The Samoa Deal

A newly sober man's Christmas Eve dental emergency leads to an unexpected romance with his older dentist as they explore Baltimore together.

Womanising, right-wing Dan Hanson and quiet, liberal Lorie Bryer work for the Baltimore Sun. Rivals for the job of new writer of a vacant column, the paper ends up instead printing their very different opinions alongside each other, which leads to a similarly combative local TV show. At the same time their initial indifference to each other looks like it may evolve into something more romantic.

A limo driver's blind date sparks a tale of love, betrayal, friendship and grace—centered on two working-class New York City couples.

With John's social life at a standstill and his ex-wife about to get remarried, a down on his luck divorcée finally meets the woman of his dreams, only to discover she has another man in her life - her son. Before long, the two are locked in a battle of wits for the woman they both love-and it appears only one man can be left standing when it's over.

With his carefree lifestyle on the line, a wealthy charmer poses as a ranch hand to get a hardworking farmer to sell her family’s land before Christmas.

When her rather explicit copy is rejected, magazine journalist Kate is asked by her editor to come up with an article on loving relationships instead, and to do so by the end of the day. This gets Kate thinking back over her own various experiences, and to wondering if she is in much of a position to write on the subject.

When her all-male house-cleaning business gets out of control, a mature woman must embrace her own sexuality, if she is to make a new life for herself.

Proud father Stanley Banks remembers the day his daughter, Kay, got married. Starting when she announces her engagement through to the wedding itself, we learn of all the surprises and disasters along the way.

Follows Callie and Joseph one year after they fell in love, now running a dairy farm and winery, but their romance is threatened when business and family obligations call Joseph back to the city.

Set in 1958, the coming of age story follows four lower middle-class Brooklyn teenagers known as The Lords of Flatbush. The Lords chase girls, steal cars, shoot pool, get into street fights, and hang out at a local malt shop.

After the horrific death of his wife and two sons, suicide seems to be the only escape for small town attorney Kent "Mac" McClain... until he's assigned a capital punishment case that begins to transform his life and those around him forever.

An offbeat romantic comedy about a silver-painted street performer and the soft spoken zoo worker who falls for him.

Paper Heart follows Nick and Charlyne on a cross-country journey to document what exactly "love" is. Interviewing ministers, happily married couples, chemists, romance novelists, divorce lawyers, a group of children and more, the determined young girl attempts to find definition and perhaps even experience the mysterious emotion.

When a would-be psychologist, curiously named Dr. Mumford, comes to the idyllic town of the same name and offers his talent for listening and a disarming frankness, the town's quirkiest citizens scramble for a seat on his couch. As he lightens hearts darkened by old secrets no one realizes he's hiding a whopper of his own, or that he's fallen head over heels for one of his patients!

Two romantic burnouts, Jane and Will, are immediately drawn to each other at a mutual friend’s wedding. After a disastrous hookup in the coatroom, the two spend the next 24 hours together, trading candid confessions of messy histories and heartbreak, on the off chance that this fling might be the real thing.

A conservative lawyer named Diane takes her two teenage children Jake and Zoe to meet their estranged, hippie grandmother in Woodstock after her husband asks for a divorce.

An aspiring musician struggling with schizophrenia falls for a mysterious woman who may be all in his head. When she suddenly vanishes, he takes off on a cross-country journey across Australia to find her, forcing his long-suffering brother to chase after him.

A young American woman is sent by her parents to a cultural immersion program in Taipei where she begins a new journey of self-discovery and romance.

When wry New England realtor Hildy Good rekindles a romance with her old high-school flame, Frank Getchell, it ignites long-buried emotions and family secrets that propel Hildy toward a reckoning with the one person she's been avoiding for decades: herself. Based on the best-selling novel by Ann Leary.

Left heartbroken after Romeo begins to pursue her cousin Juliet, Rosaline schemes to foil the famous romance and win back her guy in this comedic twist of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.

A woman grieving her daughter's death in the Christchurch earthquakes, becomes a substitute teacher at an elite private school. Unexpectedly, she discovers students lacking guidance and care, prompting her to provide inspiration and support.

Pepe is the son of a successful Samoan businessman, who rejects his father's world and his Christianity. Although he becomes rebellious, anti-social and engages in criminal activity, as well as being expelled from school, he manages to establish himself in business. However, when he gets his girlfriend pregnant, he takes on the responsibilities of a family. Through his close association with half-cast dwarf, Tagata, he enters the supernatural realm of his traditional ways and begins to find some peace and meaning to his life.

The Orator (O Le Tulafale) is a contemporary drama about courage, forgiveness and love. Small in stature and humble, Saili lives a simple life with his beloved wife and daughter in an isolated, traditional village in the islands of Samoa. Forced to protect his land and family, Saili must face his fears and seek the right to speak up for those he loves.

Due to a possible cholera epidemic onboard, passengers on a ship are forced to disembark at Pago Pago, a small village on a Pacific island where it incessantly rains. Among the stranded passengers are Sadie Thompson, a prostitute, and Alfred Davidson, a fanatic missionary who will try to redeem her.

Luana Lepou (Salina Vai) is a brilliant 15-year-old. The recent death of her father left her in the care of her mother, Susana (Frances Talataiga) and older sister, Sina (Auau Faleafine). Sina seems to have found the love of her life in her sweet, loving boyfriend, Limu Lualua (Joseph Iosua) who proposes marriage to Sina. After exchanging vows, Limu moves into the Lepou household with Sina, in bliss, until Sina notices a change in her newly wedded husband's behavior. Limu begins to come home late and drunk, fighting and arguing. Sina complains to her mother, who tries to patch things up. Unfortunately for young Luana, Limu turns his drunken attention on her, making suggestive gestures, and threatening her if she tells anyone. She struggles with the shame of her sister's husband's attention. Luana cries out for help, but to her dismay and frustration, the family does not believe her. With no help, Luana is forced to keep this a secret. Inspired by a true story.

In a long forgotten Samoa, a group of young men are sent into the deepest part of the forest to fulfill their destinies and emerge as Warriors.

Taro planter Lui's grief for his dead wife has infected his whole life. A chance meeting with a stranger, a widow bound in anger to the grave of her husband now drowning in their cyclone devastated village, inspires Lui to reach out to her. This releases him from his own pain and allows his wife to rest.

Based on the treatment of Pacific Island families during the New Zealand Dawn Raids of the 1970’s, this short is an intimate look into a police raid, as told through the eyes of a young girl Losa and her father Lupematasila.

Adam is a 22 year old New Zealand born Samoan guy who falls for Mary. On a 'chance' encounter he learns that Mary only wants to go out with a 'real island guy' - not a plastic one. Adam realizes that to get rid of his 'plastic' ways and impress Mary, he'll have to travel to Samoa and have his cousins teach him how to be a real island guy. Three Wise Cousins is a feature length comedy, that will have you laughing from start to end; it's a film unlike any other that will surprise you with it's endless amount of 'wisdom'.

As South Auckland undergoes a cultural shift with the ongoing development and gentrification of the area, Villa Junior Lemanu recalls his youth and upbringing through song, dance and spoken word to celebrate and immortalise his memories of his hometown.

Two brothers; Alama and Popo, arrive for the first time in NZ as Seasonal Workers, making plenty of money to take back home to their family in Samoa. But things take a turn for the worst when Popo steals Alamas' money and runs away. Alama is determined not to return home empty handed, but the only relative that answers his call for help is Bob Titilo; an aspiring private investigator in his 40s. Alama begins to doubt his decision when Bob's unconventional methods take them on a wild goose chase. This New Action Comedy is brought to you by the Makers of hit Comedies; Three Wise Cousins and Hibiscus and Ruthless.

Two boys in the process of making a Samoan dish.

A behind-the-scenes look at the creation of Walt Disney Animation Studios' MOANA, as aided by the Oceanic Story Trust.

As if they were showing their film to a few friends in their home, the Johnsons describe their trip across the world, which begins in the South Pacific islands of Hawaii, Samoa, Australia, the Solomons (where they seek and find cannibals), and New Hebrides. Thence on to Africa via the Indian Ocean, Suez Canal, North Africa, and the Nile River to lion country in Tanganyika. (They are briefly joined in Khartum by George Eastman and Dr. Al Kayser.) Taking a safari in the Congo, the Johnsons see animals and pygmies, and travel back to Uganda, British East Africa, and Kenya.

Finnish filmmaker and artist Sami van Ingen is a great-grandson of documentary pioneer Robert Flaherty, and seemingly the sole member of the family with a hands-on interest in continuing the directing legacy. Among the materials he found in the estate of Robert and Frances Flaherty’s daughter Monica were the film reels and video tapes detailing several years of work on realising her lifelong dream project: a sound version of her parents’ 1926 docu-fiction axiom, Moana: A Romance of the Golden Age.

American tattoo artist Jake Sawyer wanders the world, exploring and exploiting ethnic themes in his tattoo designs. At a tattoo expo in Singapore, he gets his first glimpse at the exotic world of traditional Samoan tattoo (tatau), and, in a thoughtless act, unwittingly unleashes a powerful angry spirit. In his devastating journey into Pacific mysticism, Jake must find a way to save his new love, Sina and recover his own soul.

An intimate glimpse of the first visible group of transgender men in the Pacific Islands - the Rogers of Samoa. From the loneliness of family rejection and homelessness to the camaraderie of church, cooking, and dance, their stories reveal the challenges and possibilities of life in an island society rooted in culture and tradition.

In the South Seas, Samoan village life is portrayed with a painterly eye. Blending ethnographic detail with a romanticized 'Gauguin idyll', the film celebrates daily rituals, communal traditions, and the passage into adulthood, suffused pride of beauty and pride of strength.

Verona Sagato-Mauga, a first-generation American business owner in Salt Lake County, Utah, campaigns to become the first Samoan to win a state legislative seat in the continental United States.

An overview of the people, lifestyle, and traditions of Samoa, as well tourism and other economic changes on the Samoan islands.