A West Footscray filmmaker has created history with the first-ever feature film made in Vanuatu.
Bentley Dean’s Tanna was filmed entirely on location on the Pacific island of Tanna and acted by the people of the Yakel tribe.
The stars of the award-winning film were in Yarraville last Friday night to perform a traditional dance ahead of the film’s sold-out premiere screening at the Sun Theatre.
Co-director Dean said the process began about a decade ago while he was in Tanna on assignment for Dateline.
“I found myself on top of a very, very active volcano, marvelling at what a beautiful place this was and thinking even back then that it would be a remarkable place to come back to, to learn more about,” he said.
“It’s been an extraordinary experience, coming from the beginnings of this project.”
Tanna was a hit at the prestigious Venice Film Festival last month, winning the International Critics’ Week audience award for best film and the critics’ prize for cinematography.
Dean said the honours were a testament to the dedication of the film’s stars.
“It’s in the language of the people there, acted by them, and it’s an extraordinary achievement.
When we first arrived in the village of Yakel, they actually hadn’t seen a feature film. Now they’re starring in one,” Dean said, adding that the tale of forbidden love was developed during the first two months he spent living in the village with his wife and two children.
“I was told about a very controversial relationship two lovers had led in the 1980s that led to a profound change in their culture,” Dean said. “So it’s based on a true story … we screened it to them and it was an extraordinary experience.
“They hadn’t seen a cinema before and here they were watching themselves on two queen-sized sheets tied together in a tree.”
Tanna screens nationally from November 5.
