One exciting new voice in the political discussion of last year’s election was that of independent parliamentary candidate Roshika Deo, and while in Suva, we had the pleasure of interviewing her. Ms. Deo, who refers her political movement “Be the Change”, is an energetic and articulate advocate for woman’s rights and youth issues in Fiji. During her campaign she spoke to various constituencies around the country, and she began to expand her platform to reflect what she saw as her growing constituency. Unfortunately, as an outspoken young woman, she also faced misogynist threats and harassment by people who were offended by her even standing for parliament and speaking out for social justice and women’s issues. In our interview with her, Roshika Deo explained her own background and what led to her brave choice to go into advocacy and politics. In addition, she articulated her platform and voiced a pointed critique of the political status quo.

Fijian politician and activist Roshika Deo

Unfortunately, the “Be the Change” campaign faired poorly in the September 17th election, but that can be seen as a result of the domination of the entire political process by the ruling party. Roshika has not given up her efforts or her optimism and continues to fight on behalf of the issues that are important to her. Most importantly, she is a very inspirational figure and hopefully represents the new hope and promises that young people and women can bring to Fiji in the coming years.

Another exciting election-related experience we had while in Fiji was registering Jean to vote. Although Jean now is an American citizen, because she was born in Suva, she is entitled to vote, as are thousands of other Fijian expatriates. It was important to Jean to participate in the election process, especially after years of coups and dictatorship. She knew that this election was imperfect and probably wouldn’t change the ruling power, but she believed in the process and wanted to participate.

We knew that Jean had to be registered to vote by August 4th, but due to our schedule, we weren’t able to take her to the registration center until the last possible day! Well, we found the registration tent set up on a side street near the busy Toorak neighborhood of Suva. Helping us that day was our hero, Jone Siqila, a young Fijian filmmaker who we met through Kerry Barker, who has worked with Jone through Transparency International, an NGO that fights against corruption worldwide that Jone does videography for in Fiji.

Jone escorted Jean during the bureaucratic process of getting registered. Steady and patient, Jone was able to help an unsteady and somewhat impatient Jean (she is in her late 80’s after all!) navigate the tables and officials of the registration tent. Every one was very kind and helpful, and before too long, Jean was registered to vote! Later, when we got back to San Francisco, Jean received her absentee ballot and was able to cast her vote in the election!

During the actual election day of September 17^th, while we were stuck in California, Jone was back in Fiji filming the proceedings in our absence. Vinaka vaka levu Jone!

Tamavua is a village located in the hills looking down on the peninsula that comprises the capital city of Suva. Originally a rural area, now Tamavua is more of a residential neighborhood connected to the city itself. In fact, Jean’s parents Leslie and Florence built one of the first houses in the area decades ago when they moved out of Jean’s childhood home in Lami. The Tartes, too, were some of the earliest settlers in Tamavua, although in a different part than the Bishes.

On the way to visit and interview Daryl Tarte, I needed to make another stop in Tamavua. I had arranged a meeting with Joseph Crook of the U.S. Embassy of Fiji, hoping to get the Embassy’s support for our projects in Fiji. As I pulled up to the modern fortress that is the embassy and passed through the serious security checks getting into the complex, I was reminded of the strange position, comprised of equal parts wonder and fear, that the United States occupies on the world stage. But that is a subject for another day. Suffice to say, Mr. Crook seemed interested in our projects (both the film and the Fiji Oral History Map), but he was unable to secure us a grant at that time. We hope to get the Embassy to help fund our screening of the film in Fiji when it is finally finished!

Arriving at the Tarte home, we were impressed by the pretty house, its beautifully kept and large grounds, and especially, the lovely veranda overlooking Suva Harbour where we chose to interview Daryl. We set up the shot and were ready to begin but, unfortunately, there was a huge amount of noise coming from the house next door, which was under construction. Our sound recordist Anton said that it just wouldn’t work with so much noise, so we had to do something. We went next door and I was able to buy one hour of quiet with a relatively small payment to the crew. Believe me, a construction crew in the U.S. would have cost a lot more for their time! Actually, the truth was that the workers were very intrigued by the fact that we were filming a movie and they started asking us questions and wanted to watch. I think they were under the misguided impression that we were from Hollywood!

We interviewed Daryl Tarte and got to hear about his own fascinating colonial family history in Fiji. Daryl’s family settled on the island of Taveuni in 1871 and founded a 1,500-acre copra (coconut meat) plantation there. He has a deep love for Fiji and a lot to say about its history, both from a personal and wide-scope perspective. Among the books that Daryl has published is a collection of journals from his ancestors in Taveuni as well as a Micheneresque historical novel titled simply Fiji.  (Here is a link to his books on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Daryl-Tarte/e/B001JOASF8) Daryl was kind enough to give us a copy of both of this books and Jean promised him a copy of her stories in return!

In addition to the Tartes, we came in contact with another noted colonial family in Suva, and one that Jean has a close personal connection to, the MacDonalds. To begin this story, let’s go back to Alexi and my arrival back in Suva in July before production started for this shoot. We heard about a new place in town called Governors Gourmet Coffee House & Restaurant, which was conveniently located on a residential street near our hotel, so we decided to check it out. Arriving at Governors, we were impressed with the lovely colonial structure and grounds. Upon entering the restaurant, our eyes were greeted by walls of historic photos and memorabilia of old Fiji. We soon learned that the house had been the home of Fijian high chief Ratu Sir Lala Sukuna, who in many ways was the father of Fijian Independence. Photos of the great man line the walls of the restaurant, and we learned much about Fijian history just by perusing the artifacts of Governors.

Hanging out at Governors, we also learned that the owners were Ken MacDonald and his wife Carolyn Ah Koy. Alexi recognized the name MacDonald and called up Jean on the phone to check. Jean told Alexi that Ken’s aunt was a school friend of hers from childhood and his father was one of her best friends from the time that she lived in Nadi, Fiji during her first marriage. In addition, we soon learned that his wife Carolyn is the niece of Mary Nelson, the proprietress of the Old Mill Cottage in Fiji, one of our other favorite restaurants in Fiji and good friend of our earlier interview subject Professor Ropate Qalo and his wife. Carolyn and Mary’s family history in Fiji connects to the important story of the Chinese in Fiji, which would make a fascinating movie in its own right.

Long story short, we arranged an interview with Ken and Jean together, and they met and shared tender memories of Ken’s dad and aunt. It was very moving for both of them. And we began to fill in the story of the British in Fiji a little more. Meanwhile, we visited Governors Gourmet Coffee House & Restaurant several more times during our stay and always enjoyed the food, the atmosphere, and the wonderful service. We highly recommend it! (http://www.governorsfiji.com/)

When we left off, we had just interviewed several academics at the University of the South Pacific about Fijian history, especially in regards to the colonial era. (As you who have been following the project know, Alexi’s great-great grandfather G.H. Lee came to Fiji in the 19^th century and her mother Jean Bish grew up in colonial Suva. The central focus of the film is the complicated legacy of colonialism in Fiji.)

As I noted in an earlier blog, the Grand Pacific Hotel, the crown jewel of colonial-era Suva, has been gloriously restored after years of abandonment and decay as well as military occupation after the 2006 coup (see the trailer), and we desperately wanted to film there.

Our goal was twofold. One, we wanted to film Jean returning to the hotel and capture her response to being “transported” back to the location of some of her warmest childhood memories.  In addition, we wanted to shoot reenactment footage in black and white Super 8 film, in order to transport the audience themselves to that time and place.

While in Suva, we were lucky enough to meet Steve Reid from Webmedia, who did the website for the Grand Pacific. Steve kindly put me in contact with Una Namudu, the Sales and Marketing Manager of the hotel, and she was able to get us permission to spend a day shooting in the hotel and also promised us free access to a hotel suite during the course of the shoot. We were very appreciative and thankful to Ms. Namudu and to Eugen Diethelm, the General Manager of the hotel.

When we arrived on the day of the shoot, we were pleasantly surprised to find that our suite for the day was in fact the Queen Elizabeth Suite, the largest and best situated of all their luxury rooms. In fact, it is called the Queen Elizabeth Suite because it is where Her Highness stayed during her Royal Visit to Fiji in 1953. Here is a photo of Liz standing on the balcony right outside the suite.

The QE Suite was perfect for hosting Jean’s return to the Grand Pacific Hotel. As those of you who have had the pleasure of meeting her know, despite her leftist politics and anti-monarchist views, Jean is quite regal in her own way, with a refined air about her that makes you feel that you should be grateful to be having an audience with her in her court!

We shot footage of Jean walking into the large formal entrance of the hotel and into its vast and beautifully restored lobby. She gazed in wonder as to how much it matched the Grand Pacific Hotel of her distant memories of times past. Later, we filmed her having tea on the balcony, and she told memories of coming to the hotel with her family as a child for weekend teas and being served by Sikh waiters in all-white uniforms and turbans. Then, as a teenager during World War Two, Jean would come to the Grand Pacific for dances with the American sailors whose officer’s club was located in the hotel. Jean, of course, ended up marrying one of those Americans and would later come to America on a bride ship.

After shooting Jean at the hotel, we shot the reenactment footage. Our friend Kerry Barker dressed up in some lovely vintage clothes that we picked up in the Suva Flea Market and we shot her playing the part of a young Jean haunting the hotel as a teenager in the 1940’s. Here is a photo of our cinematographer Smith shooting Kerry as Jean:

 The Grand Pacific Hotel is both a relic of the past and a symbol of renewal. It can be seen nostalgically as a remnant of British civility, and it can be seen problematically as a romanticization of a less egalitarian time. For many, the hotel’s restoration is a hopeful sign that Fiji’s long period of troubles may be behind her. 

For us, it was a very good day of shooting! And, afterwards it was especially nice to celebrate Alexi’s birthday on the veranda of the GPH and enjoy the beautiful sunset over a celebratory glass of bubbly!

Upon arriving in the capital city of Suva, we headed to the University of the South Pacific, the largest academic institution in the region, to interview a couple of fascinating academics. First up was Robert Nicole. Dr. Nicole is Senior Lecturer in Politics at the the School of Government and he has written a brilliant book called Disturbing History: Resistance in Early Colonial Fiji. Dr. Nicole is originally from Switzerland, but his family moved to Fiji when he was a teenager. His area of expertise fits right into the focus of the film, and he was able to shed light of the various ways that Fijians fought against colonialism. Of particular interest was his insight into resistance in the Sigatoka River region, which was where Jean’s great-grandfather settled for a time and came in conflict with the nearby villagers. Dr. Nicole is very interested in G.H.’s story and he shed some light into the context and factors contributing to tension between G.H. and the Fijian school teacher Enoki.

After talking to Dr. Nicole, we headed to the office of Max Quanchi. Dr. Quanchi is Senior Lecturer in History in the School of Social Sciences, and, among many other texts, he has written the Fijian history book that is used by high school students throughout the country, so he is “Mr. History” in many ways. Max (as he likes to be called), is a jovial Australian who has devoted his life to giving voice to the histories, peoples and cultures of the South Pacific. In his interview, Max gave further insight into the early European arrivals in Fiji, shedding light on such types as beachcombers (sailors who abandoned ship or were left ashore and had to find a way to survive on the islands) and blackbirders (men who coerced islanders from the New Hebrides and the Solomons into indentured labour in Fiji).

Speaking of the blackbirding era, an interesting piece of family history that we may explore in the documentary is the background of Marianne Leech, G.H.’s wife and Jean’s great-grandmother. Jean always heard that Marianne came from Peru on a blackbirding ship and that G.H. always referred to her as “my Peruvian princess”. In additon the birth certificates of her children list her birthplace as Peru. However, a letter from Jean’s mother refered to Marianne as coming from Beru, an island in the Gilbert islands. Was this a typo? Was the oral hisory misheard and the birth certificates wrong? This has become a mystery that we want to explore. While we may never know the truth for certain, after speaking to the academics, it has become clear that Marianne could in fact be from Peru or Beru, or even come from both places! You see, the blackbirding ships regularly traveled between Peru and the South Pacific islands, so Marianne could be a Peruvian who came through Beru, or vice versa. Here is Marianne’s picture. What do you think?

Our final academic interview was with Dr. Paul Geraghty, Associate Professor of Linguistics in the School of Language Arts and Media. Dr. Geraghty is a bit of a celebrity in Fiji, as I am told he is often on TV discussing Fijian language and culture. Dr. Geraghty is originally from Rugby, England (a perfect birthplace for someone who would end up in the rugby-loving country of Fiji!), but he has lived in Fiji since he was a young man. Dr. Geraghty is the world’s foremost expert on Fijian language, and he speaks many different Fijian dialects fluently. In fact, some Fijians have told us that they are reluctant to speak to him as he speaks Fijian better than they do! Embracing all things Fijian, Dr. Geraghty always wears a sulu and avoids shoes.

The professor is a diminutive Englishman with a twinkle in his eye and he keeps his desk in a office that one has to see to believe. He has somehow found a way to fill the tiny office with hundreds of books overflowing from a maze of bookshelves that go from floor to ceiling. It was to be a challenge to shoot in this tiny, crowded space, but we didn’t want to miss the opportunity to shoot him in this amazing atmosphere. The solution was that only Smith and Alexi could fit in the room with Dr. Geraghty, leaving the rest of the crew in the hall! It was a tight fit, but somehow they managed and got an interesting interview in the process!

The first time we shot this scene in the U.S., we shot it very simply, with two actors, a bamboo stick, and a rifle. But when we decided to reshoot it, we wanted to be more accurate to the original event. When we reviewed the original trial transcript of what happened in 1879 we realized that we needed to shoot the scene with a more complex (and intense) fight sequence. The scene required that Enoki and Pitir come down the river bank, they start spear fishing, G.H. comes out to the top of bank and yells at them to get off his land, Enoki protests, G.H comes down and tries to hit Enoki with a bamboo stick, Enoki grabs the stick and flings it away, G.H grabs a second stick and swings at Enoki, Enoki is hit and then grabs the stick from G.H and hits G.H. back, G.H falls and grimaces in pain, an enraged G.H. tries to grab Pitir’s fishing spear, Pitir refuses to let go of the spear, G.H. steps back and pulls out his belt knife, Pitir and Enoki flee by land and sea, G.H. goes to get his rifle, comes back and shots a swimming Enoki, who dives into the water when the shot is fired, possibly hit or not hit by the G.H.’s bullet.

Sounds simple, right? Well maybe if you are John Woo or at least have John Woo’s fight choreographer on the set. Not so easy for a small crew of documentary filmmakers! Filipe and I focused on fighting with maximum fierceness while at the same time not hurting each other (which we mostly managed!). The muddy river bottom was like quicksand and Filipe sank into the mud as we fought. Meanwhile, a crowd of young Fijian trainees from the vocational centre gathered at the top of the riverbank to watch the shoot. We had an audience! As the afternoon wore on, Alexi and Smith brought their talents out to get every shot of the complex sequence before we ran out of light or film. We think we pulled it off, but we won’t know for sure until we get back to the States and develop the film!

The next day, we came back to the Sigatoka River to shoot an interview with Joveci Nakubu, whose family has lived near what (we hoped) was G.H.’s former land for generations. We brought Jean along and filmed her meeting with Jo. Jean brought Jo a “waka”, a bunch of yaqona root for making cava that is given as a traditional gift in Fiji. Jo welcomed Jean with open arms and they sat together for the camera to discuss each of their family’s history on the Sigatoka River.

Jean retold G.H.’s history coming to Fiji during the Cotton Rush of the 1860′s and coming to Sigatoka to try to make a living as a planter. She recounted the shooting of Enoki and G.H.’s going to jail for the crime. Joveci explained to Jean that his family land used to be a Fijian village, and that Enoki must have been a teacher to his ancestors who lived there. Jo told Jean that when he heard about the story (from us three weeks previously) he was very interested and decided to do his own research. He brought out documents that confirmed that G.H. Lee’s plantation was adjacent to Jo’s village. Jean and Jo had an interesting discussion about what those early colonial days must have been like for each of their families.

Then Jo accompanied Jean to the Nasau Vocational Centre next door so she could she the scene of the crime herself. Unfortunately, the terrain was too rough and the bank was too steep for Jean to get down to the river. Only one solution! Anton and I had to carry Jean down the riverback!. Later, we interviewed Joveci on his own, and it was very interesting.

The next day was meant to be a day off for our crew, but unluckily for them, we had another amazing Fijian coincidence to document and interesting subject to interview. You see, I was intrigued by Anna Mohammed, the elderly owner of the Waitaci Villas where we were staying. Anna lives in the large house next to the small A-frame villas that she rents out.  I asked some questions to her and her lovely daughter Maureen, and I found out that she is of mixed European and Fijian background, and that she had married an Indo-Fijian at a time when that kind of mixed marriage was uncommon. This was interesting enough, but then they told me about Anna’s great-(great?) grandfather Ezra Walker Works, an American who had come to Fiji in the mid-19^th century. When I heard the name, I realized that it was the same name that was on the documents that Jo had showed me, and that Works was one of the men who had leased the land to Jean’s grandfather G.H. all those years ago. For the last coincidence, we found out that Anna is the grandmother of Jason Tutani, the young director of the Sigatoka Sand Dunes who we had interviewed only two days previously (See Blog 3.3 below). Of course, we should not have been surprised, as being in Fiji is experiencing one coincidence after another. It really is a very small and interconnected world here. Anyway, we spent the morning of our “day off” interviewing Anna and her lovely daughter Maureen. Then, thankfully, our crew had the rest of the day off to enjoy Fiji without thinking about the film for a few hours….

After Alexi and I had been alone for a couple of weeks preparing for production, our intern Matt Bikoff arrived. Matt is a UC Berkeley student with an interest in history and film, and he has been helping us for the last several months. When he heard we were going to Fiji, he asked if he could join us and learn about production and we were happy to bring him on.

Matt was here about a week before the others arrived, and he helped with logging our notes and contacts as well as doing research at the Fiji National Archives. At the end of our week together, we decided to take a day off. Our new friend Suva expat Kerry Barker told us that if you go to the Royal Suva Yacht Club on Sunday afternoons, you can hitch a ride on one of the sailboats that engage in weekly friendly races there. We followed her lead and, sure enough, a nice Danish fellow named Ingolf Nielsen offered to take Alexi, Matt, and me in his boat. Unfortunately, the wind was not consistant enough for the race and the competition fizzled out. That’s ok, because it was a lovely afternoon, and we enjoyed hearing Ingolf tell about his adventures sailing across the Atlantic and the Pacific over the course of the last year. He will be embarking for his final destination of New Zealand as soon as the tradewinds arrive in a month or so to blow him there!

Then our cinematographer Smith, our sound recordist Anton, and their four-year-old son Dari arrived. Smith is a graduate film school classmate and longtime friend of Alexi’s and she has been our camera person since production started on our first visit in 2008. Anton and Dari joined the production on our second trip in 2011. Smith and Anton are accomplished professionals and they are donating their time, expertise and equipment to the production because of their belief in the project. It has been a pleasure working with them as it has been watching Dari grow up on set.

Arriving next were the moms, Jean and Anne. Jean (aka Mumsy), is Alexi’s mom, of course, and she is the “star” of our production, having grown up in Fiji and much of the film being about her return here. Anne is my mom and she came along to be a companion to Jean, help out where she could, and to experience production in the South Pacific. At this point, all our team members were here and we were ready to start shooting!

Shooting started in Sigatoka. Our first interview was with Jason Tutani, the Park Manager of the Sigatoka Sand Dunes National Park. Jason spoke about pre-colonial Fiji as well as his own family history. The sand dunes are an archeological site as well as being a beautiful park, and Jason talked about the first peoples who came to Fiji on boats across the Pacific. His knowledge of the indigenous people and culture of the islands was illuminating. In addition, he discussed his own family story, which is quite fascinating, being comprised of European, native Fijian, and Indian heritage. In this way, Jason is a reflection of the nation of Fiji itself, with all its richness and complexity. Within this context, he also talked about the challenges that he and his family have faced coming from a mixed-race background.

Our next interview was with Rup Beo, who is the uncle of our assistant director Aarti (“Arts”) Mala. First, let me tell you about Arts. She discoved Fiji Time online and reached out to Alexi from Fiji when we were still in California. When we arrived here, Alexi met with her and immediately recognized her as someone with intelligence, energy and a can-do spirit. Arts is a Fijian of Indian descent who has worked on film productions here in the past. We immediately signed her up as assistant director for the reenactment shoots.

Rup is Art’s uncle and his father recently died at the age of 105. His father had told Rup many stories over the years about the girmit (indenture) era, and Rup shared these stories with us. Indenture was a very difficult life for the girmitiyas, but their sacrifices enabled their children and grandchildren to have a better life in Fiji. One of the most amazing parts of the interview was when Rup brought out his father’s gramophone and a couple of old records. Based on his small salary, it would have taken Rup’s father six months to save enough money to buy the gramophone, so, needless to say, this was a prized possession for the family. Rup wound the crank of the ancient record player, put on a 78 of old Indian music, and we watched him listen intently to the beautiful music while he fought back tears.

The next day was a big production day, as we had a dramatic reenactment to shoot. For those of you who have seen the trailer, you will know the G.H. and Enoki scene. That’s the one where I (as G.H., Jean’s great-grandfather) fight with and end up shooting the Fijian schoolteacher and “trespasser”, Enoki. When we initially shot this, it was at the Russian River in California with a non-Fijian actor playing Enoki. Fijians who saw this footage told us that they could tell that it was not shot in Fiji and that the actor was not Fijian. Therefore, we decided to shoot it again more authentically.

First, where to shoot? Well, how about the place that it actually happened? As I mentioned in my earlier blog (See Blog 3.1 below), Alexi and I had already discovered where Enoki’s village had been and met Joveci Nakubu, whose family had lived there for generations (and had therefore been taught by Enoki at one point). Meeting back up with Joveci after two weeks, we found out that he had acquired additional historic documents from a neighboring village archive, and that these documents proved that G.H.’s land was indeed on the land adjacent to Jo’s land where a vocational training center now stood.

We originally intended to shoot the reenactment on Jo’s land, but once we saw how steep and challenging his river access was (this, of course, is why Enoki went to G.H.’s land to access the river on that fateful day in 1879), and learning that G.H.’s land was next door, I asked at the vocational training center if we could shoot on their property. They kindly agreed and we had the actual location for the reenactment! The next problem was actors. We were lucky enough to get Filipe Vuli, an accomplished actor from Suva to agree to take a bus to Sigatoka and star as Enoki for lunch and expenses. Filipe is a brilliant actor and we are thankful to him (and Anurag Subramani, University of South Pacific professor, filmmaker, and and a advisor to our film, who recommended him!). The problem was not with this role, but with that of Pita (“Peter”) the other Fijian role we needed to cast. We did not have an actor for this role and we were ready to shoot.

When we arrived at the vocational centre, I noticed a group of young men getting job training in construction. I went to the instructor/foreman and told him what we were doing and that we needed an actor. I basically asked if any of the young men were interested in getting some supplemental vocational training with us in acting! Luckily for us, one Napolioni Cati agreed! Tall, muscular, and a surprisingly natural actor, he was perfect for the role!

More to come…

Some of the most important and interesting work we have been doing has been related to location scouting. One location that we shot on an earlier visit has changed dramatically—the Grand Pacific Hotel. The Grand Pacific Hotel was a jewel of colonial Suva and Jean remembers going to dinner and afternoon tea there as a child, and later to going to dances when the American Officer’s Club was located there during World War II. When we previously filmed at the Grand Pacific six years ago, the hotel was closed, in terrible condition, and occupied by a battalion of soldiers (this was shortly after the 2006 coup-Jean did manage to talk her way in with the soldiers! See the trailer) During our second trip in 2011, the hotel was in similar decay with no sign of repair. Today, the hotel has been gloriously restored and expanded. The soldiers are gone, replaced by a large and solicitous Fijian staff serving a clientele of international jetsetters drinking tropical cocktails by the pool. Other than the fact that the guests are racially diverse, it could be 1930 all over again. We are planning to shoot there and are awaiting final approval.

Next, we drove to Navua to take a five-hour trip upriver to the village of Namuamua. We came here for several reasons. One, Alexi’s grandfather Alfred Lee had worked as a sugar mill engineer somewhere in this area and we wanted to see if there was anything left to see of the old mills or plantations. In addition, we are interested in possibly shooting some “beauty shots” of the amazing Fijian scenery along the river. Finally, we also wanted to see if the village could be a place to shoot village life or a reenactment for the film.

Well, it was a mixed bag in terms of finding locations, but it was quite an enjoyable day! The Namuamua villagers who organize and run the tour do a great job of giving visitors a full and exciting experience. We started out in Navua at a house near the river. There a friendly family of four adult Aussies who had also signed up for the tour joined us. We all loaded onto a longboat with an outboard motor along with our boatman and three village women. As we started motoring upriver, we enjoyed the lush scenery all around us. After 45 minutes or so, the landscape became much more dramatic as we passed by steep forested cliffs which were occasionally graced by lovely waterfalls.

From time to time, the water would turn rougher and the boatman would have to negotiate the white water and protruding rocks and obstacles. Sometimes he would also have to get out and push the boat through shallow waters and the Aussie men and I had to also get out to help at one point. Halfway through our journey, we stopped at a particularly impressive waterfall and were given time for a swim under the falls.

Then it was back in the longboat. All along the river journey, we would pass by children walking along the bank, women washing clothes on the rocks, fishermen in bamboo canoes, etc. etc. All very captivating but hard to photograph from a distance on a motorized boat!

Finally, after about a two-hour voyage, we arrived at Namuamua Village. We were greeted by waving villagers on the dock including women in matching yellow print dresses and a young man dressed as a traditional warrior.

We were led up to the village where we were led into a bure (traditional building) where we received an official welcome with a cava ceremony, featuring the ceremonial drinking of water infused with yaqona root which causes a slight numbing of the mouth but is non-alcoholic. The oldest Aussie acted as the “chief” for our visiting group.

After this ritual, we were given a tour of the village by a small army of local children (very cute!).

After that, we returned to the bure to enjoy a slightly terrifying spear dance, a concert of traditional music, and a “disco” which was us dancing together with our hosts in several dances including a kind of square dance as well as a kind of conga line (!). It goes without saying that this was a lot of fun.

Finally, we were treated to a lovo (traditional meal cooked in the ground) that for some reason included tuna sandwiches and a Tang-like drink (perhaps they thought we would like this). I preferred the tender chicken and the taro root covered with wonderfully seasoned taro leaves. After lunch, the villagers brought out beautiful and very inexpensive handicrafts for us to peruse and buy if we so wanted. Of course, we bought a few things! Finally, they sang us a farewell song (“Isa Lei”—Fiji’s famous song of goodbye) it was back on the boat and a much quicker ride back down river. We stopped only once to try riding a bit on a traditional bamboo raft. We felt like Huck and Jim!

Unfortunately, we won’t be able to shoot at the village because it is too difficult to get to, and we never found any remains of the sugar mills. However, we plan to rent out one of the longboats for a shorter journey upriver to get our “beauty shots”.

More to come, Wynn

Bula from Suva! Alexi and I arrived in Fiji several days ago and have been very busy since then. We were in Sigatoka (say “Singatoka”) for most of the week and saw and learned some amazing things there. (Warning this is a fascinating but roundabout story. Nothing is direct in the making of Fiji Time!)

First, a little background information for those of you who don’t know Fiji or Alexi’s great-great-grandfather’s story. The Sigatoka River is the second biggest river in Fiji. The town of Sigatoka is situated on the mouth of the river with lovely views out onto the flowing waters. Nearby the town is Fiji’s first national park, the Sigatoka Sand Dunes, which comprises a large area of verdant rolling hills and ravines reaching out to the sea where they turn into sandy beach. Alexi and I hiked the pretty trails there, and, more importantly for the film, we spoke to the helpful and informative park rangers who gave us some leads on exploring Sigatoka history.

About that history, Alexi’s great-great grandfather George Henry Lee came to Fiji from England (after stopping in New Zealand and the Maori Wars there) in the late 19^th century to make his fortune. Upon arriving in the former capital of Levuka, he bought property in the Sigotoka Valley sight unseen. We don’t know exactly where his plantation was but we do know an important fact: G.H. went to gaol (“jail” for you Americans) for shooting a native Fijian schoolteacher named Enoki who walked across his property. We know the facts of this story because we have copies of the original court transcripts from the case. We know that G.H., in his colonial mindset, had indignation that turned to rage toward the local Fijians. He was upset because loose pigs from a nearby village had gotten into his crops and because locals regularly walked across his land on the way to the river. One dark day Enoki unluckily became the target of G.H.’s rage, but fortunately, he was only injured and not killed. Later, G.H. was shocked when he was arrested and the colonial judge threw the proverbial book at him and he was imprisoned for his crime.

A good story, indeed, but where did it happen? That was our quest in Sigatoka, to find the (literal) scene of the crime. All we know from the documents is that Enoki taught school at a village called Naqutunhu. So we came to Sigatoka town and started asking around if folks knew the place. Well we asked and asked, and nobody had heard of the place. The rangers at the sand dunes gave us some general information, but no real leads. Next, we went to see the historic Tavuni Hill Fort, to see this important site and to talk to one of the guides there, who we heard was from the nearby village.

About the fort (yes-this is another sidetrack), a Tongan chief named Maile Latamai Finauwas, tired of fighting his enemies in Tonga, got his entourage together and sailed to Fiji. Upon arriving near Sigatoka, he found himself equally unpopular with the locals, so he moved upriver and built a fort on a hill at Tavuni. From this location he fought the British as part of a group of inland islanders who resisted colonial settlement and the cession of lands (These were the Kai Colo Wars, or “Gordon’s Little War”-read more here: http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=229681).

The Tavuni Hill Fort is an amazing archeological site with lovely views down to the Sigatoka River below. When we asked the guide there, Basi (say “Mbasi”) about our search for Enoki’s village of Naqutunhu, he said he didn’ t know the name, but he said that there was a village further upriver named Nawamagi with a school and that Enoki was perhaps a family name in that town.

We drove up to the school and talked to the headmistress Loata. She didn’t know the story, had never heard the name Enoki, and the school wasn’t old enough to be the place. However, while she didn’t know a place named Naqutunhu, she did know a place with the similar name of Naqutugutu and said her cousin lived there! She took us to a nearby spot on the river and pointed us across the water. “There is a vocational center and behind the mango tree next to it is a small settlement named Naqutugutu. My cousin is there.” Great! We drove back to Sigatoka, crossed the river, and drove upriver on the other side.

Well, at first we couldn’t find the vocational center or the settlement. But we did find Nakalavo, which we heard is where Sir Arthur Gordon had a group of native rebels executed for fighting against the British around the time of G.H.’s arrival in Fiji. G.H. mentioned this story in his legal testimony, so maybe this was near where he settled.

Of course, there was no one in Nakalavo who knew anything. A woman told us to go to the nearby village of Naduri and talk to the pastor. We drove there. We talked to the pastor. He didn’t know anything (but was very friendly!). I asked if there were any elders in the village to talk to. He took me behind a house where a wonderfully aged man was sitting on the grass peeling cassava. He spoke no English but told the pastor in the local dialect of Fijian that Naqutugutu was indeed near the vocational center and that we had to go back down the gravel road that we had come up.

Long story short, (!) we finally found the vocational center where a young Japanese man (Wasn’t expecting that! Turns out he works for a Japanese NGO) introduced us to the director. The director told us that the vocational center sat on freehold land and used to be owed by a European (Freehold land is land that can be bought and sold as opposed to native land, which can only be leased). He showed us a property map from the 1930’s with the previous owner’s name on it. It wasn’t Alexi’s great-great-grandfather, but, of course, this was 50 years later. The fact that this had been white settler land told us that we were getting close.

When we told the director that we were looking for Naqutugutu he told us, “It’s right outside our property. Go out the gate, turn left and that’s the place.” We followed his directions and turned down a mud path into the woods. It quickly dead-ended at a modest abode at the end of the world. No adults were around but several children were hovering about. “Bula!,” we called out. A man appeared from somewhere looking very surprised to see an unfamiliar car drive up. We told him our story and he became intrigued. “A very interesting story!”

He told us that he was the former mayor of Sigatoka (!) but that he was retired from politics. He said that this was his family land going back many generations and that he was trying to establish an herb farm on the land. He said that his ancestors were early Christian converts and that they had helped Gordon fight against the rebels in the Kai Colo wars. He didn’t know the story of G.H. or Enoki, but he was very interested in it. When we told him that the spelling of the place name on the original document was Naqutunhu, he said that that was the original name of Naqutugutu—so this was the place were Enoki taught school! He took our email address and phone number and said he would do some research and ask around about G.H. and Enoki’s story. He promised us he would get back to us with more information.

Meanwhile, we are in Suva now and I will go to the Fiji National Archives on Monday and try to find the exact location of G.H.’s property. This story is unfinished. Stay tuned!