Tala Pasifika - Matou Uma

A candid look at the issues faced by young women struggling to express their sexuality under the sometimes steely eyes of church and family. There's little that's preachy about Matou Uma though, mostly because it's delivered (for the most part) via a writer and actors (Betty-Anne Monga, Mamaengaroa Kerr-Bell, Tausili Mose) whose ears are tuned to the way people really talk.

– NZ Herald writer Michele Hewitson, December 1999

The primary goal of Tala Pasifika was to present an authentic Pacific island voice that could provide a viable alternative to the images of Polynesia generated by Pākehā  filmmakers.

– Director Justine Simei-Barton in Wasafiri Magazine 1997, page 74

It’s not just a game. It's a chance to make something of your life. After what you just pulled, you should be warming the bench on Saturday . . . You don’t get it do you? Do you know what those Eastern Heights players think of us? They think we’re a bunch of lazy coconuts. They think we don’t know professionalism.

– Moana (Betty-Anne Monga) to (Lagi (Tausili Mose)

They're about showing us who we are, Simei-Barton says. We need to see images of ourselves as a multi-cultural society. "We live as neighbours and friends, quite a lot of us have contacts with ethnic minorities - and yet we don't know each other."

– Director Justine Simei-Barton on the ethos behind Tala Pasifika, The NZ Herald, December 1999

Lagi, they know you’re a fast shooter, they’re gonna be on to you girl. So you better keep a cool head.

– Moana (Betty-Anne Monga) to her team