I Of The Water
Feature Documentary
Genre – Social issue, observational documentary
Director – Kimberlee Brassford
Producers – Kimberlee Brassford, Marilyn McFadyen, Vilsoni Hereniko, Leanne K. Ferrer, Cheryl Hirasa, and Linda Goldstein Knowlton
Sia Figiel was the first Pacific Islander to write about Samoan girls, and her novels broke silence on taboos like sexual abuse, violence and suicide. But while bold and open on paper, Sia privately struggles with myriad pains. At the heart of her anguish is a secret she harbours—a shame she has carried since she was nine. It will take traversing a continent, an ocean, her own memories and even the spectre of death before she is ready to speak this shame and in doing so reframe societal notions of abuse, trauma and healing.
“I Of The Water” won the First Look Prize at the 2023 Hot Docs Forum and is currently in Post-Production