Vai (2019)

When most of us geographically-illiterate Americans think of Oceania, we think of Australia and New Zealand. The 2019 film, Vai, takes us through eight stories across the islands of Oceania. The settings are unbelievably beautiful, the cast is beautiful, the languages are beautiful, and the stories are beautiful…but heartbreaking.

Nine Pacific women (almost entirely made up of first-time directors) created eight powerful stories, with the commonality of telling a story of a character named Vai at various ages. However, there are eight distinct Vais — not symbolically, but actually eight different characters named Vai that cover a lifespan. The eight Vais are similar in their struggles and have connections (some are subtle and fun to discover while watching), making the movie flow as one, but separate enough to be eight wonderful short films existing independently.