Island Productions Aotearoa (IPA)
A Film Production company based in Wellington, Aotearoa, New Zealand
Island Productions Aotearoa was instigated in 2004 by company director Lala Rolls in collaboration with filmmakers, David Sa’ena, Vela Maunsaute and Maurice Newport to support the making of feature documentary, Children of the Migration https://www.nzonscreen.com/title/children-of-the-migration-2004/overview. The company has been thriving ever since.
Our work encompasses our own productions and we offer services in producing, directing and editing for others across the industry. This includes: drama; documentary; planetarium films; social service videos; educational resources; corporate videos; short films and music videos.
We run on a not for profit basis, finding funding for projects as they occur and working closely with a community of creatives in Aotearoa and across the Pacific.
Our projects have a strong leaning towards Pacific and Māori stories. And the work we choose to take on for other companies is most often about using the power of the moving image to contribute to positive social change and in support of bringing voices less heard to the screen.
Who
Company director, Lala Rolls, is a Fiji Islander who arrived in Aotearoa as a young adult. She is a film director, editor, writer and producer with over 30 years of experience. She holds a permanent part time position as a senior lecturer in Film at Te Herenga Waka, Victoria University of Wellington, which allows her to continue to work on independent film projects with Island Productions Aotearoa.
Each project is a collaboration with a extended family of filmmaker friends and experts and sometimes a project is designed around mentoring emerging filmmakers.
Lala is also trustee of the Major Arc Trust which supports herself and others to tell ‘real good stories’ https://www.majorarc.org/ Profile and filmography here https://www.nzonscreen.com/profile/lala-rolls
presenting Tupaia at FIFO 2016
Michel Tuffery & Lala Rolls
NGĀ TOHUNGA WHAKATERE, THE NAVIGATORS, Planetarium Film, 2021 Festivals and in planetariums worldwide. https://www.thenavigatorsinternational.co
Trailer:
TUPAIA’S ENDEAVOUR – various versions completed between 2016 and 2020, culminating in a cinematic feature film. Jury Prize - FIFO, Tahiti 2016 (French/Tahitian language 52 min version); Cinematic version has featured in festivals worldwide. https://www.facebook.com/tupaiafilm
Trailer:
a couple of our more recent works
Contact us
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cast and crew
Ngā Tohunga Whakatere, The Navigators, 2021