7.8 /10 1 Votes7.8
88% Starring Marie WawaMungau Dain Cinematography Bentley Dean Cast Marie Wawa, Mungau Dain | 6.9/10 75% Metacritic Initial release 9 March 2017 (Germany) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Directed by Martin ButlerBentley Dean Produced by Carolyn JohnsonBentley DeanMartin Butler Screenplay by Martin ButlerBentley DeanJohn Collee Directors Martin Butler, Bentley Dean Similar The King's Choice, Land of Mine, It's Only the End of the World, A Man Called Ove, My Life as a Courgette |
Tanna official trailer 1 2017 martin butler movie
Tanna is a 2015 Australian-Ni-Vanuatu film set on the island of Tanna in the South Pacific, depicting the true story of a couple who decided to marry for love, rather than obey their parents' wishes. In some ways similar to Romeo and Juliet, the movie is based on an actual marriage dispute.
Contents
- Tanna official trailer 1 2017 martin butler movie
- Tanna trailer 2016
- Production
- Screening
- Reception
- References

The film won the Audience Award Pietro Barzisa at the 72nd Venice International Film Festival. It was selected as the Australian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 89th Academy Awards, and was nominated for the award in January 2017.

Tanna trailer 2016
Production

The film was shot entirely on location. Co-director Bentley Dean lived with his family for seven months in Tanna. Most of the cast played their own roles in the film, and Dain was cast because he was considered the village’s most handsome man. The film is shot in the Nauvhal and Nafe languages. The cast members did not regard the filming as being difficult because their roles were "performing what we were used to in our daily life." A copy of Ten Canoes was screened as an example for the actors.

This is Martin Butler and Dean’s third collaboration, after the documentaries Contact and First Footprints. Dean came to Vanuatu in 2003 to research a story on the John Frum movement for Dateline and wanted to return there to create something larger. Dean wanted to tell a local story and give his children a chance to live in the village, and developed the storyline in collaboration with the Yakel people.
Screening

Just after Cyclone Pam, a special screening was held for the tribe. The film has screened at the 72nd Venice International Film Festival, where it won the Audience Award Pietro Barzisa, and Bentley Dean was awarded Best Cinematographer, at the BFI London Film Festival, and at the 2015 Adelaide Film Festival.
Reception
Tanna has received critical acclaim. It has a score of 74% on Metacritic.
