Monica in the South Seas

• Mika Taanila, Sami van Ingen
• 72 min
• Finland
• 2023
• Documentary

Authenticity is brought to a head as three generations of Western filmmakers give their version of an island paradise in Samoa.

Monica Flaherty spent part of her childhood in Samoa, where her parents, film pioneers Robert and Frances Flaherty, shot their groundbreaking silent film Moana, Son of the Sun (1926). Fifty years later, she returns to realize her own artistic dream: a soundtrack version of the film. Together with the population, she embarks on a meticulous hunt to recreate the sounds and songs that shaped her childhood memories. When Finnish filmmaker Sami van Ingen, great-grandson of Robert and Frances, finds the documentation of Monica’s ambitious expedition, he creates, together with Mika Taanila, a fascinating behind-the-scenes work that raises burning questions about authenticity and artistic colonialism.


- Annie Karlsson

• Dokumentär
• Kolonialism
• Film om film
• Kontemplation
• Konst