LisaTaouma
- Producer
- Director
Lisa Taouma has a laufala bag spilling over with Pasifika screen credits. She has directed on Tagata Pasifika, helmed TV2’s Polyfest and made documentaries on subjects from Samoan tattoo to fa’afafine. She produces pioneering PI youth show Fresh with Mario Gaoa, and in 2014 launched Polynesian online community Coconet. Taouma also wrote short films Brown Sugar and Talk of the Town.
Screenography
Biography
Lisa Taouma grew up in the Samoan settlement of Faleasiu. Later she migrated to Dunedin, then Grey Lynn in Auckland.
Taouma got a screen break writing two episodes for Tala Pasifika, a pioneering 1996 series of short dramas. Showcasing emerging Polynesian screen talent, the series screened on TV One’s long-running PI magazine show Tagata Pasifika on Sunday mornings. Brown Sugar followed two young South Auckland musicians with stars in their eyes. Talk of the Town, inspired by the iconic Cindy of Samoa, is about a fa'afafine who has grown up to become a cabaret performer.
Awards
2022 New Zealand Television Awards
Best Pasifika Programme: Untold Pacific History
Nominated in the same category for: Teine Sā: The Ancient Ones
“We have to ride the wave while the wave is here. We are on a huge wave, Pacific TV-making has just been born; bro'Town has led the way. They now sell advertising on TV around Pacific TV. So we are at the peak of our careers — and we have to factor the unexpected late-life baby into that!”