Since we first visited French Polynesia and the Marquesas Islands in 2018, we’ve been working on a series of films to share some of the personal stories that people shared with us. The series is taking shape, so here’s a summary of the episodes we are working on … Overview: This series delves into Marquesan…
We first visited the community of Hapatoni, on the island of Tahuata, aboard a ship called the National Geographic Orion. The village has a population of about 100 people, and many people of all ages took part in welcoming our vessel. This place made an immediate impression on me, and I resolved to return later…
I saw the Marquesas for the first time from the deck of a ship. The hillsides, captured above by photographer Eric Guth, foretold the natural beauty we would experience in this archipelago. One of our first stops, from that ship, was in Hatihe’u, where a group of local performers welcomed us at one of their…
Teiki Pao gathers coconut from the hills of Nuku Hiva. Dried coconut, called copra, is sold to make coconut oil, and it is an important industry here. Teiki works with his horse, Légende, and when I asked Teiki about his tattoos, he told me some of them represent the horse that he spends so much…
Teiki Huukena has dedicated himself to the Marquesan art of tattoo, called Patutiki. He got his first tattoo, designed by his cousin, when he was 14 years old. Since then, his journey to reclaim the traditional symbols and their placement on the body has been written on his skin. The journey is also represented…
The final game of the 2018 FIFA world cup started very early in the Marquesas, whose time zone is 11.5 hours behind most of Europe. It was still dark when we arrived, but a mix of local residents and visiting yacht owners (mostly French) were already seated in the community hall. Despite the distance…
The 14th of July is a national holiday in France, often called la “fête nationale” or simply “le 14 juillet.” In English, we call in Bastille Day, and it is named for a major event during the French Revolution in 1789. As a French Overseas Territory, this holiday is also celebrated in French Polynesia. These…
Teamwork was key to our time in the Marquesas. While I was mostly finding people to talk to, like Nicolas Haiti and his son Naura inside their coconut oven in Taipivai, Nuku Hiva, Eric Guth (photographer) and Matt Mastrantuono (filmmaker) were never far away. I’ll admit it: I don’t like drones. From beeping…
Teiki Pao and his horse, Légende, have a route they take through town and out to the forest. Teiki collects coconuts and husks them so the meat can be dried and sold as copra, the dried coconut that helps drive the economy on many French Polynesian islands. The coconuts that Teiki collects with Légende…
Everything in Aakapa, on the island of Nuku Hiva, is steep: the hillsides, the shore line, all the roads and driveways. The dried coconut industry, called copra, is important all across French Polynesia, and this village of 120 people is no exception. The municipality of Aakapa invested in a coconut drying oven in 2018 to…
Nicolas Haiti lives in the valley of Taipivai on the island of Nuku Hiva. We heard about him and his family because of their oven. Copra, or dried coconut, is an important industry in French Polynesia, including the Marquesas Islands and here in Nuku Hiva. Coconut is dried and then shipped to Pape’ete, Tahiti to…
The planning was pretty simple: a conversation between me, Eric, and our local contacts Debora and Kimi. We had a map, a mango, a dog, and a mission. Nuku Hiva has some spectacular hiking trails, and Kimi would take us to them. Kimi is a life-of-the-party kind of guy, with a zany photo collection,…
The landscape of this island, Nuku Hiva, is so extreme it can be hard to find flat ground. That’s why the airport is on the opposite shore from the main town, Taioha’e: there’s only one runway compatible patch of ground. After landing in a small plane, you drive an hour through stunning hills and valleys…
Smoke from burning leaves lifted into the morning sky. Two custodians had arrived before us, though it was still early, to continue the endless work of carving this site out from the surrounding forest. Debora Kimitete explained that the name of this site, Koueva, refers to dancing that begins in the evening and goes right…
Debora Kimitete showed us how to slam the car door correctly, so it wouldn’t fly open again. We would spend the day in her Land Rover that has had more adventures than I could ever hope for. The streets of Taiohae are full of memories for Debora, but an important place to begin was…