Lisa Taouma


Lisa Gaoa is a Samoan-born New Zealand writer, film director, and producer.

Background

Taouma grew up Faleasiu, Samoa and migrated to Dunedin, New Zealand, later moving to then Grey Lynn. She has an MA from the University of Auckland and lectures there on Pacific arts.
Taouma is married to fellow writer and comedian Mario Gaoa.

Career

Taouma began writing for the screen in 1996, for Tala Pasifika, specifically the episodes Brown Sugar and Talk of the Town. She began working on Tagata Pasifika as a reporter and currently works as the show's senior director.
In 2014 she launched Polynesian online community Coconet.
Taouma has curated a number of exhibitions and written for scholarly publications on representation of Polynesia in art. In 2002, as part of the Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art she curated Pasifika Divas, an interdisciplinary performance-based project at the Queensland Art Gallery.
In the 2009 Qantas Film and Television Awards she was nominated in the Best Children's/Youth Programme category for her work on Polyfest '09.
Taouma received the Special Recognition Awards at the 2015 Arts Pasifika Awards.

Filmography