Vea Mafile’o is a director and producer with over 20 years of experience in film and television. Her award-winning short film, LEA TUPU’ANGA, premiered at Sundance in 2024, while her feature documentary FOR MY FATHER’S KINGDOM premiered at Berlinale in 2019.
Mafile’o made history as the first Pacific female director of a prime-time NZ TV drama with THE PANTHERS, earning a nomination for Best Drama Director at the 2022 NZ Television Awards. She is also a founder of PISA (Pacific Island Screen Artists), two film festivals, and the South Auckland creative hub, Taro Patch Creative, which is dedicated to promoting brown storytelling.
We interviewed Vea just before her new documentary LOMU screened at Sydney Film Festival.
We at Irresistible are so looking forward to seeing this film! Jonah Lomu is such a fascinating character and someone who has a sort of resonance throughout the world and across the generations. He’s one of those kind of superstars that people will never stop talking about. How did it feel to be involved in a project like this?
I was brought on at a later point in the production and I honestly felt obligated to do it. The film is a co-production between different production companies and agencies, and I think there was a point when the team realised they should have someone on board who understands the background and the culture of Jonah Lomu. My dad is from Tongoleleka, in Lifuka, Haápai, the same island where his mum is from. Their villages are literally two apart and it’s a small place – the population is about 2500. Also my dad, like most dads, is rugby crazy! So I felt like I couldn’t really not do it.
Also if we’re not there with a seat at the table when things like this get made, we have no chance of making sure that our stories are held and delivered properly, and that the values that we treasure are incorporated. I always knew it would be highly challenging, but for me, it was very much a chance to really celebrate him. It felt like there was so much more to celebrate and recognise about both him and his family.
Family is so important both in Tongan culture, but also in lots of athletic careers. It must have been very powerful to interview family members for the documentary.
Yes, very much so. Lomu’s family, and especially his mother, haven’t really had the chance to get their flowers. It is a difficult thing to recreate the story of someone’s life who’s not here, and we thought a lot about how to bring to the film the kind of emotional connection that people need. One of the things that is really beautiful is that we were able to build that connection and some of the narrative through his mum. It was a chance for the family to tell their story themselves, whereas often they have been presented to the outside world via a kind of tabloid intrusion into their lives.
Did you did you ever meet him?
My sister and I were invited once to a dinner in Wellington with the King of Tonga, and Lomu was there. My sister had a photo with him, but I didn’t and I’m so gutted! I also remember going to Wesley College and watching him play when he was at school. My dad was the coach of the Tupou College Toloa 1st 15 team from Tonga and and they played against him. He was already kind of famous.
Word had gotten around and we were all there to see him!
Jonah Lomu was so famous from such a young age. Did you get a sense of what that meant for him when you made the film.
He was just 19 when he was first an All Black and really thrown into this world. I think having to navigate everything emotionally meant he developed coping mechanisms for situations that were hard to deal with. They might not have been the best ones, like cutting people off, but it was so hard being in the public eye all the time as he was.
In my opinion, he was like a modern- day warrior. I think there would have been a few dudes who were his size and had his power back in the day in Tonga, but he was the modern version. So above all the noise from the press, he was that.
How hard did he have to work to be that kind of warrior?
What is really unique about any athlete that rises to that level, and especially with Jonah Lomu, is their complete and utter dedication to their end goal, and that really comes through in his story. He loved the game, and wanted to be the best that he could be. Even at high school, he was up in the morning, running laps with a black rubbish bag on. He always wanted to be an All Black, which he did, and he always wanted to win a World Cup, which never happened.
He did so much, but it’s such a shame that the World Cup never happened for him.
It is a tragic story, because he was only 40 years old when he died, and for such a long time he wasn’t able to play at his full capacity as he was sick, even back in the early days. He was this person fighting for a dream that never eventuated. He had so much stacked against him, but he was so humble, and he was very gentle with people.
He gave a lot back to community. Did you find a lot of those kinds of stories when you were making the film?
He used to go and do hospital visits to children and a lot of things like that, most of which was very much under the radar. When you talk to people in New Zealand, even now, everyone has a Jonah Lomu story. And also that’s because in New Zealand there’s literally no degrees of separation! It’s across the board, all kinds of people from all kinds of places. Often its something simple like someone met him at a shop and he was very friendly. Or it could be he helped someone they knew. The Tongans loved him of course, but everybody loved him.
He was so adored around the world like you say, and embodied both an amazing warrior archetype like we talked about, and also this gentle giant. Is that why he was so loved do you think?
I guess he was the best of both. He had real empathy, and I think that is quite rare for many people in a position like his, where people become very famous and they can become quite self- centred. I feel like that was who he was, and that also comes from our Tongan culture. We operate as a collective versus as a singular unit, and I think in a strange way this film makes people think about that and more broadly about how people judge other people. People get so emotional watching it, not just because of the tragic parts. I think the story of Jonah Lomu triggers a little bit of self-reflection and makes viewers want to have more empathy themselves, and not judge others so harshly.
He was definitely a flawed character but people can see the mistakes and they humanise him. They make him more relatable and more connected. Here was this great sports warrior guy, but he was also very human.
I just want people to really feel something. As a filmmaker my thing is always a change of heart is a change of head. I’ve seen the feelings the film generates in all kinds of people, so I’m pretty sure we’ve done it. We’ve changed hearts.
We hear the film is going to be in Australian cinemas October 8th, and you’ll also be screening at Whānau Marama New Zealand International Film Festival in a few weeks, but what else is on the horizon for Lomu?
I’m determined to take the film back to Tonga. There is no cinema over in Tonga, so there’s no money to be made there for the film, but it’s the right thing to do. It’s also a great opportunity to take Lomu’s mum back and give her those flowers we were talking about.
We’re planning on doing a massive screening at Teufaiva Sport Stadium, which is where the national team plays rugby. We’re going to build a big stage and screen, there’ll be amazing musicians, and even the Royal Family will be there.
Tonga Rugby Union are supporting us, as are the New Zealand government and the New Zealand Film Commission – there’s still a big funding gap – but I can’t not do it! This is the Tongan way we’re always last minute but we always figure out a way! I’m most excited that it will be free for everyone. Jonah Lomu is such a hero to everyone in Tonga and there’s a whole generation of young people ready to be inspired by him! It’ll be a magical night!
So how many weeks until you’re putting this on?
Six!
We have complete confidence in you- we’re booking our flights!!!
