Tala Pasifika - The Cat's Crying

Television (Full Length) – 1995

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Tala Pasifika was a pioneering Pasifika anthology series which debuted on TV One in 1996. Written by Pasifika poet Audrey Brown-Pereira, The Cat's Crying is a haunting story about a young girl named Ana (future Shortland Street actor Jaime Passier-Armstrong), who is visited in a dream by a mysterious woman and her baby. When Ana then finds the woman from her dream in a family photo album, her mother Teupoko (Seiuli Moira Walker) and father Toa (Jim Ngata) are forced to confront a dark secret. As with many of the Tala Pasifika stories, The Cat's Crying explores themes of family, immigration and sacrifice.

...to be somebody, it's not who you are inside, it's who you are on that piece of paper. No paper, no nothing. How are you going to get that piece of paper, and look after the baby by yourself?
– Ora (Glennis Paraha) to her daughter Rose (Sela Brown)