A Samoan/New Zealand movie has been selected to compete at one of the oldest and most prestigious film festivals in the world.
O Le Tulafale or The Orator, which was written and directed by Tusi Tamasese, has been chosen to premiere in the Orizzonti or New Horizons section of the 68th Venice International Film Festival.
The festival which is part of the Venice Biennale, runs for 11 days from the 31st of August.
The New Zealand Film Commission helped finance the movie and its chief executive, Graeme Mason, says it's a great achievement for New Zealand and Pacific Islands film makers.
"Well it's a very exciting moment for, obviously for Tusi Tamasese, the writer and director and Catherine Fitzgerald the producer,, but of course it is very exciting for the New Zealand and Pacific film communities to have a film made here, locally, about such a great local story, a Pacific story, in one of the most prestigious film festivals in the world."
