Pacific Islands Event: "Naming No. 2" and Toa Fraser

The UH Center for Pacific Islands Studies

and

The UH Academy for Creative Media

present award-winning film

NAMING NO. 2 

followed by Q&A and reception with

writer/director TOA FRASER,

Fulbright-Creative New Zealand Pacific Writer-in-Residence

Date:   Friday, 25 September 2009

Time:   3:00 pm

Place:  UHM Architecture Auditorium, Room 205

"The heart has gone out of Nanna Maria's family. There are no parties - they don't even fight anymore. Inspired by a dream of her childhood back in Fiji, family matriarch Nanna demands that her grandchildren put on a big feast at which she will name her successor. . . . No.2 is a big-hearted, exuberant story about what it takes to bring family together."

"Naming No. 2," starring Ruby Dee as Nanna, won the 2006 Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival. It also won awards at the 2006 Air New Zealand Screen Awards and the 2006 Brisbane International Film Festival.

Writer and director Toa Fraser is a celebrated playwright, screenwriter, and film director, currently in residence at the Center for Pacific Islands Studies. His latest film, "Dean Spanley," starring legendary actor Peter O'Toole, was the big winner at the 2009 Qantas Film and Television Awards in New Zealand, taking home seven trophies, including best feature film, best director, and best supporting actor.

Fraser, a Pacific storyteller with a global perspective, was an award-winning playwright before he turned to film. His current project, which he is working on in Hawai‘i, is a second draft of a film script, "The Beach at Falesa," based on a novella by Robert Louis Stevenson.

The screening and discussion with Toa Fraser are open to the public, free of charge. The film is 95 minutes. For more information and disability access, contact the Center for Pacific Islands Studies at cpis@hawaii.edu or 956-7700.

The Pacific Writer Residency Program, cosponsored by Fulbright New Zealand and Creative New Zealand, is in its sixth year. Each year, the residency brings to the center, the university, and the public-at-large the work and insights of an outstanding Pacific writer.