The Queen of Herne Bay: Why my Tongan family are still here | Still Here

By Four and Five Films

“I like that our house looks exactly the same. It’s like a silent protest.”

Following the recent passing of their beloved matriarch, the Folau family reflect on their family’s 50 year legacy in Herne Bay and consider what their future holds.

In 1971, 45 percent of Auckland’s Pasifika population lived in the inner-city. Now, they’re fewer than 2 per cent.

Through the eyes of Pacific youth and their families, this four part docu-series celebrates the small but mighty Pasifika community in inner-city Auckland who have remained despite decades of rampant gentrification. Each episode weaves intergenerational stories of family, community and culture dispelling the myth that “all the Islanders have left.”

Watch more Still Here Episodes:

 

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‘You gotta go twice as hard’: City Boys on being brown in Grey Lynn | Still Here

Watch the first episode of our new docu-series, Still Here.

The Queen of Herne Bay: Why my Tongan family are still here | Still Here

“I like that our house looks exactly the same. It’s like a silent protest.”

Make Ponsonby Brown Again: a Sāmoan family resisting gentrification | Still Here

“We don’t care if you offered us a billion dollars. That means nothing to us."

Tatau: The women keeping Sāmoan tattoo alive in Grey Lynn | Still Here

Watch the fourth episode of our new docuseries, Still Here.

Still Here

Through the eyes of Pacific youth and their families, this four part docu-series celebrates the small but mighty Pasifika community in inner-city Auckland who have remained despite decades of rampant gentrification.

Read2

Opinion: Our inner-city Auckland was a slice of Polynesia

"Samoan writer Albert Wendt once said “our people wake the city”."

Still Here: Celebrating the Pasifika families of Central Auckland

Meet the people behind the project, and take a look at some the photos from the launch night.

View all series