Kapa Haka - Going Home

Panel:

Te Anu Tonga

Film Director and Producer

Te Anu is the best dishwasher in her family.  She is the favorite Aunty, loves to buy deodorant and has had a crush on the 14th Dalai Lama for many years.  She is ‘thee’ Daddy’s girl, hates doing her hair and thinks adults are boring. She also hates taking pictures-a lot.  She loves her pets and family. She went home to New Zealand to learn more about family and made a documentary about it.

Heather Harrison

Film Producer

Heather is Session Director at a youth camp called Youth For Freedom. She grew up in a large family. One of six kids and 83 cousins. She is very close to her family and loves to spend time with all of them.

Jessica Clement

Director of Photography, Lead Camera & Editor

Jess grew up in Southern Oregon with her parents and two younger siblings, thinking she should probably do something stereotypically worthwhile with her decent grades. One day, home from college, she realized she had no desire to be a doctor, a lawyer or an engineer, and was in fact (she thought) shaping up to be an utterly useless individual. Then, her dad, Dave asked an important question: "What's the thing you love most to do?" Years later, she's still working up the courage to answer this question with the truth: Telling stories, and being part of them.

Graduating from college with a degree in Broadcasting/Digital Storytelling and Theatre, and without much of a "life plan", Jess moved to Australia to connect with her mother's side of the family who have been Down Under for generations. She was diving into her own roots, learning the story of her family, when a friend introduced her to Te Anu Tonga and Heather Harrison. Te Anu and Heather were on a mission to tell a story of finding home, and going there- a story about what makes us us, and they needed help.

Jess picked up her camera, flew to Aotearoa (New Zealand), and started to learn and tell a new story that is as old as it gets: Family. Three years later, Jess, Te Anu and Heather have shot, edited, and completed their film: Kapa Haka - Going Home. They did this with no real funding, an incredible amount of patience, the unbelievable generosity of strangers and a fair serving of gumption. Jess is overwhelmed with gratitude to have been invited into this story, and will continue to tell it as well as she can.