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Writer · Director · Animator
Jacob Luamanuvae-Su’a
An Annie Award-winning character animator and Emmy honouree with more than 25 years in film, Jacob is the founder of TIKIPUNK Studios and a Senior Lead Facial Animator at Wētā FX. He has contributed to more than forty major productions, including Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame, earning the Annie Award for Outstanding Character Animation for his work on Thanos. He has also been a member of the Visual Effects Society and ASIFA-Hollywood for over a decade.
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Writer · Producer
Jeremiah Tauamiti
A writer and director who has won multiple awards for his NZFC-funded short films Liliu and Maria, and for For My Father’s Kingdom — the first Pacific-led feature documentary funded by the NZ Film Commission. In 2024, Family Faith and Footy: A Pasifika Rugby Story, which he directed, won Best Documentary at the NZTVF Awards. In 2025, he earned his first broadcast credit as producer with the one-hour special documentary Lolo: The Champion Maker.
Producer
Abba-Rose Vaiaoga Ioasa
A Samoan producer based in New Zealand, passionate about bringing Pacific Islands stories to screen. She was associate producer on the Pasifika hit Three Wise Cousins (2016), then went on to produce Hibiscus & Ruthless (2018), Take Home Pay (2019), and Mama’s Music Box (2020) — earning the 2020 SPADA New Filmmaker of the Year award. Her villages in Samoa are Alafua, Toamua, and Puipa’a.