Directing
Vilsoni Hereniko
Known for
Directing
Credits
4 titles
VILSONI HERENIKO is Rotuma's first and only playwright, award-winning filmmaker and full professor. He is a former Director of the Oceania Center for Arts and Culture at the University of the South Pacific in Fiji as well as the Center for Pacific Islands Studies at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. Currently he is a professor at the School of Cinematic Arts at UH Mānoa where he teaches screenwriting, indigenous aesthetics, sustainability in film, and film production. He has also received a Star of Oceania Award in Media, Arts, and Culture. He has written about a dozen plays, including the hit-comedy The Last Virgin in Paradise (co-written with the late Teresia Teaiwa), The Monster (about …
Known for
5.8Coming of age story about Viki a young pacific islander attempting to escape the stifling conformity of island culture. Inspired by the myth of the Warrior Woman, Viki recovers from the death of her father and fights for justice and freedom for her community.
The Land Has Eyes
2004
This documentary about ritual clowning on the Polynesian island of Rotuma in the South Pacific was produced to accompany Vilsoni Hereniko's dissertation titled 'Polynesian Clowns and Satirical Comedies, ' later revised and published under the title 'Woven Gods: Female Clowns and Power in Rotuma.' A social institution that is now very rarely practiced, ritual clowning at traditional Rotuman weddings may appear to the uninitiated to be for the sole purposes of entertainment. This effort to record and document a unique Rotuman tradition, however, suggests that ritual clowning deploys humor for social, cultural, political, and religious purposes that are central to understanding Rotuman history and culture. For a better understanding of the role of ritual clowning and humor on Rotuma, consult not just 'Woven Gods' but Hereniko's feature film 'The Land Has Eyes.
The Hanmaneak Su In A Routuman Wedding
1989
Behind the camera
5.8Coming of age story about Viki a young pacific islander attempting to escape the stifling conformity of island culture. Inspired by the myth of the Warrior Woman, Viki recovers from the death of her father and fights for justice and freedom for her community.
The Land Has Eyes
2004
5.8Coming of age story about Viki a young pacific islander attempting to escape the stifling conformity of island culture. Inspired by the myth of the Warrior Woman, Viki recovers from the death of her father and fights for justice and freedom for her community.
The Land Has Eyes
2004
5.8Coming of age story about Viki a young pacific islander attempting to escape the stifling conformity of island culture. Inspired by the myth of the Warrior Woman, Viki recovers from the death of her father and fights for justice and freedom for her community.
The Land Has Eyes
2004
This documentary about ritual clowning on the Polynesian island of Rotuma in the South Pacific was produced to accompany Vilsoni Hereniko's dissertation titled 'Polynesian Clowns and Satirical Comedies, ' later revised and published under the title 'Woven Gods: Female Clowns and Power in Rotuma.' A social institution that is now very rarely practiced, ritual clowning at traditional Rotuman weddings may appear to the uninitiated to be for the sole purposes of entertainment. This effort to record and document a unique Rotuman tradition, however, suggests that ritual clowning deploys humor for social, cultural, political, and religious purposes that are central to understanding Rotuman history and culture. For a better understanding of the role of ritual clowning and humor on Rotuma, consult not just 'Woven Gods' but Hereniko's feature film 'The Land Has Eyes.
The Hanmaneak Su In A Routuman Wedding
1989