[pacific voices]

		INTERVIEW: Folola Takapu
		Filmmaker of "Sione's Journey"

Folola Pelenatita Takapu is the eldest daughter of Kapeliele and Sauliloa Takapu of Lapaha, Tonga. She is a 2nd generation Tongan American and has just recently graduated with her Bachelors degree in Ethnic Studies from UC-Berkeley. She traveled to Tonga for the first time this summer to show her film "Sione’s Journey" at the Tongan Research Association Conference. The Pacific Eye Magazine was fortunate to interview this talented young filmmaker about her life, the challenges of being Tongan in America, and why she felt the film Sione’s Journey needed to be made. If you would like to find out more about the film Sione’s Journey you can contact the filmmaker HERE.

PEM: Tell us a little bit about yourself?

Fololoa: I grew up all over the Bay area. I had a really hard upbringing and childhood. I had my family and my friends, but identity was always a struggle for me. Peer pressure got a hold of me at a very young age. When I moved to San Bruno, I started going to an intermediate school and everyone had their own clicks and I really wanted to be with all the Polynesians, but I played a lot of sports so I had friends from all different nationalities, so when it came lunch time and I wanted to hang out with my other group of friends everyone started talking about me. They started saying “oh she wants to be Mexican or she wants to be palangi or she wants to be black.” I was really hurt by that because I never received that kind of response from anyone in my life, so I learned very early about the challenges of identity and how hurtful it could be.

PEM: How did you deal with the challenges of identity?

Folola: I later learned that I can’t just be a follower and that I really needed to find out for myself who I am. I realized that I can’t please everyone and that I needed to figure out who I am as a Tongan and not worry about what other people think of me.

PEM: Are there certain experiences from your life that you feel has really shaped who you are today?

Folola: There are so many experiences but probably the ones that have really stayed with me are that when we were younger my brother started getting really heavily involved with gangs and one day he got jumped by some other Tongan kids at the train tracks. I will never forget when I went to the hospital to see him and I couldn't even recognize my brother's face and his best friend was also in the hospital and I had to call his sister and his mom to tell them about what happened. I was sitting in the hospital crying and wondering to myself what is the point of all of this? What's it all for? What are we putting our families through? It really affected me and I knew I wanted to do something different, something positive. But it wasn't until I was at City College that I met this really cool counselor who was interning at the time, and she pulled me aside and asked me about what my plans were and what I would like to be when I grow up. I told her that I really didn't care and that I would just do whatever. She started to talk to me about transferring to a university and at the time I had no desire to do so. She told me that if I wanted to transfer that I would need to start taking classes that would transfer. She said that I would need to take a Math class and I told her that there was no way I was going to take a Math class because I don't like Math. She told me she saw so much potential in me. She asked me to go with her to just look at the math books and maybe I will change my mind, when we got to the book store I looked at the book and it was $109 and I told her, oh there is no way I can afford that, my family is broke and I just cant buy that book. When we left the bookstore I noticed she had a plastic bag in her hand and I said "oh you bought something?" and she said "yeah it's for you" and I opened it and it was the math book. I told her that there is no way I can take that from her and I will never forget what she said to me, she said "I am investing in your future Lola!" I was shocked that she cared that much for me, because she was just an intern and she didn't have much money, but she really wanted to invest in my future.

I went to a party that night and at the party I saw these three other older women there who were drinking along with the rest of us, and I asked a couple of people who they were, and they told me that those girls were the OG party crew. It really hit me at that time that I didn't want to end up like that. I didn't want to be that age and still be sitting around partying, it may have been okay for them but I just couldn't see myself doing that for the rest of my life. I wanted to do something different with my life.

When I got home I went straight to my room and I prayed to God to help me because I was so lost, I didn't know what I was doing, I felt like my family was falling apart, I felt like the world was slipping away from me and all I could do was party and drink and try not to think about the things I was going through. I needed some guidance because all I felt was so much pain.

After that experience everything just fell into place. The next day was a college tour and when I walked onto the UC-Berkeley campus, it was a different feeling, everyone was sitting on the grass reading, there was just something different about it, it was like they all wanted to be there, that people were excited to learn. Just stepping on the campus made me feel smarter and I found myself thinking, "I wish I could be here, I wish I could be more like these people who love learning and are excited about learning"! When I got back to campus I went straight to my counselor and said "tell me what I need to do to get out of here and go to UC Berkeley?" My counselor told me that there were other schools I could apply to, but I told him "No, I am going to UC Berkeley!" I made up my mind that I was going to graduate and I committed all my time to school, I worked three jobs and I made it out of there in 2 years and continued to UC Berkeley and it was in class at UC Berkeley that I came up with the idea for Sione's Journey and then had the opportunity to film it.

PEM: What was it like when you found out you had been accepted to UC Berkeley?

Folola: I remember the day that I got my letter, I was so happy, I called my grandma, I called my mom and I called my dad. My dad was so happy and so proud of me that he took all of my college acceptance letters (I got accepted to UCLA, UC-Berkeley, UC-Davis, UC-Santa Barbara) and showed it to all his friends at work! Just seeing how happy my dad was just motivated me to keep going. I was just happy to be an example to my brothers and sisters and to let them know that no matter what we are going through and what people may be saying about us, that we can still be successful, if we work hard at it, we can do it!

PEM: How did Sione’s Journey come about?

Folola: It was a project for my Ethnic Studies class. I wanted to do a film about the issues of identity that Tongans go through, but also to educate the general Berkeley population about where Tonga is and who Tongans are, but it also came about from my own experiences and struggles with identity.

PEM: What would you say was most empowering about creating and filming Sione’s Journey?

Folola: The fact that I got to do a film about something that was personal to me but that I knew a lot of Tongans would identify with. I also got to film my cousins and friends and have long conversations with them about these issues. I also loved to see the reaction of the audience during the film showings. It also gave me the opportunity to be in long conversations with my dad. Being at Berkeley and away from home helped me to become really close to my dad. Every weekend he would come up to Berkeley and hang out with me. We would go to church, go to the movies, and have dinner before it was time for him to go back to work. When I started to make Sione’s Journey it was really the first time that my dad and I really started to talk more in depth about his experiences as a Tongan. I started interviewing him for this film and it really opened up a whole new door for my dad to be comfortable enough to talk to me about other things in regards to his childhood, his upbringing, and his experiences in America and in Tonga. It made everything more meaningful to me. My dad speaks only Tongan and I only speak English and there were so many times when I wanted to explain things to him about the sports I was playing or about the awards I was receiving, but I felt like there was always this language barrier between us and it kept me apart from him. Working on Sione’s Journey gave me the opportunity to interview my dad about what it was like growing up in Lapaha, what he wanted me to understand about Tonga, and what he wanted me to understand about what it means to be Tongan. Our relationship became much stronger.

PEM: What has been the response to Sione’s Journey?

Folola: The response has been very positive! I loved the reaction of the audience because for those who are Polynesian they really identified with it, I could hear them laughing along, because they understood the humor and the issues that were being discussed. I get very nervous every time I show the film because this film is very special to me. It’s not only discussing the issues that I am going through but it is also my family that is in this film and so it’s very personal. Showing this film is like showing a piece of myself, but I have been very happy with how it’s been received by those who have watched it.

PEM: What film projects are you working on it on?

Folola: Currently I am working on Mele’s Journey which will explore issues of cultural identity but also that of gender identity.

PEM: Any final advice for our Pacific Islander young people?

Folola: Just keep working at it. You can accomplish anything you put your mind to. If I can do it, then anyone can do it! Don’t let anyone or anything stop you from reaching your dreams!