually be there on screen, and [could go] to Sundance where the movie had its world premiere. The Fijian government flew [the film] over; it was quite an experience for everybody, and very moving, too, for myself and for the Rotuman people, to think that even though they are a very tiny island they have their own feature film that is now being seen all over the world.

RT: And their own Native feature filmmaker as well. They can say, "Vilsoni, he comes from Rotuma." (Laugh.)

VH: Yes, that's right, it was quite an experience.

RT: That sounds like an amazing experience. Were you very nervous?

VH: Well, I guess in a way I was nervous…because I tell you—the Rotuman people are your worst critics. The reason is because they know the life they are seeing on-screen inside out, they live that life. They also speak the language, and the film is in the Rotuman language, although it is subtitled in English. [We] had to make sure the people know how to speak the language. Fortunately we got actors from the island who lived there. So, the language is perfect, their knowledge of their Native tongue; they couldn't criticize us there. But they are able to pick out little things, you know, how in movies you like to cheat, you know the location is not quite what it is in real life. Or the directions-the setting-isn't quite in real life….It makes them feel good to say, "Oh, it's not quite where it is in the movie, it's actually in the islands over there, but they filmed here."

Telling Pacific Stories

RT: The insider's point of view. You've talked a little bit about this, but you were quoted as saying that a story has the power to transform people's lives. In your opinion, how has this story transformed the lives of the people of Rotuma, also the lives of other Pacific islanders and also you, how has it transformed your life so far?

VH: Yes, I think I mentioned in the beginning that when I was growing up my father was a story teller. At nighttime he would encourage the children to come out to the moon light, and he would tell us stories-[the] so-called myths and legends of the island. Also, I was given a book of Greek mythology that greatly influenced me. I was raised as a Christian, so I went to church and I read the Bible from cover to cover. The Bible is full of stories. So, for me as a young boy, growing up on this island that I found very stifling and claustrophobic, story allowed me to get out of this, the limitations of the physical space, and to travel. That had a great impact on me.

When I go back, I see many of the students I went to school with who are still on the island. Sometimes I wonder what made the difference between myself and them, me having grown up in a very poor family. You know, there was no particular reason why I should have made it as a professor here in the United States and to have made this movie. I think it's largely because of the power of story at a very young age. As you know, in a story usually there is a hero who sets out to conquer something, or to bring back something…and has to go through trials and tribulations. Often times the hero comes out triumphant, and so I liked imagining myself triumphant as that hero. It has really transformed me.

I think for the Rotuman children at the school…just to watch this movie in the language and to see people they know and, as you said, maybe watching me, one of theirs having gone away and made this movie, I think for them it most be very transformative. I imagined to myself that [if] had I watched the movie in my own language, made by [someone of] the same culture, at a very young age-wow! What a difference that would have made to me. It would have made me realize… there is no reason why I can't be a filmmaker, if this person has made it.

I've definitely never talked to people and asked them directly "Has it moved you or transformed you in any way?" But I think I can project into the thinking of young children, particularly, who come from Rotuma or come from the Pacific, who I'm sure it must empower to see images of themselves, stories they can relate to and identify with, reflected back to them through a medium that, up until now, has been the domain of white people. So, I guess that is my response to your question.

RT: If you imagine yourself in front of some young people, young adults, Pacific Islanders. What would you say to them if they were aspiring filmmakers, knowing what you know now?

VH: I guess I would say to look deep into themselves and say, "What is the one gift that God or the higher power has given me?" And if that gift is the gift of story, the ability to tell a great story, if that gift is the desire to tell your story on the big screen to reach a lot of people, I would say, "Go for it." It will mean a lot of sacrifice in terms of time and money. It will mean spending long hours-maybe on your own-writing, writing, learning, reading. But if that is what your gift is, than make sure that you fulfill that gift.

And for me, I know that is what kept me going, particularly at times when I felt that it's all very grim. How can we finish this thing if we have no money…but having that belief that there is a higher calling for you, for each of us, and finding it and getting on with it. I think that it's like the engine that drives the motor, and it will go a long way, hopefully, until you get to the destination.

RT: Another quote of yours is "Film is the most powerful medium for telling a story, a medium that has historically not been accessible or available to Pacific islanders." Tell me a little bit about what those obstacles are. You may have talked about it before that it was never so obvious, "Hey, I can do that too Vilsoni Hereniko did that, made a film." Have there just been financial obstacles? Or others? What steps have been taken to overcome these obstacles?

VH: Well, I think a major obstacle is the absence of role models-people who have been trailblazers before you in the medium of filmmaking. There are actually very few indigenous films that have been made by Pacific Islanders-you can probably count them on the fingers of one hand. And definitely no one from my island has made a feature film, no one from Fiji has made a feature film before, no one from Samoa or Tonga has written and directed and co-produced a feature film. Role models are very scarce, and so you think, "Well, do I dare think or imagine the impossible if people before me have not forged a path in this direction?" That's the big obstacle. It's a mental one, and I think it's one that holds a lot of Native people back because they think that they cannot do it.

Another big obstacle, as you know, is money. We don't have a lot of money. We don't have studio backing…money is definitely a big problem. You also need people who are able to write screenplays, to be able to tell a good story [that is] culturally specific to a place that nobody knows about, and yet can connect with somebody in Russia or in Rotterdam or in Australia.

So how do you do that? It's not easy. You needed to learn about the craft of screen writing. You need someone who knows how to direct. Fortunately, I had been directing for the stage for many years, so moving to filmmaking I took with me the knowledge that I had gained from the stage. I definitely found it very helpful even though the stage and film are a little different.

But yeah, the know-how and the knowledge are another obstacle, and then having the skills to pull a large number of people together is a very collaborative art form. You have editors, you have designers, you have production assistants. When you look at the credits at the end of the movie, I am always shocked at how many people it took to make even a short movie. All those various skills are so important. That's part of the reason why a lot of indigenous people are just beginning to venture into this very difficult territory.

RT: Are you surprised at all by the success of the film and the praise you've received?

VH: I would say yes and no. I am surprised that the stories seem to resonate with people who are not necessarily from the Pacific, people who have never been to this island. Right now, the film is being screened to an audience, none of whom have been to the island. Yet, I'm sure many of those people will come out of the theater deeply moved and touched by the story. That always surprises me, and yet deep down I think as Maya Angelou has said, "We are more alike than unalike."

I think the story is testimony to that truth-that we have a lot in common, similar fears and hopes and dreams. We have family members that we love and [family] members that we hate, people who we get along with and people whom we don't get along with, but it still surprises me that we could take it to Russia and have Russians so moved by it, even cry as they watched the movie.

But I'm not surprised because I know that I worked really hard on the story. I gave it everything I had in terms of my knowledge, my insights into human nature and my belief that story cuts across so many boundaries…The visual media can reach so many people…film seems to be a very global media, it's very accessible to people.

RT: I think those are the most successful films anyway, the ones that are driven by passion.

VH: It's also a very personal story. I think that people love it when you reach them at the heart and not at the head. I think the film tries to do both. It is a lot to think about at the same time, it is a lot that moves you emotionally because you recognize the feelings, the emotions that the characters are going through. I think there is an honesty about the story, because storytellers are afraid to reveal too much of themselves because it makes themselves vulnerable. But I think in the story, The Land Has Eyes, I'm able to reveal an awful lot about what it's like growing up on this tiny island…and to have these various things happen to myself and to the family.

Even though the protagonist of the story is a girl, she embodies in many ways [the same] feelings and sensitivity that I had as a young boy. The only reason that I made her a girl is for me to be able to move away from making it strictly autobiographical, to be able to take some license to create a story that is based on my home life, but is distant enough for me to give the story a life of its own. And I think it has been good for this particular story.

Making Films

RT: What was that like working with your wife on this film? I read an article in which Jeanette mentioned that during the filming she kind of stayed back and kept her distance at times.

VH: Right. (Laugh) Well, I must say it was extremely difficult. You've probably heard people say "Never ask your spouse to teach you how to drive a car." (Laugh) It was very difficult working together because we had just gotten married, you see, and so, there were a lot of issues to iron out, to reconcile, to negotiate. Yet, in spite of all of that, we embarked on this project that had its own challenges…. I think at times she was worried about the film and whether or not it would be able to reach a much wider audience than the people on the island. Right?

Because I was so focused on a story that is very culturally specific, I insisted that it would be in the Rotuman language, even though some people felt it should be in the English language, because that would make it much more commercial and much more accessible to a larger audience. It was definitely the most challenging thing we ever did. In fact I thought we were going to end up in a divorce. I'm sure there have been divorces over the making of certain films. (Laugh)

What it did for us in the end was that it really brought us together. My wife had never been to a South Pacific island before and…to have brought an international crew to the island and people with their own agendas and egos and I was the only one who could speak the language….it really made us realize our strengths and our weakness and how we could work better in the future, communicate better, not be so adamant that we are in control, but [instead] to talk more about more aspects of the work….it has brought us closer as a couple because we survived (Laugh) that terrible, terrible event of making the movie. And now the movie is finished, it's like our baby, you know? We go around and show it to people and, "Isn't it cute?" (Laugh) Some people say, "Well, not so cute" and we'll say, "Well that's ok." (Laugh)

RT: What is your next filmmaking project?

VH: Well, I hope I won't jinx this by talking a little bit about this. I have two kinds of projects that I have been toying around with for a while now. One is sort of a comedy, based on the island of Rotuma…but I'm more inclined now to a project I filmed set in Fiji that explores the racial tensions between Fijians and Indians. I've tentatively titled this Roti and Fish cause the Indians love to eat roti and curry and the Fijians like to eat fish in lola, coconut cream. There are two characters, an Indian boy and a Fijian girl who have run away, they're teenagers and living in a pack in the middle of the city.

RT: Is there anything that I haven't asked you about his whole experience, about yourself, about the film that you would like to mention?

VH: Maybe just one thing…I wanted to say to other Native people-Pacific Islanders-"Look, you can make a film. You can tell a story in your own language, using your own people, who may have not had training in Hollywood. You can make a movie even though you may not have all that much money, right?" In some ways with the digital media, filmmaking is much more accessible to us. So, I really would like to see more and more Native people, more Pacific Islanders particularly, telling their own stories, in their own language, on the big screen, and to reach international audiences.

RT: I hope it happens

VH: I hope so too.

RT: Thank you for your time.

VH: Thank you, thank you Reaghan. That was fun.

Image credit: Vilsoni Hereniko - courtesy of the filmmaker; Viki inspired by the Warrior Woman - fromThe Land Has Eyes/Pear Ta Ma 'On Maf ; A scene from the island of Rotuma - fromThe Land Has Eyes/Pear Ta Ma 'On Maf ; Viki alone in her private garden - fromThe Land Has Eyes/Pear Ta Ma 'On Maf ; Viki is questioned by Judge Clarke - fromThe Land Has Eyes/Pear Ta Ma 'On Maf

Follow us on: