I Am Not Your Dusky Maiden

Ala, late 30s, suffers from dissociative identity disorder, causing her to switch between alter ego states as she navigates her way through the healing process. The session is challenging, but Ala is determined to push through as she transforms and switches between characters.

Four-year-old Flo calms and nurtures Ala as she faces her painful past. Eva is Ala’s free spirit, a sassy and flirtatious Samoan woman in her twenties.

As the pressure mounts, Saia arrives, an aggressive man who challenges and intimidates her therapist, Liam. Then out of the chaos appears Puipui, a fierce ancestor and Ala’s spiritual protector. The tables turn as we discover that Ala is the therapist. Liam has disappeared, and we are in her office. She has overcome her past…or has she?

Film Advisory Content: Mental Distress, Dissociative Identity Disorder, Themes Related to Sexual Violence.

Credits
Writer: Nora Aati
Producer: Nora Aati, Seuta’afili Dr Patrick Thomsen, Jazz Dos Santos
Executive Producer: Karin Williams
Director of Photography: Maria-Ines Manchego
Editor: Lisa Greenfield, Jolin Lee
Production Designer: Emily Mafile’o
Composer: Andrew Faleatua
Sound Designer: Jordan Whitley
Music: Andrew Faleatua

Plays in

PACIFIC CINEWAVES

From the perspectives of women and children across the Pacific Islands, these six narrative shorts offer an absorbing exploration of the unwavering bonds that sustain us.