Tärava (1983)

Overview

Filmed between 1980 and 1983, Tärava is considered the founding work of documentary cinema in Tahitian and embodies the link between the Polynesian and his ancestral land. To the rhythm of songs, hïmene tärava, the film takes us to discover our mountains and our valleys, and the story of the birth of the tärava. Filmed by Henri Hiro, Angelo Oliver and Harris Aunoa, Tärava looks back on the period during which missionaries settled in Polynesia. They never ceased to prohibit traditional songs and dances because they expressed in their eyes the perversions and lust of these pagan peoples. Drums and flutes, the basic instruments of Polynesian music, were thus banned. Only choral singing was permitted.