Highlighting intergenerational behaviours through a successful short film, on no budget, is no easy feat, but Sāmoan filmmaker Jade Jackson (pictured) has made it look seamless.
Thanks to a bit of perseverance, passion, commitment from her community and an urge to reclaim her identity, Jade is relishing in the success of her film Raids.
Jade, 33, hails from Porirua’s Cannon’s Creek. She produced and directed the film just over a year ago pre the Crown's apology for the raids of the 1970's.
Raids is a drama showcasing the treatment of Pacific people in Aotearoa during the Dawn Raids period.
To help with the premier of her film, Jade received funding from the first round of the Ministry’s Teu Le Va – Dawn Raids History Community Fund which she used for the premier of her film as a way to give back to the community.
Jade says she drew inspiration for her film after finding out more about the Dawn Raids period three years ago.
Her knowledge of this traumatic chapter in Pacific peoples’ story was very minimal and wanted to create the film as a way to educate anyone who did not know, like her, about it.
"As soon as I found out, I got into action and a few months later, we were shooting the film,” Jade says.
“Throughout my 20s, I was struggling with an identity crisis so making this film was healing for me.
“Supporting my community like this has given me a stronger sense of who I am.”
The film is set in the 1970s and shows the impact of a police raid through the eyes of a teenage Pacific girl named Losa.
Jade says the film was not just about showcasing the pain inflicted on the Pacific community, but hopes it is a way for the community to regain mana for healing.
With a focus on bringing the Pacific experience to film with dignity, the likes of her short film Raids, was officially selected for the Melbourne Women In Film Festival, Wairoa Film Festival, Māoriland Film festival and the prestigious New Zealand International Film Festival.
Jade says her next goal was to make a feature film titled Losa to further educate on Pacific history through film.
She recently has been awarded script development funding and named a Sundance Institute Indigenous Film Fellow, off the back of being shortlisted for the Sundance Merata Mita Fellowship Award with her script for Losa.
She also took out the Ngā Kōrero Tutu Iho Oral History Award to give voice to Falema’i Lesā, a Samoan national resident who famously appealed her visa overstay conviction in 1982 and won.
The recording can be found at Pataka Library in Porirua.
Round two open
Round two of the Teu Le Va – Dawn Raids History Community Fund is now open.
The Teu le Va - Dawn Raids History Community Fund was established last year as another step towards continuing the healing process for Pacific peoples.
Applications for the fund close on February 24, 2023.
Visit the MPP website or email [email protected] for more information.