an abstract photo of a curved building with a blue sky in the background
BUTTERFLY/BATAPLAI
A short narrative drama

A Papua New Guinean/American woman challenges her evangelist father's strict rules to find her voice as a makeup artist.
Written, Directed & Produced by
Veialu Aila-Unsworth

​​Starring Regina Pande, Graham Pande, Joana Mate,

and the voice of Olivia Korken

Director of Photography - Judd Overton

Music Composition - Maxwell Stone & Otis Kane​

Sound Supervisor & Re-recording Mixer - Tyler Proctor

Featuring still photographs by Patrick Leahy

Featuring the song “Hypnotised” by Alyson Joyce

​Official selection of 29 film festivals

Running time: 8 mins

Country: USA

Languages: English, Tok Pisin​

Year of Production: 2023

Butterfly/Bataplai was made with the generous support of Visual Communications' Armed With A Camera Fellowship program.

AWARDS​​​​​

2024 Whānau Mārama New Zealand International Film Festival, Joint-Winner of the Wellington UNESCO Creative City of Film ‘Best Film’ Award​

2024 Barbados Independent Film Festival, Honourable Mention

OFFICIAL SELECTION

UNITED STATES

39th Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival (world premiere)

Māsima Pacific Islands Film Tour, Utah

Micheaux Film Festival, Los Angeles

43rd Hawai`i International Film Festival

16th Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival

Los Angeles Skins Fest

LAAPFF Presents: REPLAY

Disorient Asian American Film Festival of Oregon

NewFilmakers Los Angeles, April Festival

Pasifika Visions, California State University Long Beach

West Hollywood Women's Leadership Conference

& Network Mini-Film Festival

VC Film Festival, Long Beach, California

42nd CAAMFest, San Francisco Bay Area, California

Honolulu Museum of Art, Hawai`i

Sacramento Asian Pacific Film Festival, California

LA Skins Fest: Native American & Indigenous Short Film Showcase

Pacific Island Film Festival of New York City

Red Nation International Film Festival, Los Angeles​​​​

PAPUA NEW GUINEA

Pasifika Film Festival, Port Moresby

Papua New Guinea Human Rights Film Festival, Lae & Goroka

CANADA

24th ImagineNATIVE Film & Media Festival, Toronto

25th Dawson City International Short Film Festival, Yukon

Weengushk Film Festival, Manitoulin Island, Ontario

AOTEAROA NEW ZEALAND

Māoriland Indigenous Film Festival, Ōtaki

Whānau Mārama New Zealand International Film Festival, Joint-winner of the Wellington UNESCO Creative City of Film ‘Best Film’ Award

Wairoa Māori Film Festival, Nūhaka

AUSTRALIA

Pasifika Film Festival, Sydney

Birrarangaa Film Festival, Naarm/Melbourne

CARIBBEAN

Barbados Independent Film Festival, Barbados, Honourable Mention

UNITED KINGDOM

18th Native Spirit Film Festival, London

DIRECTOR'S STATEMENT

Papua New Guinean women belong everywhere!

We are multi-faceted, fierce, complex, curious, intelligent, imaginative, and so much more.

I want to challenge our invisibility on-screen.

For those of us in diasporas, living away from our cultural homelands, we are forging new identities, navigating multiple cultures, pushing against stupid stereotypes, finding acceptance and belonging, finding healing and freedom - finding our voice.

I explore this in Butterfly/Bataplai.

My intention with this film is to show what it's like for one Papua New Guinean woman living in the diaspora trying to forge a path between her Indigenous roots, spiritual beliefs, and the Western world she lives in.

Butterfly/Bataplai asks the question: Who defines us as Papua New Guinean women, and to what extent do we get to decide that for ourselves?

- Written by Veialu Aila-Unsworth