Luciane Buchanan Instagram – I am so happy to finally announce a wee short film I wrote, that is so dear to my heart will have it’s world premier at #SUNDANCE 2024 BBY🥹 I have to thank all the wonderful 246 @boosted.nz donors, @nzfilm #FreshShorts @script_to_screen & Shuchi Kothari who believed in two ta’ahine Tonga filmmakers all those moons ago, to have an opportunity to make a film like this. I am forever grateful. Thank you to my day 1 producers @runcharliefilms @eldonbooth and @alexanderlovell who encouraged me at 24, someone who has never written before to develop this story. Your unwavering faith in this project means so much. 🙏🏽 To the talented @vea_mafileo, I am so proud to share this journey with you as our director. You took this baby and made it yours. I cannot wait to finally celebrate this with you. We are both gonna be a crying mess, I can see it now! It takes a village to make a film, even the small ones! You fall in and out of love with it, constantly asking for favours, shooting through a pandemic, judging our lives and careers but our cast, crew and post production team were A1. I am so grateful for the hours of your time. I hope you are all proud of your work. To my family, mālo ‘aupito always supporting me wholeheartedly in every project I do, big or small. This is love letter to our queen and her home. Lastly, (I know this is long!) to all the people in my life who influenced this story, every single person I ran ideas with from its early inception to the edit, I wouldn’t be here without you. Ngl, this started off as a very individualistic goal, it saved me in a time where I wasn’t booking work. But then I realised it was a collective goal to bring more of us Tongan creatives together (in an industry where there’s not many of us), to make something special rooted in māfana. I’ll make sure it’s not the last.🤘🏽🇹🇴 Thank you @sundanceorg for seeing something in our story. This is a dream come true. Tongans in Utah, where you at???👀 ❤️‍🔥🇹🇴❤️‍🔥🇹🇴❤️‍🔥🇹🇴❤️‍🔥🇹🇴❤️‍🔥🇹🇴