(aired on #IslandTime talanoa with Tofiga on 01/07/2025) After a remarkable 18-month run on the international film //festival circuit, Telesia 2 the World, the debut documentary by 18-year-old Wellington filmmaker Telesia Tanoai has been released globally on YouTube.

Telesia 2 the World, the debut documentary by 18-year-old Wellington filmmaker Telesia Tanoai follows Telesia’s journey as a young Pacific New Zealander advocating for climate justice in Mandarin Chinese. At just 16, she represented Aotearoa New Zealand in the Chinese Bridge global speech competition, where she competed alongside 110 students from 97 countries, ultimately placing in the top five of Chinese learners in the world. Her Chinese speech on the climate crisis affecting Pacific communities has since been viewed over 150,000 times on TikTok, resonating with global audiences and showcasing the power of multilingual youth storytelling.

Watch the film on YouTube   https://youtu.be/sRoc2BSGkZg

Over the past year and a half, the documentary has been officially selected for 17 international film festivals and has received wide acclaim, including:

Special Mention, Doc Edge Film Festival (New Zealand)

Best Young Filmmaker (Under 18), Best International Film Festival

Honorable Mention, Ridgeway Independent Film Fest

Best Student Film, Lily Indie Film Fest

Semi-Finalist, Student Film – Serbest International Film Festival (SIFF)

Semi-Finalist, Best Student Film – New York Documentary Film Awards

Nominee, Best Aotearoa Short Documentary, Melbourne International Cineverse Film Festival

Telesia, a proud Sāmoan-Fijian New Zealander, is an emerging filmmaker, TEDx Wellington speaker, and youth facilitator for the Pasifika Youth Short Film Competition (Poporazzi Productions). 

Since releasing her debut film, she has gone on to direct and edit a series of “Language Diaries” as part of Pacific Language Weeks, celebrating identity and language through film.