films, life, and

Tropicalities

Brando on films, life, and the bomb

Marlon Brando has broken a self-imposed ban of more than 20 years and given a press interview. Looking at his scar red knuckles the scars, he said, were from blows he has dealt out over the years to paparazzi, or “journalistic pests” he told two reporters from the Tahiti daily Les Nouvelles that he was allowing himself to be interviewed be cause “he felt at home in Tahiti”, and felt that local journalists were “not ill-inten tioned”.

As it turned out he talked for an hour and a half to Marine Palkovic and Denis Herrmann when they visited him on the island of Tetiaroa where he has his Polynesian home.

Asked what he thought of the film world today, he said: “Almost without exception films today are dependent on making money, and so are purely commercial proposi tions. In the USA, films are an industry, and film-making is not considered an art. There are exceptions among Japanese, Italian, French, and even American films. But gen erally speaking films are geared solely to the prospect of success at the box office there must be a return on the producers’ investments.

“A director like Ingmar Bergmann will never succeed in the United States. Nor would the French film La Cage aux Folles. I personally thought this film was marvel lous. I saw it eight times, and simply couldn’t stop laughing.

Everything about it was wonderful, the script, the actors, the dialogue, the sets everything was perfect...

“There are some very mov ing passages in the film, but it will never succeed in America because Americans are very provincial, their tastes are conditioned by television. The French are being condtioned by television too. There are some good films being made, but they’re very rare...”

Asked whether he agreed with a description of himself as “an actor of genius”, Brando replied; “There’s no such thing as genius, there are only intelli gent people.. . People who are intelligent in various fields of activity...”

The reporters asked did he ever feel concern about Polynesia’s problems with nuclear testing.

Brando replied; “Yes, cer tainly I d 0...

“The Americans didn’t want to explode their bombs in the United States so they looked around and found a pretty spot, they evacuated the in habitants and settled them elsewhere, and for 25 or 30 years these people stayed on this other island. The Amer icans meanwhile got on with their bomb testing.

“I think the whole thing was amoral, but the Americans be lieved they were making a great gift to the world.

How many cancers did they cause? Ten years ago my wife Tarita arrived in the United States, and she had a goitre.

The first question the doctor asked her was where had she been at the time of the Amer ican bomb tests. She’d been at Borabora.

“I asked why he had asked this question, and the doctor replied it was because he’d seen the consequences of these tests before.

“It’s the same thing here.

The French are doing the same thing as the Americans did.

“But the way things are to day, if the French produce a missile, the Russians and Americans have already de veloped an anti-missile mis sile, and so it goes on an on.

“Really, we’re all in the same boat, It’s loaded with dynamite, and if someone flings the dynamite at his enemy the whole lot will be blown up, and we’ll all be involved.”

Brando was asked the reasons for his deep affection for the Tahitian people.

“You know in the United States there are people who if they see me in the street, or in a restaurant somewhere, im-

mediately telephone newspap er photographers to tell them where I am. And then these clowns turn up and lie in wait for me...

“Now the Tahitians don’t care about the cinema at all.

They don’t go around asking for autographs. It’s only the Chinese, the French and the Americans who do that to me.

The Tahitians, never.

“That’s why it’s a great plea sure for me to talk to a Tahi tian. You can talk with a Tahi tian about any subject under the sun...

“To me it’s a sign of a sort of cultural intelligence because it shows he knows that all this film business is not important.

He’d be more interested in the names of the fish you’ve got in your boat.

“But we and the whole world are suffering and suffocating over superficial matters that don’t really add up to to a thing.”

“Would Brando say he had acquired wisdom over the years?”

“Wisdom?” (Pause...) “I can now immediately recognise the sound made by a falling coconut, and I know how to take quick evasive action.. .

That’s wisdom enough for here in Tahiti...”

The Tami Canoe

Voyage story

A plan to sail a traditional outrigger canoe on a round trip of almost 6500 kilometres from Papua New Guinea’s Tami Islands to Vanuatu and back for the 1983 South Pacific Festival of Arts is well under way, and is receiving signifi cant international support.

Barney Orere of the PNG Office of Information ex plains: “It is easy to preserve songs and dances and age-old institutions such as bride price and initiation ceremonies and building and carving, because these things are still an impor tant part of the daily life of PNG. But because of modern technology some of this na tion’s culture is dying rapidly.

“For example, the art and craftsmanship of building ocean-going trading canoes, traditional navigation, and the use of traditional trade routes are being forgotten.

“One might ask what rele vance is there in using these traditional trading routes when there are available today better and more economical alternatives? The answer I have to such a question is that we must be concerned with

An artist’s impression of a Tami canoe similar to the one being built for the voyage from PNG to Vanuatu. Picture by courtesy of Tami Canoe Voyage.

reviving the past to preserve our identity and tradition..

The skills involved in buil ding the traditional Tami Is lands canoe may now be pos sessed by as few as four peo ple, all in their mid-60s.

“When they go,” writes Mr Orere, “the canoe goes with them,”

The plan is to build a new canoe, recording permanently every step in the process of construction, and at the same time instructing young islan ders in the art.

The project is the brainchild of a young American, Terry Linehan, who sailed across the Atlantic at 25, and crewed on Operation Drake’s flagship, Eye of the Wind. He will be supported by other Wester ners, including Major Frank Esson, a helicopter test pilot in the British Army.

Army communications specialists will be selected to provide the high frequency communications needed to maintain constant contact with the canoe, while the crew will be carefully chosen from the Tami Islands.

Already the chosen tree is in the process of being turned into a magnificent 15-metre canoe.

The main expedition is ex pected to arrive in PNG either late this year or early next.

The Tami Canoe Voyage as the project is known has received support from the National Maritime Historical Society of America, and has thus achieved charitable sta tus. Anyone wishing to support the project financially should write to Tami Canoe Voyage, National Maritime Historical Society, 2 Fulton Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201, USA. A project office has also been established in the District Office, Finschhafen, PNG. The project has the full support of the Morobe Provincial Gov ernment.

Warm approval for the pro ject has also come in a letter from Prince Charles. The prince wrote: “I applaud Terry Linehan’s initiative and wish him every success. Today, when there is so much aggres-

sion and hatred, it is good to see an international group of young people tackling a chal lenging, exciting and worth while task without thought for their own comfort or profit. I believe everything should be done to encourage such an enterprise so that the pioneer spirit will live on in the coming generation.”

One recent journey by a Tami canoe was in February 1979 when Sailas Guape and his four sons sailed Anzane to Lae, a journey which lasted four days. Anzane is the last of the old Tami canoes which sailed in the late 19605. It was rebuilt with sponsorship from the Australian High Commis sion in Port Moresby.

Longest bridge

for Raro

Rarotonga has just acquired its longest bridge. It took more than two years and $56,000 to build; it’s 31 metres long and, until a new sportsfield is con structed, it will be used by only five or six families.

The bridge, in the Takuvaine Valley, replaces a shorter one which fell to pieces during a

flood in January, 1980.

But, small as it is, the new bridge attracted an imposing crowd of VIPs to its opening.

There was Prime Minister Sir Thomas Davis, his wife Pa Tepaeru Ariki, Cabinet Minis ters Papamana Pokina and Vincent Ingram, with spouses, Opposition Leader Geoffrey Henry and Mrs Henry, Assis tant Minister Teariki Piri and Makea Nui Teremoana Ariki, CBE, plus MP and Fred Good win and Mrs Goodwin, work men, not forgetting the people who’ll use the bridge.

The area served by the bridge is named Te Oro but the bridge, like its predecessor, is called Arakotini, a Maori adaptation of the words Arctic Ocean, so-called, according to Timote Turu, master of cere monies at the opening, be cause, “back in the past, some one from the area was asked where he came from and he replied, whether jokingly or not, Arakotini, and this name was passed on to the bridge.”

First to cross the new bridge was the Prime Minister, who drove across, followed by the other guests, for a closing prayer at the other end.

Famous victory

of Falema’i

Falema’i Lesa faced the same problem as about 2300 other Western Samoans living in New Zealand; She wanted to stay but had been ordered back to her country for over staying.

But Falema’i who came to New Zealand seven years ago, decided to fight those instruc tions. For five years she bat tled in the legal arena that step by step took her to New Zea land’s Court of Appeal. There she lost her claim that she was a New Zealand citizen. So she went to the Privy Council in London, won her case on July 19, and became overnight the toast of the Western Samoan community in New Zealand.

While Samoans beamed with pleasure the New Zealand Government was dumb found ed. Prime Minister Robert Muldoon intoned that the Privy Council decision was “obviously a very serious mat ter” which raised issues of the “greatest consitutional import ance.”

About 300 Western Samoan over-stayers whose cases were before the courts heaved a collective sigh of relief, while others calculated that the deci sion meant that some 120,000 Samoans were now eligible for New Zealand citizenship if they wanted it.

“I am happy that I have saved a lot of people who were about to be deported home,” said Falema’i, who first appeared in court as an over stayer back in March 1979. She promptly paid tribute to the Samoan community that had raised SNZ3O,OOO to help meet her legal expenses.

Falema’i claimed that her birth in Western Samoa in 1946 made her a New Zealand citizen. The Court of Appeal said no. The British National ity and Status of Aliens (in New Zealand) Act passed in 1928 was not intended to make all Western Samoans born af ter that date British subjects, said the Court of Appeal.

Falema’i however insisted that Western Samoans born between 1928 and 1949 were

Papua New Guinea, long renowned for the standard of its postage stamps, has issued four new definitives displaying some of the beautiful corals found in PNG waters. They are, from top left, Stylophora SP, which are among the false finger corals, 1 toea denomination; Acropora Humilis, from a widely varied range of corals, 5 toea; Distichopora SP, one of the lace corals, 15 toea; and Xenia SP, 1 kina. The stamps were released on July 21, and the illustrations were from photographs taken by underwater diver Bob Halstead of Port Moresoy. Halstead also wrote the background notes for the issue. The next PNG stamp issue, due on September 15, will commemorate the centenary there of the Roman Catholic Church.

New Zealand citizens and so were their children. This co vered some 35,000 Samoans born between those dates and their 85,000 children.

Until January 1, 1949, all New Zealanders were British subjects because they lived in New Zealand. From that date the Government introduced the status of “New Zealand citizen” under the British Nationality and New Zealand Citizenship Act 1948.

British subjects born in New Zealand before then became New Zealnd citizens automa tically.

The Privy Council decision said in effect that persons born in Western Samoa before January 1, 1949, were also to be regarded as natural-born British subjects. Those people were automatically New Zea land citizens as a result of the 1948 Act which made anyone who was a British subject im mediately before the Act came into force, a New Zealand citizen if he or she was born in Western Samoa.

The reason for linking New Zealand with Western Samoa in the first place dates back to 1914 when New Zealand troops landed in what was then a German colony shortly after the outbreak of World War 1.

New Zealand was given administrative responsibility for the islands under a League of Nations mandate from 1919.

From 1946 it continued its administrative role under the United Nations until Western Samoa became independent in 1962.

Over the years the move ment of Western Samoans and other Polynesian people to New Zealand has accelerated to make Auckland the world’s biggest Polynesian city.

New Zealand authorities have fought a rearguard action against the growing number of over-stayers who prefer the working and living opportuni ties in Auckland to their own tropical paradises.

Falema’i appears now to have opened the floodgates for 75 per cent of Western Samoa’s population to go to New Zealand. But a headlong rush is not anticipated.

Muldoon himself saw “no immediate urgency” in finding a solution to the citizenship issue. “To take advantage of this decision they have got to identify themselves as coming inside the definition that the Privy Council lays down and, to do that, you’ve got to get a birth certificate and you’ve got to be able to show you’re the person referred to on the birth certificate and that’s not always going to be easy or quick,” he said.

Nor would Western Samoa like to lose its able-bodied people, while New Zealand officials wince at the prospect of increasing the ranks of un skilled and unemployed people in New Zealand with the atten dant financial, educational, health and housing problems.

Until the Government had a chance to read the fine print in the Privy Council’s ruling, Muldoon stopped issuing further permits for temporary visitors from Samoa.

The Government had the re sponsibility to solve the prob lem in a spirit of goodwill and generosity, said Muldoon in his weekly column in the news paper Truth.

The effect of the Privy Council ruling spreads wider than just New Zealand.

“If Samoans are automa tically New Zealand citizens, then clearly they can enter Australia without visas and they have the same rights in regard to entry to Britain as New Zealanders,” wrote Mul doon.

How the Government solves the issue concerns many New Zealanders. The New Zealand Herald spelt out that concern in an editorial when it said: “What happens now must be the subject of some anxious study. The first consideration should be that the woman who won her case and others in a similar position should not be disadvantaged by retroactive legislation aiming to make them subject to prosecution and conviction as over stayers. Any such move would be widely seen as a gross abuse of power.” William Gasson in Wellington.

Von Stellmach in

the Pacific again

That tireless and talented maker of films, Karl-Heinz Stellmach of West Germany, is on the job again, this time in Kiribati, homeland of his wife Aborina.

His project? A series enti tled Adventure South Seas, which has been commissioned by West German television.

The first of the 45-minute documentaries, Kabua A Fisherman of Kiribati, is ex pected to be screened in Ger many around Christmas time.

Aborina is now a fully trained movie camera oper ator, and will do most of the photography involving women. She says: “I personal ly have never felt dominated by men, but I do think that the female touch in many TV film serials is lacking, because the film crews consist almost en tirely of men.”

Karl-Heinz claims they are not going to do a rush job on the series, saying: “It’s just not possible to make a really good film in the Pacific within two or three weeks. Because of this we told the television peo ple in Germany that we’re going to take our time about it, and make something of which we and the Pacific Islanders can be really proud.”

On a severely practical note he says: “The basic idea of our series is to give a realistic picture of the Pacific Islands so that the ‘bosses’ of the

European Economic Commun ity will be better able to help in the area.

“It’s most unfortunate that even today many persons in high places in Europe really have very little idea of condi tions in the modern Pacific.

“Hence our film series which, apart from imparting realistic information, will also, we hope, be highly entertain ing. The ‘straight’ TV documentary is a bit out of fashion these days.”

Karl-Heinz is confident his series will eventually be seen in English-speaking countries, as well as his own and in countries using a lot of other languages as well.

Karl-Heinz’s family film company was founded by his grandfather in the early 19205.

Among his grandfather’s pro ductions was the famous film The Blue Angel, starring Mar lene Dietrich.

Karl-Heinz himself first came to international promin ence when he did the outdoor shooting for The Sound of Music.

Introducing

Piwo

The Pacific Islands Women’s Organisation (PIWO) was established in February 1982, based in Honolulu. Its membership includes women from American Samoa, the Cook Islands, Fiji, Hawaii, the Northern Marianas, Papua New Guinea, Tahiti, Tonga, and Western Samoa. Some members are studying in Hawaii. Others live there per manently.

Objectives of the organisa tion include: Participation and co-operation in national and regional development; to learn about women’s activities in all the Pacific Islands and other countries; to share and disseminate information on women’s activities in the Paci fic Islands; to establish regio nal linkages and networks among Pacific Island women to facilitate regional co-opera tion and to establish and main tain contact with other natio nal regional and international organisations.

The group holds monthly

Aborina Stellmach and camera -a return to Kiribati.

meetings. One meeting was addressed by guest speaker, Ruth Kovoho, from PNG on “Women in Development.”

PIWO participated in activi ties for National Women’s His tory Week held during March 7-13, where it staged an exhibit on Pacific Islands Women in History. The national celebra tion was designed to raise awareness of the wealth of women’s history that has been omitted from history books.

The exhibit included photo graphs of Pacific Islands women taken in the last cent ury as well as artifacts and handicrafts made by women.

PIWO also sponsored an ex hibit for the East-West Cen ter’s International Fair held in April.

Officers elected to the ex ecutive council are Pamela Takiora Ingram Pryor, presi dent; Kaleve Tufono, vice president; and Leilani Rodby, executive secretary/treasurer.

Sydney honours

Vanuatu’s day

Acting on behalf of the Vanuatu Government, the Au stralian-based export-import firm Henry P. Cumines Pty.

Ltd. hosted a cocktail party in Sydney on July 30 to mark the second anniversary of Vanuatu’s independence, which fell on that day.

Representing the Vanuatu Government were First Secretary of the Department of Home Affairs Tom Bakeo, and Job Dalesa, Commission er, Northern District. Mr Dale sa, stationed in Santo, had perhaps the roughest time of any government official dur

ing the abortive secessionist revolt of May-August 1980.

Other Ni-Vanuatu present included theological student Thomas Niditauae, and Mary Labi, who is studying to per fect her English at the Sydney college.

Hosting the gathering on be half of Henry Cumines were one of the company’s dire ctors, Chris K. Sattler, and Cindy-Lee Warren, a former resident of Vanuatu.

Alkan Tololo, Consul-Gene ral in Sydney of Papua New Guines, represented his gov ernment, and there were rep resentatives present from the British High Commission and the French Consulate General.

Other guests attended on be half of a number of Australian Government departments, in cluding Foreign Affairs, Im migration, Customs, and Trade and Resources.

Film Australia was repre sented by Bob Kingsbury, a veteran of film-making in Vanuatu.

Associate Editor Malcolm Salmon was present on behalf of PIM.

Cooks “leaders”

trained in NZ

New Zealand’s Cook Islands community now has 23 mem bers who have graduated in community leadership.

The group, including six women, received their certifi cates from the Minister of Education Merv Wellington at the end of their year-long course run by the Pacific Islanders’ Educational Re source Centre in Auckland.

They will form a Cook Is-

lands leadership organisation that will help their people and other Polynesian groups to cope with New Zealand condi tions, while preserving their own cultural identity.

The resource centre plans to hold similar courses for other Pacific Island groups.

“There is a need for our people not only to take part but to know what is happening in New Zealand,” said the Cook Islands orientation tutor

Tupae Pepe.

William Gasson

in Wellington.

Heritage body

set up

Creation of a Pacific Heritage Foundation was proposed at the opening ceremony of a Cultural Heritage Conserva tion Seminar held at the East- West Center in Honolulu from July 21 to August 4. The call for the setting-up of a founda tion came from Bill Lane, Jr., publisher of Sunset Magazine, who was the main speaker at the start of the conference.

Lane pledged part of his perso nal time and substantial finan cial support if the proposed organisation met his criteria of independent operation mul tilateral representation, adequate budgeting, and re ponsible research.

Nearly 50 participants from 14 Asian and Pacific countries including American Samoa, Fiji and Kiribati received a warm “aloha” welcome from Hawaii’s Governor Ariyoshi.

The governor stressed the need and benefit of individuals retaining contact and pride in their ethnic origins, even though they lived elsewhere.

Ariyoshi eloquently expressed his belief that the diversity of Hawaii’s present population and cultural heritage was as important an aspect of her beauty and uniqueness as any of her physical attributes.

Dr Victor Li, president of the East-West Center, sensi tively pointed out a less ob vious point that preserva tion of a cultural heritage in volved more than mere techniques. For just as the qualities and objects of a herit age express a society, the

means to preserve them must also fit within the basic framework and structure of the culture.

One definition of “cultural heritage” offered by Robert Collins of the U.S. National Trust embraces: Social tradi tions, ethics, manners, mar kets and market goods, the way people dress, drive, drink, die, weep, worship and weave ... how they earn, spend, relax and go to war ... their tools, fabrics, doorways, music, me tals, masks, boxes, beads, cof fins, bottles, weapons, charms, utensils, hats and handshakes.

The workshop’s theme that tourism and the preservation of such historical and cultural heritages are compatible appears somewhat controver sial.

But Bill Lane in his keynote speech gave examples in which tourist revenue and the private sector help support and maintain features of cultu ral and historical importance.

One instance is the botanical garden on Kuai, Hawaii. Funds from a private drug company interested in the medicinal qualities of the plants, as well as tourist revenues, support this project.

More specific information on ways and means to safe guard and maintain one’s cultural heritage was provided at individual sessions cover ing, among other subjects, the philosophy of cultural heritage in national development plans, identification and inventory of cultural resources, assemb ling information into usable forms, discussion of conserva tion processes, institutional frameworks, developing, financing and packing herit age material, the restoration of archaeological sites, and network support systems.

Making tourism and the pri vate sector support and main tain aspects of a country’s cultural heritage is a very worthwhile and important goal. Equally impressive, however, is the strong and growing recognition of the value of the many and diverse cultures of the Pacific as well

as its natural beauties.

Caro-

line Yacoe in Honolulu.

Thomas Niditauae (left), a theological student from Vanuatu, and District Commissioner Job Dalesa, who represented the Vanuatu government, share a joke at the Vanuatu independence reception in Sydney. Another picture on page 27.