Papa Tom's quest for truth, history and culture has taken him around the world and even out of space, but it was in Aotearoa and the Cook Islands that it all began.
The extraordinary Kiwi Cook Islander who was the first person from NZ to work for NASA, was also one of the grandfathers of traditional vaka sailing in the Pacific. Sir Papa Tom Davis is still little known to many generations of young Pacific people and to the NZ public in general.
This minidoco biopic will look at the life of this extraordinary Pacific Islander, who smashed new global frontiers in space and the ocean in a life that spanned so many fields of work.
Putting Polynesians out to sea and also into outer space, are just part of a long list of what he counted as significant moments in his lifetime, which saw him be the first Pacific Island Harvard graduate, a gamechanging medical doctor in Aotearoa and the Cook Islands, and a champion boxer to boot.
Papa Tom’s story is an important one to tell as a more personalised view of Pacific history, and the inspirational way that gamechangers were able to effect the course of history for Pacific people. Told via an archival interview with Papa Tom, and significant people from across the Moana and Aotearoa, this bio pic merges old Pacific worlds with the impact that Papa Tom had on modern generations today.
Additional Footage:
Papa Tom original interview Tagata Pasifika, Sunpix Productions.
CITV thanks to Jeane Matenga
#WATCH the rest of Untold Pacific History Season 2 here! https://www.thecoconet.tv/cocodocos/...