Climate Documentary follows Samoan Activist Aigagalefili Fepulea'i-Tapua'i

In 2019, students in more than 150 countries launched strikes to demand action to avert cataclysmic climate change.

In Aotearoa New Zealand, filmmakers The Rebel Film Collective started shooting seven months before what became the world’s biggest ever climate change strike. They were given intimate access to New Zealand students’ meetings, homes and personal video diaries to record how the local school strikes movement began. 

The film makers were there when an unexpected turn of events changed the face of the protests. High Tide Don’t Hide reveals the inner processes of teenagers mobilising record-setting numbers of children and adults…while dealing with the looming threat of climate change, interpersonal politics, and the need to just be teenagers. 

One of the teenagers profiled and followed is South Aucklands Aigagalefili Fepulea'i-Tapua'i. Aigagalefili, known by her friends as "FIli" is an award-winning published poet and indigenous activist from South Auckland. Her work has appeared in the 2019 Poetry Yearbook New Zealand and in 2020 she was a guest speaker at the UN General Assembly. This passionate activist was one of the organisers of the 2019 School Strikes and this documentary follows her jouney of climate campaigning including some of the bumps she encountered on the way.

The documentary will be screening at The Roxy in Wellington on the 25th of June and will be available online from the 26th of June to the 11th of July.