On August 21, at the Tanoa International Dateline Hotel, Her Royal Highness Princess Pilolevu hosted a reception and screening of 'Leitis in Waiting' - a one-hour documentary depicting the lives and challenges of leitis in Tonga, a transgender minority group fighting for equality. The special event served as the open of the 2018 edition of the Nuku'alofa Film Festival.

HRH Princess Pilolevu attended the pre-screening reception at the Tanoa Hotel and was presented with a copy of the documentary by the directors.

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As this gripping film spreads the word of the leitis determination to be respected to festival audiences around the globe, they are working daily through the Tonga Leitis Association (TLA) to demand greater inclusion and protection for LGBTI people throughout the South Pacific.

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At least 2,000 people have put their name to a petition sponsored by the Leitis in Waiting Pacific Equality Project and the Pacific Human Rights Initiative calling on the Pacific Islands Forum to use its influence to help decriminalize homosexuality.

LGTBI advocates behind the petition argue that while PIF says it promotes equality for all people in the Pacific, seven of its member states still criminalise homosexuality.

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Mataele remains an articulate, dignified, wise leader in a film that highlights a beautiful nation and a different perspective on activism that seeks collaboration with the country’s most cherished institutions. The leitis are committed to staying in their communities because they value Tongan culture and social relationships. Leitis in Waiting emerges as a documentary that is a catalyst for meaningful, sustained change that sets mutual dignity and respect for all community sectors.

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Why did you make your film? We made "Leitis in Waiting" because Joey Joleen Mataele, one of the founders of the Tonga Leitis Association and most prominent leitis in the Kingdom, invited us to Tonga to show Kumu Hina, our previous movie about a similar subject in Hawaii, and said afterward: "We've long dreamed about having our stories told.  Can you help us?"

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The plight of the Leitis caught the eye of award-winning US filmmakers Dean Hamer and Joe Wilson, whose film Leitis In Waiting, they say, is the first time anyone has told the story of the famous Leitis from the perspective of the group themselves.

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JOE WILSON’S fascinating new documentary sheds light on a threat to the very existence of a small LGBTQ community the other side of the world that makes for very compelling viewing. 

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She's been the face of Tonga's Leiti community for the last 25 years, and now her story is featuring in a documentary screening in cities around the world. Joey Joleen Mataele says it's been an amazing journey, but not without its traumatic moments. Soana K-Aholelei of TVNZ's Tagata Pasifika sat down with the courageous transgender activist. Watch the video HERE.

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Leitis in Waiting Pacific Equality Project are calling for support to protect and promote the human rights of gender and sexual minorities in the Pacific Islands. With a petition, the group hopes to rally the support of the Pacific Islands Forum Chair, country leaders and member states.

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`Leitis in Waiting´ es una interesante y no menos emotiva película documental en donde queda reflejada la lucha de la comunidad LGTBI en este reino enclavado en Polinesia y por extensión, en el resto de las Islas del Pacífico ; una lucha para lograr una mayor aceptación y tolerancia en un sociedad particularmente religiosa y conservadora.

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We’ve looked ahead to concoct this list of the must-sees at this year’s San Francisco Frameline Film Festival. LEITIS IN WAITING: Deep in the South Pacific, a group of transgender women have filled a vital role as aids to the royal family of the nation of Tonga. Western forces threaten their very way of life, as Christian fundamentalists come to Tonga bent on outlawing anything LGBTQ.  Meet the transgender women fighting to protect their cultural history—and their lives.

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Joey Joleen Mataele, an activist for the rights of transgender women in Tonga and Chairlady of the Board of the Pacific Sexual and Gender Diversity Network (PSGDN), said discrimination, equality and acceptance are important issues in the Pacific for the LGBTQI people.

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We need people from all backgrounds not just the LGBTQI communities but also every possible stakeholder to speak from their privileged position to ensure that we eradicate all possible manifestations of bigotry, prejudice and discrimination.

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How did the story of Transgender women fighting for acceptance in Tonga come to the attention of US based film makers?
They were invited by the Tonga Leitis Association to come and screen the Kumu Hina Documentary during the Miss Galaxy Pageant and when they came I had already started thinking maybe I'll talk to them about how we can do something to be able to share our stories.

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America’s role in fanning the flames of division in places like Tonga is laid bare in the film. It follows an American-financed evangelist spouting a western notion of gender, advocating for the criminalisation of the leitis and spreading the message that their lives are sinful.

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Watch TV Tonga news coverage of "Leitis in Waiting" starting at 8:17 in the video:

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A new documentary screening in New Zealand this week focuses on the lives of the leitis of Tonga, transgender women with traditional roles at court and in church. The film, called “Leitis in Waiting,” shows that they also face discrimination and even punishment. We have more from Neal Conan in today’s Pacific News Minute.

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The plight of Tonga's LGBT community is under the spotlight with the released of a new documentary Leitis in Waiting. Appearing in the documentary and travelling with it is Lord Fusitu'a, a noble, a member of the Tongan parliament, and a champion of the rights of LGBT people and women.

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If 'life unscripted,' Doc Edge's tagline, makes a truth claim that is liable to elicit a raised eyebrow from anyone who happens to have taken a Film 101 paper, there is nevertheless something to be said for the immediacy, freshness and urgency proper to documentary filmmaking.

With 74 docos from across the globe, and offering a number of excellent homegrown pieces amongst these, this year's Doc Edge has something for everybody. There's food, sex, politics, adventure, drinking and dancing to be had; kind of like a wild party, but one from which you get to go home sans hangover or broken bones. Here's our top picks.

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