Le Auala Masani (2025): Mini-Documentary for Sāmoan Social Media Audiences

Abstract

This collaborative project brings together doctoral student Fritz Filisi, supervisor Teena Brown Pulu, video producer Nikolase Meredith, and independent camera operator Rewi Amoamo, all of whom trace their ancestry to Sāmoa. Together, they produced a Sāmoan language mini-documentary for social media audiences exploring the auala funerary tradition. This ancient custom, performed upon the death of a high chief, involves the gathering of tulāfale (orators) who recite genealogies that connect chiefly titles, kinship lines, customary lands, and lagi (heavens) of ancestral gods. Filmed in Si’umu village, Sāmoa, the project delivered culture-specific educational content to diasporic Sāmoan young adults, many of whom are unfamiliar with this ceremonial practice. This short article is a companion to Le Auala Masani (2025) that explains conceptual and practice-based considerations of connecting a mini-documentary made in Sāmoa to Sāmoans in the diasporas.