One Thousand Ropes

Writer/director Tusi Tamasese won multiple awards for his first feature, Samoan drama The Orator - O Le Tulafale. This New Zealand-set follow-up involves a Samoan father whose daughter, Ilisa (Shortland Street's Frankie Adams), returns home, pregnant and badly beaten. Uelese Petaia (star of Albert Wendt adaptation Sons for the Return Home) is the boxer turned baker, in a tale of family, redemption and revenge. One Thousand Ropes debuted in the Panorama section of the 2017 Berlin Film Festival. The soundtrack, recorded in a Wellington chapel, won Best Original Music in a Feature Film at the 2017 APRA Silver Scrolls.