Pasifika comedy movie to offer another side of NZ-Island life

Pasifika acting talent gets a huge spotlight this week, with the premiere of a new film expected to do great things on all sides of the Pacific Ocean.

Hibiscus & Ruthless is the much-anticipated second film written and directed by New Zealand-born Samoan Stallone Vaiaoga-Ioasa.

It will premiere at a packed out Civic Theatre, in downtown Auckland, tomorrow night before hitting cinema screens all around the country next week.

Director Vaiaoga-Ioasa, who grew up in Auckland, said the film looked at the relationship between parents and their children.

It specifically showed what life is often like for a young Pacific person growing up in New Zealand and the expectations and pressures they face.

"For non-Pacific Islanders who will be seeing this film, they'll be seeing a small insight into what life is like for an Island family in New Zealand. It's not all the usual singing, costumes and dance.

Stallone Vaiaoga-Ioasa, director of Hibiscus & Ruthless Photo / Supplied

"University, in this particular film, feels like a university how we see it. The pressures of a conservative and really strict parent - trying to juggle work, home and school - but showing it in an entertaining way. That's always key.''

The movie revolves around best friends Hibiscus (Suivai Pilisipi Autagavaia) and Ruth, nicknamed Ruthless, (Anna-Maree Thomas).

Hibiscus grows up under the eagle eye of her strict Samoan mother and is expected to put the books before anything else - in particular, boys.

Hibiscus' friend Ruthless, who grows up learning about Samoan culture, helps to keep her friend on the straight and narrow.

The release of this film follows the massive success of Vaiaoga-Ioasa's debut movie: Three Wise Cousins which, despite being shot on a shoestring budget, racked up more than $1 million at NZ and Australian box offices just weeks after hitting the big screen.

"The original idea [for Hibiscus] came prior to Three Wise Cousins," he said.

"I wrote a script where two girls were going around fixing all the boys - the bad boys in the neighbourhood.

Hibiscus & Ruthless, a new film by NZ-born Samoan director Stallone Vaiaoga-Ioasa, is in cinemas next week. Photo / Supplied

"And then I was writing it and I was like: 'Oh why don't the boys fix themselves?' So that's how Three Wise Cousins came about."

This time around, it was all about the girls, he said.

"I knew we had to have a female protagonist this time.''

Like his first film, the budget was low and lots of family and friends were called on for help, including sister Dinah Vaiaoga-Ioasa, who is the film's producer.

But what it lacks in the budget does not take anything away from the quality of the film, he said.

The movie will open in about 40 cinemas around New Zealand.

In comparison, only one exhibitor - Hoyts - originally agreed to do a few screenings of Three Wise Cousins. In its first week, in just eight cinemas, the film made $196,000.

"This time around, uh - no problems,'' Vaiaoga-Ioasa laughed.

"This time they came to us. They said: 'Oh, we heard you're making a film'.''

Hibiscus & Ruthless is in cinemas on January 25