Tupaia's Endeavour - The Feature Film

I’ve always had an alert eye for the untold story...New Zealand history is dominated by the European view. Cook was on the cusp of the enlightenment in Europe, but Tupaia was a man of the enlightenment in the Pacific.

– Director Lala Rolls on telling the story of Tahitian High Priest and navigator Tupaia, The Gisborne Herald 26 July 2017

...Literally a voyage of discovery ... not just filling a neglected gap in history but making history itself.

– Writer Mark Peters in The Gisborne Herald, 14 October 2019

Tupaia might have possibly said 'bro, I tried to make them come through the islands, but the eggs went straight south so we passed through some pretty choppy, heavy, cold seas'...

– Kirk Torrance imagines a conversation between navigator Tupaia and Tolaga Bay Māori in 1769

When we went to Taputapuātea for the first time...that was such a significant moment. For me, it's like this is the leaving ground of the...significant waka that came to New Zealand came from here. and you know, Kahungunu whakapapa to the Tākitimu waka and the Tākitimu waka was built there and blessed there and left from there — so to have that sort of connection, that was my little spine-tingling moment.

– Actor Kirk Torrance on travelling to French Polynesia while making Tupaia's Endeavour, on the Tupaia's Film Facebook page

...he was like 'man I don't even read, I'm dyslexic but I've got this thick as book from Anne Salmond and I've read it cover to cover and Tupaia's the Man'. And I looked at him and said 'Tupaia IS the man, that's the next film we've got to do'.

– Director Lala Rolls on first deciding to make Tupaia's Endeavour with artist Michel Tuffery, on the Tupaia Film Facebook page

Lala Rolls brings Endeavour’s Tahitian and New Zealand travails to entertaining life via beautiful illustrations and the sparing use of reenactments which complement, rather than undermine, the modern day discussions of Tupaia’s role and legacy ... powerfully relevant at a time when Cook’s impact on our country is being re-examined...

– Writer James Croot in a three and a half star review, Stuff, 22 July 2020

I do not know why I may not keep him as a curiosity, as well as some of my neighbours do lions and tigers at a larger expense than he will probably ever put me to.

– Extract from The Endeavour Journal of Joseph Banks, 1768–1771, quoted in a Te Ara profile of Tupaia

It turns out it was exactly right that this film should take so long to make. All the delays and the sharing of versions with local communities along the way has drawn a wealth of new knowledge and information to us. This has fed into and brought a special kind of magic to the final cut.

– Director Lala Rolls

A big film with very little funding, but a big heart ... a rolling wānanga.

– Director Lala Rolls describes Tupaia's Endeavour