Coco Sports Talk: Tony Vainuku - Director of NFL player Manti Te'os 'Untold' story

Coco Sports Talk with Penina and Ashley - covering all things sports from a Pasifika female lens!

#CocoSportsTalk looks at the many stories of Pasifika people involved in sports of all kinds, and the trials and tribulations of the talented athletes from all sectors of our community.

This episode we're excited to have Tongan Director and film maker Tony Vainuku join us via Zoom from Salt Lake City, Utah.  Tony is the Emmy Award winning Director of the 2015 film 'In Football We Trust' and more recently co-directed the Manti Te'o episode of the UNTOLD Season 2 series - 'UNTOLD: The girlfriend who didn't exist'.

Here he shares with Ninz & Ash how the opportunity came about to direct the documentary, how he was able to get Manti onboard with sharing his story to a global audience, what he learned from doing the doco, why it's so important for our people to tell our stories ... Naya's taualuga and a whole lot more! 

Check out more on Tony here , peep the doco on Netflix here and watch the trailer below - 

Special thank you to Tony Vainuku for his time.

In the video above he shares a funny story about the time he flew to New York with Manti for the Gayle King interview on CBS in the Mornings.  You can check out the interview with her below - 

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Interviewers - Ashley Stanley, Penina Momoiseā

Edited by Sefa Taouma 

Thank you also to Netflix and Michelle Tarangelo 

* Additional trailer footage and 'Untold: The Girlfriend who didn't Exist' promo photos courtesy of Netflix 

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Public Interest Journalism funded by NZ on Air 

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