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Vea Mafile'o

Director, Art Director

Tongan-Kiwi Vea Mafile'o began her screen career in the art department, drawing on a degree in Visual Arts. A prolific artist, she was an art director for television and a run of short films. In 2008 Mafile'o moved into directing, including on Tagata Pasifika, Fresh and drama The Panthers. In 2015 she founded production company Malosi Pictures with her partner Jeremiah Tauamiti. The pair's feature-length documentary For My Father's Kingdom debuted at the 2019 Berlin Film Festival. In 2024 Mafile'o's first dramatic short Lea Tupu'anga/Mother Tongue was chosen from 17,000 submissions to play at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival.

...I love documentary, especially cinéma vérité where you can sit and be immersed in another world. I also like the emotion you can make from picture and sound, for me I use a lot of sounds to evoke feelings. Vea Mafile'o, in a 2018 interview with Coconet TV