Journey to Mother Pacific arrives on screen in Rarotonga

A locally shot documentary feature film exploring the importance of women’s reproductive choices through the story of Pacific mothers reclaiming indigenous practices will premiere in Rarotonga tomorrow.

Pacific Mothers is a powerful, award-winning documentary that explores the fundamental issue of women regaining their right to choose their own children.

The film will be screened for the first time tomorrow night at the Empire Cinema in Rarotonga. Tickets are available at The Café in the Beachcomber Art Gallery.

The documentary follows Japanese actor and free diver Sachiko Fukumoto as she joins midwives and Pacific mothers Ioana Turia (Rarotonga, Cook Islands), Kimi Werner (Hawaii) and Rava Ray (Moorea, French Polynesia) in advocating for women to reclaim their native childbirth customs.

The film shows that when women are emotionally, physically and culturally supported, they are more likely to have a supportive birth experience, whether in hospital, at home, on land or in water.

Filming began before the first coronavirus lockdown and then continued during it via Zoom meetings.

Cook Islands native Iona Turia is pregnant with her first child.

“It was my love and experience with the ocean…tying that into my pregnancy journey,” Turia said.

She explained that in oe vaka training, the command to speed up the pace is “push.”

“My coach (Vaea Melvin) was with me in the delivery room yelling ‘push,’ and I felt like I was back in the canoe. Sometimes the sea is unforgiving and we experience that adrenaline rush, sometimes you feel like you’re fighting for your life, and I was able to use that energy to help me get my baby out,” said Turia, who gave birth to a beautiful baby girl, Maiata Beasley.

In Pacific Mother, writer-director Catherine MacRae expands on the themes of her successful short film Water Babies (2019), which documented Fukumoto’s own experience of having a water birth in New Zealand after she was unable to get the water birth she wanted in Japan.

“We ended up making a short film about her… New Zealand gives women some options,” McRae said.

She said their focus is on the Pacific region to see who can choose home births, water births, etc.

“There’s a belief among women called eco-feminism that we care about our children, of course, but we also care about the planet and we want to make sure the oceans are in good shape to pass on to our children.”

McRae, producer Migiwa Ozawa and Cook Islands native consultant and international producer Karin Williams are travelling to Rarotonga for the first screening of the film.

Williams came on board with the project, seeking input from McCrea and Ozawa to help them make “a really beautiful film.”

“Making a documentary is a huge undertaking, especially shooting during a pandemic, in five different countries, with different sources of funding… There are a lot of contracts to sign, a lot of budgets to make, and a lot of logistics and practical work that no one has ever seen,” she explained.

“We are very excited about the launch of Pacific Mother,” said Glenda Tuaine, film director and producer at Cook Islands creative company Motone Productions.

Local technicians and crew John Beasley, Lisa Hesp and Rereao Vano from Nuirarotonga, Mo Newport, Pouarii Tanner, Logan Fletcher, Mark Short, Jim Perkins and Kutia Tuteru also took part in the production of the film.

Tickets are $15.