ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the activist work of Indigenous women filmmakers in the Pacific Islands, who harness the power of digital video to revitalize Indigenous cultures and agitate for Indigenous sovereignty. Their art is rooted in Pasifika epistemologies and an Indigenous philosophy of resurgence. Tracing networks of media activism across the Pacific, this chapter examines films by Merata Mita (Maori) and the pan-Pacific Indigenous women’s collectives that made Waru (2017) and Vai (2019). It offers a close examination of media texts as well as distribution and exhibition processes, which build networks of activism, reconnecting communities whose bonds were severed by colonization. These wahine toa, or women warriors, use digital media as a lifeline to resist settler colonialism and revitalize Indigenous identity. Challenging the hegemonic power of Hollywood and other global media conglomerates, these creator-activists ride the wave of possibilities that digital interconnectedness offers.
