Venice Winner “Tanna” Opens September 16 at Lincoln Plaza, NYPosted by Wilson Morales
August 16, 2016
Opening in the U.S. at Lincoln Plaza in New York on September 16th, followed by Los Angeles and other markets a week later is ‘Tanna,‘ a lush and exotic film which recently won the Directors Guild of Australia award for Best Director.
Earlier, the movie premiered at the Venice Film Festival this past fall, where it won the Audience Award in the International Critics Week sidebar as well as the Best Cinematography prize.
Tanna, an extraordinary Australia/Vanuatu co-production, is a Romeo and Juliet story set in one of the world’s last true tribal societies. It is the first feature film shot entirely in the South Pacific nation of Vanuatu, in a village called Yakel. The people of this remote community, high in the mountain rainforests near a spitting volcano, truly wear grass skirts and penis sheaths and have rejected colonial and Christian influences in favor of their traditional and pure “Kastom” system of laws and beliefs.
Their customs and lifestyle have changed little for centuries. Before Tanna, they had never before seen a movie or a camera, yet welcomed the filmmakers to live with the tribe for seven months where they absorbed stories and observed ceremonies, with the input and collaboration of the local people. None of the ‘cast’ had ever acted before, but astonishingly, they passionately and naturally re-created this real-life story from recent tribal history as if they had had years of training.
The film’s story is performed predominantly by the people of Yakel in their native Nauvhal language (with English subtitles). On the stunning tropical island of Tanna, the conviction of two star-crossed lovers will change their tribe’s culture forever. Wawa, being readied for the ceremony that will recognize her as a grown woman, is in love with the handsome grandson of the tribal chief. When, as part of an effort to prevent a war, Wawa is betrothed to a man from another tribe, she must choose between loyalty to her clan and her own heart.
The cast of Tanna includes Mungau Dain, Marie Wawa, Marceline Rofit, Chief Charlie Kahla, Albi Nangia, Lingai Kowia, Dadwa Mungau, Linette Yowayin, Kapan Cook, Chief Mungau Yokay and Chief Mikum Tainokou. The directors are Bentley Dean and Martin Butler. The screenwriters are Bentley Dean, Martin Butler and John Collee (whose credits include Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World and Happy Feet), in collaboration with the people of Yakel. The Cultural Director is Jimmy Joseph Nako. The producers are Martin Butler, Bentley Dean and Carolyn Johnson. The director of photography is Bentley Dean, who won the Prize at the Venice Film Festival. The film was also nominated for Best Picture, Best Cinematography, and Best Editing by the Film Critics Circle of Australia, losing out in those categories to Mad Max: Fury Road. It did win Best Music from the FCCA for the haunting score by Antony Partos.
Tanna is being distributed by Lightyear Entertainment.
