DIRECTOR'S SHOWREEL
NICORETTE - NINJA
CARLTON DRY - TEAM DRY
OLYMPUS - MOUNTAIN
KITKAT - TEMPTATION COVE
TRIPLE J - ENEMY OF AVERAGE
TASMAN - THUMB & PAINT
SHORT FILM - USO
SHORT FILM - RITES OF COURAGE
TEAM DRY
BIOGRAPHY
Born in Lefagoali’I, Savaii, Western Samoa, Miki is the third in a line of five boys. Like many other Samoans, his parents migrated to New Zealand searching for a better lifestyle and opportunities for their families. "Samoans historically are generally very visual people, telling stories through performance and word-of-mouth rather than literature," which has helped Miki carve his path in film and television. His family is now well-known in the film industry with two brothers being prominent actors.
Miki’s adolescent life was spent in New Zealand’s capital city Wellington. Wellington has always had a very strong artistic quality, heightened by director Peter Jackson’s success, and it was here that Miki first realised his desire to be involved in the film and television industry. Cast at the age of 9 years old in a Costa Botes' film ‘Stalin’s Sickle’ as a featured extra, Miki was instantly hooked. Spotted in a high school production, he joined an actor's agency at the age of 16 where he developed a further taste for acting, appearing in commercials and television programmes. Finally deciding this was his calling, he enrolled to attend Victoria University, studying Theatre & Film. In 1997, he graduated the Film & Television programme at Avalon Studios and decided to put his career on hold to travel.
However film was not about to let go and a chance encounter with a prominent London Producer initiated Miki's career as a runner and director's assistant. In just two years Miki had worked on various UK music videos, short films, and promos with companies such as BskyB, Partizan, Flynn, Oil Factory, Red Star, and Battlecruzier.
Ultimately wanting to tell stories of home, he returned to New Zealand, joining Auckland-based production company Curious Films. Immersing himself, he worked in multiple fields including production, locations, assistant directing, management and producing. In 2002 he directed his first commercial for Publicis Mojo Auckland, for the highly successful Hallensteins and Glassons campaign - a winning formula leading to many awards. He has gone on to direct other award-winning commercials and has worked on exciting projects with advertising agencies such as JWT, BBDO, DDB, Lowe, Publicis Mojo and Saatchi & Saatchi for numerous high profile brands.
In 2005 Miki was invited to represent New Zealand/ Australia in the first “Adfest Remarkable Five” section inviting chosen emerging Asian directors to produce a short film based around their theme. This culminated in Miki’s first short film “Rites of Courage”, a visually stunning story on the changing world and our struggle to find a place in it. In 2006, in association with the Screen Innovation Production Fund he went onto make his second short film “Uso”, nominated for Best Short Film Screenplay at the Air NZ Screen Awards and winning the Cause and f(x) Digital Dream Award for Excellence in Pacific film at the HIFF festival. "Uso" has screened around the world at many festivals, gaining much praise in the process.
Miki has the ability to convert the most amusing, bold or absurd scripts into unique pieces of storytelling, and possesses a natural sense of pace, drama and comedy. He wants to keep working hard to make stories that people enjoy.