NZFC-supported TENOR: My Name Is Pati Leads NZ Line-up With World Premiere At Santa Barbara International Film Festival

TENOR: My Name Is Pati, supported by New Zealand Film Commission (NZFC), is set to hit a high note at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival in February, where it will make its world premiere. The documentary headlines a quartet of Aotearoa films screening at the festival, alongside TOITŪ Visual Sovereignty and Invisible Dragons.

For over 40 years, the SBIFF has been dedicated to discovering and showcasing the best in independent and international cinema. The selection of these four films underscores the appetite for stories grounded in culture, identity, and bold perspectives – themes New Zealand cinema regularly explores.

Hailed as ‘the most exceptional tenor discovery of the last decade’, the charismatic Samoan tenor Pene Pati has been wowing critics and audiences around the world since his operatic debut. Directed by Rebecca Tansley, TENOR: My Name Is Pati follows his story alongside his brother Amitai (also a rising opera star) from humble origins in the South Pacific to the world’s greatest opera stages. Weaving intimate family archive footage with behind-the-scenes observations and soaring performances, the film blends humour and heart to reveal how the power of family and cultural pride, determination, and resilience can yield rewards when chasing an unlikely dream.

“Our TENOR: My Name Is Pati āiga feels deeply uplifted to have the film welcomed into this festival. There’s something fitting about a World Premiere on the edge of the Pacific, in a place that played such a key role in Pene and Amitai’s early careers, before the film travels homeward to Sāmoa and Aotearoa shortly after,” says Tansley.

TOITŪ Visual Sovereignty offers viewers unprecedented insight into the curation of theToi Tū Toi Ora: Contemporary Māori Artexhibition, revealing the struggle for Māori artistic sovereignty within the structures of Aotearoa New Zealand’s cultural institutions. Oscar-nominated Chelsea Winstanley produced and directed the documentary.

Holy Days, directed by Nat Boltt, is a roadtrip dramedy adapted from Dame Joy Cowley’s novel. Following a grieving boy and three eccentric nuns on a mission to save their convent, the film blends humour and heart as their journey toward Aoraki/Mt Cook becomes a tender exploration of faith, loss, and whānau.

Victoria Boult’s short film Invisible Dragons follows a determined young woman as she confronts her estranged, conspiracy-obsessed father, a self-proclaimed lizard person. As she pleads with him to return to reality, she must face a chilling question: what if he’s not entirely wrong?

“The selection of these four films for SBIFF is a powerful endorsement of the stories emerging from New Zealand. While each is deeply rooted in its own community, they speak to universal themes that resonate far beyond our shores. That they’re all led by women filmmakers highlights the strength, vision, and ambition driving this work, and we’re proud to support them,” says Ainsley Gardiner, NZFC Head of Funding.

The 41st Santa Barbara International Film Festival runs from 4-14 February. Tenor: My Name Is Pati is set to release in New Zealand cinemas on Thursday, 5 March 2026.

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