Teariki Productions presents the second year of Te Kūki ‘Āirani Film Festival. Running from 6 August to 10 August, this year's theme is Vaine Toa (Warrior Women). Over 80% of the films showing will have either a leading female cast or is written, directed and/or produced by a female filmmaker.

Special Screening of ‘Leitis in Waiting’

Black Maria Film Festival’s Hudson County Movie Tour - Hoboken Historical Museum, Hoboken, NJ - Program 4 - Wednesday June 5, 2019 - 7:00PM - Selected shorts from the Black Maria collection

Celebrate PRIDE at the Palace! with this inspiring documentary by Dean Hamer, Joe Wilson & Kumu Hina Wong-Kalu.

Leitis in Waiting is a raw yet tender portrait of Joey Mataele and the Tonga leitis, an intrepid group of native transgender women fighting a rising tide of religious fundamentalism and intolerance in their South Pacific Kingdom.

Doors will open 30 minutes prior to each showing. Tickets are $8.50 General and $7.50 for Seniors & Students. Tickets available now at the Box Office and ONLINE!

Celebrate PRIDE at the Palace! with this inspiring documentary by Dean Hamer, Joe Wilson & Kumu Hina Wong-Kalu.

Leitis in Waiting is a raw yet tender portrait of Joey Mataele and the Tonga leitis, an intrepid group of native transgender women fighting a rising tide of religious fundamentalism and intolerance in their South Pacific Kingdom.

Doors will open 30 minutes prior to each showing. Tickets are $8.50 General and $7.50 for Seniors & Students. Tickets available now at the Box Office and ONLINE!

The Isabelle Lake Memorial Lecture is held in Perth each year on May 17th, the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Intersexism and Transphobia (IDAHoBIT). This year the lecture will be given by Tongan transgender woman Jolene Mataele. Mataele has recently featured in the documentary Leitis In Waiting, a film that follows a group of transgender women fighting for their place in the island kingdom.

Join Oakland Museum of California and the Center for Asian American Media Festival (CAAMFest) for the Oakland premiere of the award winning documentary, Leitis in Waiting. This film tells the story of Joey Mataele and the Tonga Leitis, an intrepid group of transgender women fighting a rising tide of religious fundamentalism and intolerance in their South Pacific Kingdom.

FREE PROGRAM — The story of Joey Mataele and the Tonga Leitis, an intrepid group of native transgender women fighting a rising tide of religious fundamentalism in their South Pacific Kingdom. Their emotional journey reveals what it means to be different in a society ruled by tradition.

Film Q&A - Exploring intersections between LGBTIQ, Climate Change, & the Pacific.

CSM 10th Annual Asian Pacific American Film Festival - Fri May 03, 2019 - Starts at 5:30 pm - Sponsored by the CSM Ethnic Studies Department and the Philosophy and Psychology Departments.

Pacific Islanders in Communications (PIC) presents PIC EXCHANGE in partnership with the Honolulu Museum of Art, Doris Duke Theatre. PIC EXCHANGE is a community engagement screening series that brings community members together in an inclusive way to share, learn, discuss and get involved with issues that are pertinent to the Pacific.

On May 2, we're offering a FREE screening Leitis in Waiting, a story of Tonga's evolving approach to gender fluidity through a character-driven portrait of the most prominent leiti in the Kingdom, Joey Joleen Mataele, a devout Catholic of royal descent. The film will be followed by a panel discussion.

• Doors open at 6:30pm

• Screening begins at 7:00pm

• Panel discussion begins at 8:00pm

Skyline College of San Bruno offers two screenings of Leitis in Waiting, one from 11AM to 1PM and another from 2PM to 4PM. The public is welcome, and we are providing free snacks and drinks. Immediately following the screening at 11AM to 1PM, the campus Queer and Gender Alliance club is hosting a discussion for our students regarding LGBTQ+ identity. 

TranScreen is Amsterdam’s Transgender and Gender Diverse Film Festival 2019 is proud to present the Netherlands premiere screening of Leitis in Waiting and the 2019 festival launch.

An official side-event of the 18th Session of the UN Forum on Indigenous Issues, Cine, Memoria y Resistencia is a collaboration between Indigenous organizations from across the Americas including: CLACPI (Coordinadora Latinoamericana de Cine y Comunicación de los Pueblos Indígenas), IsumaTV, Wapikoni and NAISG (Native American & Indigenous Student Group at NYU).

Celebrate the latest in Native film at the Native Cinema Showcase in New York. Featuring three days of screenings, the showcase provides a unique forum to engage with Native filmmakers from across the Americas. 

A combination of full-length features and shorts, dramas and music videos, the films represent contemporary perspectives and themes of Indigenous people as they experience the world. All screenings are free, and seating is available on a first-come, first-served basis. All programs are subject to change. The full schedule is available on the museum’s website.

The Sebastopol Center for the Arts' annual award-winning Sebastopol Documentary Film Festival is a 4-day celebration of non-fiction film. The festival will feature extraordinary documentaries to be shown at different venues in historic downtown Sebastopol, with filmmakers and subjects in attendance from far and abroad and as close as Sebastopol.

C’est l’histoire de Joey Mataele et des leitis Tonga, groupe transgenres qui luttent contre la montée du fondamentalisme religieux et de l’intolérance dans leur royaume. Plein d’humour imprévu, ce voyage sensible dévoile ce que veut dire être différent dans une société gouvernée par la tradition, et ce que coûte d’être accepté sans renoncer à ce que vous êtes.

23 mars 2019 - 15:30 - Palais des congrès

NAU MAI KI MĀORILAND — Welcome to Māoriland Film Festival, Aotearoa’s International Indigenous Film Festival. Each March, MFF welcomes Indigenous filmmakers from around the world to Ōtaki to celebrate Indigenous creativity and storytelling in film.

The precarious role of queer people in traditional Tongan society is threatened by a rising tide of neo-colonial intolerance.

Friday 22 March 2019 20:30 - NFT3 - Sold out!

Saturday 23 March 2019 11:45 - Studio - Sold out!

Sunday 31 March 2019 19:40 - Studio

BFI Flare: London LGBTQ+ Film Festival offers a vibrant and precious space for debate, compassion, community and empowerment. In a world where many people fear and loathe difference, audiences and filmmakers at BFI Flare defiantly assert that love is a human right. We celebrate sexual and gender diversity – all this, while watching great films from around the globe.

This year’s BFI Flare cover art from creative agency Studio Moross goes to the heart of that celebration of diversity within the LGBTQ+ community. We wanted it to stimulate dialogue, but also be clean and stylish; to be sexy and promote body-positivity – asserting people’s right to love their bodies and be loved, whether or not they conform to gender norms. And we wanted it to celebrate queer culture now and into the future. We’re so excited to share the results.

In keeping with the social justice mission of USF, the festival seeks to make the university a center for the promotion of human rights, as well as a platform to raise consciousness to the violations of human rights in the U.S. and elsewhere around the globe. 

Opening Night Feature

The global LGBTI family has come together in Aotearoa New Zealand this week for the ILGA World Conference: more than 500 persons from almost 100 countries have gathered in Wellington celebrating the past and strategising for the future of this diverse movement.

A special screening for Members of Parliament, sponsored by Parliamentarians for Global Action, and hosted by New Zealand MPs Adrian Rurawhe and Anahila Kanongata’a-Suisuiki. Joleen Mataele, Lord Fusituʻa, and other special guests will be on-hand to lead a post-screening discussion on efforts to Decriminalize and Promote and Protect the rights the lives of LGBTI people in the Pacific Islands.

A film screening & panel sponsored by HPU’s School of Social Work - Friday, March 15, 6-8:30pm at Hale Na’au Pono, 85-888 Farrington Hwy, Waianae, HI with panel members Joe Wilson (Film Producer), Cathy Kapua (Kua’ana Project), and Dr. Renee Rumler (Lavendar Clinic). Light meal/refreshments will be served. Questions? Please contact Jessica Garlock at jgarlock@hpu.edu

Kapiʻolani Community College hosts its 31st annual International Festival March 12–14. The festival features guest speakers, music, dance, art, films, literature and poetry to showcase the diversity of international cultures worldwide.  All events are free and open to the public.

On Tues., March 12, 1:00-3:00  in the Lama Library Alcove, the festival screens “LEITIS IN WAITING” - Hosted by Kelli Nakamura, Kapi‘olani CC with Guest Speakers: directors Joe Wilson & Dean Hamer

The Brisbane Queer Film Festival is this year celebrating its 20th birthday and has unveiled its 2019 program of queer feature films, documentaries and short films.

This year’s theme of the long-running festival is “Reflection” to highlight the power of films to create awareness, change and acceptance not just within the mainstream society, but within the queer community itself.

“The 20th edition is a reflection of where we have come from and the visibility we have stood for in these 20 years, of holding space for our communities to gather and be visible,” organisers said.

“The festival returns in 2019 to present, indulge and empower LGBTIQA and gender diverse film, filmmakers and screen content.”

These ladies are tired of waiting! When religious fundamentalism comes to Tonga, the proud indigenous transgender women known as leitis refuse to quietly fade away. From the team that produced audience fave Kumu Hina (MGFF15). On sale now here.

The Mother Tongue Film Festival is a collaboration between Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian, and Smithsonian Folklife.  This multi-day event celebrates the United Nations International Mother Languages Day (February 21) by showcasing recently produced feature and short-length films about the cultural richness of Indigenous and endangered languages.

The festival celebrates cultural and linguistic diversity by showcasing films and filmmakers from around the world over four days of screenings in Washington, D.C. All events are free.

Broadway Performance Hall - 6:00pm - Preceded by short film “AfterEarth” - As rising sea levels threaten the loss of their motherland in Hawai’i, the Philippines, China, and North America, four women take a stand to preserve the volcano, ocean, land, and air for future generations.