TANNA
Filmfest 2016
Australia, Vanuatu 2015
Original version with English subtitles
(Original: Nauvhal)
German Premiere
Director: Bentley Dean, Martin Butler
Section: International Independents
TANNA is set in the South Pacific where Wawa, a young girl from one of the last traditional tribes, falls in love with her chief’s grandson, Dain. When an intertribal war escalates, Wawa is unknowingly betrothed as part of a peace deal. The young lovers run away, but are pursued by enemy warriors intent on killing them. They must choose between their hearts and the future of the tribe, while the villagers must wrestle with preserving their traditional culture and adapting it to the increasing outside demands for and performed by the people of Yakel in Vanuatu.
Cast: Marie Wawa, Mungau Dain, Marceline Rofit, Chief Charlie Kahla, Albi Nangia
Credits
Screenplay: Bentley Dean, Martin Butler, John Collee
Director of Photography: Bentley Dean
Film Editor: Tania Michel Nehme
Composer: Antony Partos
Sound: Emma Bortignon, Martin Butler
Producer: Martin Butler, Bentley Dean, Carolyn Johnson
Production Company: Contact Films
World Sales: Visit Films
Director: Bentley Dean, Martin Butler
biography


Martin Butler (first) and Bentley Dean (second) have made a name for themselves with aboriginal docs like CONTACT (2009) or FIRST FOOTPRINTS (2013). Bentley Dean usually operates the camera, Martin Butler records the sound – as on their first dramatic feature TANNA.