ORF-E
German
3 x 45 min
Available worldwide except for Germany and France

Turquoise water, dense primary rainforests, spectacular volcanic craters, and an underwater world of overwhelming beauty: Hardly any other region on earth is as steeped in myth and longing as the South Seas. And yet some of its islands are among the least visited places in the world. This three-part documentary series embarks on a cinematic journey of discovery to three extraordinary island worlds in the Pacific: Kiribati, Niue, and Wallis & Futuna.

Episode 1: Kiribati
Almost 3,500 kilometers further west, fisherman Iotebwa Temwakei has lived a life that many in Kiribati dream of. He has traveled around the world on container ships. He was content on the oceans of the world, but he has only been truly happy since returning home to his native island of Abaiang. The first stranger to come to the island was the American missionary Hiram Bingham in 1857. The thirst for adventure was obviously inherited by the family. His son is the famous discoverer of Machu Picchu. But while the cloud city of the Incas is now overrun by tourists, only a handful of visitors came to Abaiang last year.

Episode 2: Niue
Niue is unlike any other island in the South Pacific. The massive limestone cliffs rising out of the sea resemble a natural fortress with rugged coastlines, spectacular caves, and inaccessible gorges. It is a landscape that seems otherworldly, populated by just 1,700 people. Beekeeper Andy Cory came to Niue over twenty years ago – because of a few abandoned beehives. What he found became his life’s work. His bees are among the last disease-free bee colonies on earth. At a time of global insect decline, Andy is guarding something of inestimable value on this tiny island. In 2022, Niue placed its entire marine area under protection, covering 320,000 square kilometers. Whale watcher BJ Rex knows the waters around his home island like no other. Together with marine biologist Enorha Guimard, he observes humpback whales that raise their young every year in the protected waters around the island – a natural spectacle that can only be experienced in very few places in the world. The ocean has always shaped the lives of the people of Niue. In Hakupu, in the southeast of the island, artist Sully Paea works with children from his village on a model canoe. He wants to preserve and pass on knowledge. His dream is to one day sail to Tonga in a canoe he has built himself, just as his ancestors once did. Niue is not only an ecological wonderland, but also culturally unique: with its own language, its own identity, and as the world’s first “dark sky nation.” A fascinating journey into an almost unknown world, above and below the water, by day and by night.

Episode 3: Wallis & Futuna
Wallis and Futuna are among the islands in the Pacific where the myth of the South Seas is still very much alive. It is one of the most remote French overseas archipelagos, 5,000 kilometers northeast of Australia and more than 16,000 kilometers from mainland France. The sister islands belong to France but have their own kings, who are deeply rooted in Polynesian tradition. Life in the French South Sea paradises is not easy, and many young people leave the islands in search of a better future. But 19-year-old Esaia Kafikaila has stayed. Like his father, he is a fisherman, diving for shellfish and living off what the land gives him – in the sea and in the fields of the island. For him, Futuna is not a place of deprivation, but of freedom – a life without haste and without deadlines. On the small neighboring island of Alofi, ten minutes by boat from Futuna, lives Atelemo, the “hermit of Alofi.” He cultivates his field alone, walks to a small chapel with his dogs every day, and has only one wish: to be buried here. Between royal receptions and kava ceremonies, family celebrations and sporting competitions on France’s national holiday, the film paints an impressive picture of a remote archipelago whose landscapes resemble a kaleidoscope of nature: in Futuna with its steep mountains and dense rainforests, in Wallis with its mysterious volcanic crater lakes and small offshore islands that form a glowing mosaic of turquoise water and yellowish shimmering sandbanks in the lagoon.