“Pacific Mother” is a powerful award-winning featuredocumentary that explores the fundamental issue of women reclaiming theirbirthing choices. It will be screened in Rarotonga for the first time tomorrowevening at the Empire Cinema. Tickets are available at The Café located insideThe Beachcomber Art Gallery.
The documentary feature follows Japanese actor andfree diver Sachiko Fukumoto as she joins midwives and Pacific mothers IoanaTuria – Rarotonga, Cook Islands, Kimi Werner – Hawai’i, and Rava Ray – Moorea, FrenchPolynesia, to advocate for women reclaiming indigenous birthing practices. The film shows that when women are supportedemotionally, physically and culturally, they are more likely to have anencouraging birth experience, whether it’s in the hospital, at home, on land orin water. Filming started before the first Covid lockdown, thencontinued through Zoom sessions during the lockdown.
Cook Islander Ioana Turia was pregnant with her firstchild. “It was my love and experience in and for the ocean..
.tying that into my journey through pregnancy,” says Turia. She explained that in oe vaka training the call topick up the pace is “push”.
“My coach (Vaea Melvin) was with me in the deliveryroom shouting “push”, it was almost like I was transported back into the canoe.Sometimes the ocean can be unforgiving and we experience the adrenalin and sometimesyou feel like you’re fighting for your life and I was able to draw on thatenergy to help me through pushing my baby out,” said Turia, who gave birth to abeautiful baby girl Maiata Beasley. In “Pacific Mother”, writer/director Katherine McRaedevelops the theme of her successful short film, Water Baby (2019), whichrecorded Fukumoto’s own water birth in Aotearoa New Zealand since she couldn’tget the water birth she wanted in Japan.
“We ended up making a short film about her...
and NewZealand allows women some choice,” McRae said. She said their focus was on the Pacific, wanting tosee who had the choice of a home birth, a water birth, etc. “There’s a belief that’s called eco-feminism about women,we care obviously about our children but we also care about the planet and wewant to make sure the ocean is in good condition to hand on to our children.
” McRae, producer Migiwa Ozawa and the Cook Islands veryown, Karin Williams, consultant and international producer, are visitingRarotonga for the first screening of the film. Williams got involved in the project to support McRaeand Ozawa by providing advice and helping them make “a really beautiful film”. “Putting together a feature documentary is a massivejob particularly filming in Covid, filming in five different countries withdifferent funding sources .
.. there’s a lot of contracting and budgeting, there’slogistical and practical that no one ever sees,” she explains.
Film director and producer GlendaTuaine of Motone Productions, the creativecompany of the Cook Islands, said “we are very excited to have thelaunch of Pacific Mother”. Local technicians and crew John Beasley, Nui Rarotonga’sLisa Hesp and Rereao Vano, Mo Newport, Pouarii Tanner, Logan Fletcher, MarkShort, Jim Perkins and Kutia Tuteru have also worked on this film. Tickets are $15.
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