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BUTTERFLY/BATAPLAI

A short narrative drama.

A Papua New Guinean/American woman challenges
her evangelist father's strict rules to find her voice as a makeup artist.

Written, Directed & Produced by
Veialu Aila-Unsworth


Instagram:  @bataplai.film

Official Selection of 26 Film Festivals

AWARDS

Joint-Winner of ‘Best Film’ Award

Whānau Mārama New Zealand International Film Festival's Ngā Whanaunga Māori Pasifika Shorts 2024 Wellington UNESCO Creative City of Film ‘Best Film’ Award

 

Honorable Mention

2024 Barbados Independent Film Festival

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Running time:  8 mins

Country:  USA

Languages:  English, Tok Pisin

Open Subtitles:  English

Starring Regina Pande, Graham Pande, Joana Mate, and the voice of Olivia Korken.

 

Cinematography by Judd Overton, Music Composed by Maxwell Stone and Otis Kane, Sound Supervisor & Re-recording Mixer Tyler Proctor, featuring Photographs by Patrick Leahy and the song "Hypnotised" by Alyson Joyce.

Made in San Francisco / Ramaytush Ohlone land,

California, United States

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Festivals

SYNOPSIS

Raya (Regina Pande) loves makeup but her family does not.  She’s torn between her secret dream of being a makeup artist and her family’s strict religious beliefs.  In a nightmare, she receives a profound message from her Papua New Guinean ancestor who encourages her to look at her Indigenous culture for answers.

FESTIVALS & SCREENINGS 2023-2024

39th Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival (World Premiere, May 2023), USA

Māsima Pacific Islands Film Tour, USA

Micheaux Film Festival, USA

43th Hawai`i International Film Festival, USA

24th imagineNATIVE Film & Media Festival, Canada

LAAPFF Presents:  REPLAY, USA

Papua New Guinea Human Rights Film Festival, Papua New Guinea

16th Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival, USA

Los Angeles Skins Fest, USA

Barbados Independent Film Festival, Barbados

(Honorable Mention)

Disorient Asian American Film Festival of Oregon, USA

Māoriland Indigenous Film Festival, Ōtaki, Aotearoa New Zealand
25th Dawson City International Short Film Festival, Yukon, Canada
NewFilmakers Los Angeles April Festival, USA

Pasifika Visions:  Short Film Screening, California State University Long Beach, USA
West Hollywood Women's Leadership Conference & Network Mini-Film Festival, USA

VC Film Festival (formerly LA Asian Pacific Film Festival), Long Beach, California, USA

42nd CAAMFest, San Francisco Bay Area, California, USA

Honolulu Museum of Art, Hawai`i, USA

Sacramento Asian Pacific Film Festival, California, USA

Weengushk Film Festival, Manitoulin Island, Ontario, Canada

Whānau Mārama New Zealand International Film Festival, Aotearoa New Zealand

(Joint-winner of 2024 Wellington UNESCO Creative City of Film ‘Best Film’ Award)

LA Skins Fest:  Native American & Indigenous Short Film Showcase, USA

UPCOMING SCREENINGS

18th Native Spirit Film Festival, London - Oct 11-19, 2024

Pacific Island Film Festival of New York City, USA - Oct 17-20, 2024

 

Wairoa Film Festival, Nūhaka, Aotearoa New Zealand - Oct 25-28, 2024

 

Pasifika Film Festival, Sydney and Canberra, Australia

& Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea - Oct 31 - Nov 3, 2024

 

Red Nation International Film Festival, Los Angeles - Nov 1-30, 2024

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MORE SCREENING DATES COMING SOON

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ARTIST STATEMENT
BY VEIALU AILA-UNSWORTH

Papua New Guinean women belong everywhere!

 

We are multi-faceted, fierce, complex, curious, intelligent, imaginative, and so much more.

I want to challenge our invisibility on-screen.

For those of us in diasporas, living away from our cultural homelands, we are forging new identities, navigating multiple cultures, pushing against stupid stereotypes, finding acceptance and belonging, finding healing and freedom - finding our voice.

I explore this in Butterfly/Bataplai.

 

My intention with this film is to show what it's like for one Papua New Guinean woman living in the diaspora trying to forge a path between her Indigenous roots, spiritual beliefs, and the Western world she lives in.

 

Butterfly/Bataplai asks the question:  Who defines us as Papua New Guinean women, and to what extent do we get to decide that for ourselves?

[Find out more on Instagram @bataplai.film]

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BUTTERFLY/BATAPLAI SHORT FILM WAS MADE WITH THE 2023 ARMED WITH A CAMERA FELLOWSHIP

The Armed with a Camera Fellowship is awarded by Visual Communications (vcmedia.org), a non-profit organization whose mission is to develop and support the voices of Asian American & Pacific Islander filmmakers who empower communities and challenge perspectives.

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