Rev. Dr. Alexander and Selina MacDonald arrived in Rarotonga in May 1836, then Samoa in April 1837 and settled at Safune on the central north coast of Savai'i island in Samoa in August 1837.
Flaherty exposed about 240,000 feet of negative on the Safune family, a large amount of footage developed and printed by hand in a cave with two Samoan boys who had no prior film training.
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The pe'a tattoo (the Samoan word pe'a is also the word for a flying fox or fruit bat) took six weeks to complete and the master tattooist (Tufuga ta tatau) was from Asau.
Safune |
The Safune traditional village district was the location for Moana (1926), one of the earliest documentaries directed by Robert J. Flaherty.