Manuha’apai Vaeatangitau

Amid the nightlife of a new city, a young Māori trans woman reckons with safety, isolation, and the fragile bonds of old friendships outgrown — as the promise of belonging rises just beyond the horizon.

“In an alternate world where queer indigeneity was never erased/lost, we follow the daily lives of two leiti’s whose sovereignty has come into its own in a fast changing, modern world. Set to the backdrop of an alternate Tonga untouched by western influence and with a wealth of mineral resources (particularly, crystals), you are presented with a subtle yet strikingly different modern world. The ingenuity of their adaptations to, and their cultural flourishes in their diaspora experience is captured in the mundanity of these two leiti’s lives in Aotearoa.” - Sione Monu , Artists Statement.

Ma, Heps, Pua, Liz, and Taaps are your average group of twenty-something Māori and Pasifika living in Wellington. Together, this group of friends crash through the city, grappling first with their cultural identities and then with each other.