Directed by Sima Urale ∙ 1996 ∙ New Zealand ∙ 15'

O TAMAITI (THE CHILDREN) tells the story of 11 year old Tino, the eldest of five children in a Samoan family. With adult maturity, Tino must carry the weight of domestic responsibilities, tending to the needs of his younger siblings and a newborn baby.

Through the characteristically intimate and sensitive lens of Polynesian filmmaker Sima Urale—celebrated as Samoa's first female filmmaker—O TAMAITI portrays the impressions of a young boy, powerless in an adult-dominated world. With mother and father figures who are heard but not seen, the family struggles with mundane jobs, changing social values, and financial pressures in a country that only gained independence from New Zealand in 1962.