Tusi Tamasese is a Samoan New Zealander

Samoan New Zealander

Samoan New Zealanders are Samoan immigrants in New Zealand, their descendants, and New Zealanders of Samoan ethnic descent. They constitute one of New Zealand's most sizeable ethnic minorities...

 film director

Film director

A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...

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He is of high chiefly descent, of the Tupua Tamasese

Tupua Tamasese

Tupua Tamasese is the title of one of Samoa's four important paramount chiefs. Samoa's other three important paramount chiefs are the Malietoa, Mata'afa and Tu'imaleali'ifano....

 lineage.

He came to New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

 at the age of 18 with the intention to go to university, but, lacking a scholarship, began by working "picking tomatoes". He eventually studied film, and also political science in a double major, at the University of Waikato

University of Waikato

The University of Waikato is located in Hamilton and Tauranga, New Zealand, and was established in 1964. It has strengths across a broad range of subject areas, particularly its degrees in Computer Science and in Management...

. He now lives in Wellington

Wellington

Wellington is the capital city and third most populous urban area of New Zealand, although it is likely to have surpassed Christchurch due to the exodus following the Canterbury Earthquake. It is at the southwestern tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Rimutaka Range...

.

He wrote and directed his first short film, Va Tapuia (Sacred Spaces), which was "screened at the 2010 NZ Film Festival and then at festivals around the world". He went on to make Samoa's first ever feature film

Feature film

In the film industry, a feature film is a film production made for initial distribution in theaters and being the main attraction of the screening, rather than a short film screened before it; a full length movie...

, The Orator

The Orator

The Orator is a 2011 Samoan and New Zealand film written and directed by Tusi Tamasese. It is the first ever Samoan feature film, "entirely shot in Samoa, in the Samoan language, with a Samoan cast and story"...

(O Le Tulafale), which was screened in 2011 and submitted to the 84th Academy Awards

84th Academy Awards

The 84th Academy Awards ceremony will honor the best films of 2011 and will take place on February 26, 2012, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, California. It will be televised in the United States on ABC. The host was originally going to be Eddie Murphy. However, after Brett Ratner resigned as...

. It was funded by the New Zealand Film Commission

New Zealand Film Commission

The New Zealand Film Commission is a New Zealand government agency formed to assist with creating and promoting New Zealand films...

 and the Samoan government. He described it as "my image of what I see of growing up in Samoa".