Two students from Adventist schools in New Zealand were recognized for their talents at the Alofa Awards in Auckland.

Azariah Brown from Balmoral Seventh-day Adventist School won the Martin Hautus Foundation Trust Best Director Junior award for his film Pacific ID in NZ, and Josua Kasawaqa from Auckland Seventh-day Adventist High School won the Independent Traffic Control Best Actor award for his involvement in TOA.

The Alofa Awards is an event dedicated to honouring young emerging Pasifika filmmakers. This year, 230 high school students from Auckland, Bay of Plenty, and Wellington participated in the Pasifika Youth Short Film Competition. The awards ceremony attracted over 500 attendees, all there to uplift the youth and celebrate their narratives.

Students receive mentorship in storytelling from seasoned Pacific filmmakers, fostering an environment that encourages them to delve into their identities and articulate their experiences through film. The initiative also seeks to pave the way for Pacific students in the screen industry, exposing them to various career paths available in this field.

“I felt good winning the award. It was a good experience for me and I learnt lots,” Brown said.

Inspired by his maternal grandmother, the eighth-grade student was interested in portraying the experiences of people living in New Zealand but with their heritage from other South Pacific countries. He was curious to explore how they keep their culture alive in a different country.

This was Brown’s first experience at film directing, and it has given him the motivation and drive to make more short films.

“I enjoyed watching Azariah persevering to complete this project,” Mary Brown, Balmoral school principal, said. “He had awesome ideas, and it was a joy to see it come to fruition. This is a well-deserved accomplishment,” Brown concluded.

The original article was published on the South Pacific Division news site, Adventist Record.