Olivé
writer・filmmaker・scholar
About
Olivé, a Tongan-American filmmaker who's worked most of her adult life near Tokyo, uses film as a tool to bring visibility to stories from her family's history and culture as well as Japan's. Her work shines light on the under explored narratives of women and those living in a hyphenated experience to subvert expectations.Olivé and her work have been supported by institutions such as the Emmys, Universal Content Productions, and the Humanitas competition--which recognizes film and television writers who explore the human condition in a nuanced, meaningful way.She was recently selected as an inaugural member of Pasifika Entertainment Advancement Komiti's (PEAK) Writers Fellowship in collaboration with Netflix and their Fund for Creative Equity, which nurtures Pasifika writers careers in Hollywood.Olivé continues to work as a bridge between Hollywood and Japan; serving as a Japanese Language Consultant on shows like PACHINKO while also working in Tokyo's manga industry. Currently, she's directing a PBS supported documentary about Olivé, her father, and her ex--who learn to heal their immigrant traumas while living under one roof.Ultimately, Olivé aspires to tell intricate stories in scripted and unscripted formats that are not typically found in Western media.
LET ME GO
After taking a promotion to please
his American girlfriend, a socially awkward
Japanese man struggles to understand a blossoming friendship with his younger coworker as
language barriers, cultural differences, and a dark secret begin to suffocate his relationship at home.
ACCOLADES
Finalist, Final Draft - Big Break 2023
Winner, WritersXWriters 2023
Semifinalist, Humanitas College Drama Award 2023
Semifinalist, Outstanding Screenplays Feature Competition 2023
Quarterfinalist, ScreenCraft Screenwriting Fellowship 2023
ZION
A desperate mother enrolls her and her daughter in a religious summer camp as a last hope to save their relationship, but must escape internal and external demons to make it back home alive.
Coming Soon!
WHEN ALL IS LOST
In order to keep her family from starving to death, a housewife enters the perilous black-market industry in 1946 post-war Japan and must keep it secret from her husband -- a newly appointed Tokyo judge.
ACCOLADES
2024 Quarterfinalist, Script2Comic (Kodansha)
2024 PEAK Writers Fellow (Netflix)
Semifinalist, Humanitas College Drama Award 2022
Quarterfinalist, Outstanding Screenplays TV Pilot Competition 2023
Quarterfinalist, Los Angeles International Screenplay Awards III
THIS IS NOT AN ANIME ROMANCE
When dating in Japan isn't as easy as what she's seen in Anime, a hardcore Japanese pop culture nerd seeks to write her own love story with advice from her English students, oddball coworkers, and online fans,
until her prince will come.
ACCOLADES
Finalist, UCP - The Thousand Miles Project 2022
Quarterfinalist, ScreenCraft Animation Competition 2022
NOTICE ME, SENPAI!
After discovering a passion for voice acting during a chance encounter with the Anime world's biggest star--Kaji Yuki, a late-bloomer college student enters a secret contest where 500 players, all with extreme personality quirks, risk their lives to play a series of eccentric games for the chance to become the new voice of Japan that can act by Senpai Kaji Yuki's side.
LIKE FATHER LIKE DAUGHTER
An emotionally clumsy Tongan father and daughter--and her Japanese ex-boyfriend who lives with them--spend a year having multilayered conversations and family dinners that reveal if they can ever forgive each other.
ACCOLADES
2025 Recommended for funding with Pacific Islanders in Communications (PIC)
2025 Cinema at Sea Pitch Forum Selectee
2024 PIC Development Funding
2024 Leanne K. Ferrer Filmmaker Fellow with PIC
O LE VAI: CHANGING TIDES
After a disappointing result in Paris, a burnt out Olympian journeys to American Samoa to rediscover the role family and ancestral waters play in starting over. This is the directorial debut of Malia Masei, produced by Gabby Fa'ai'uaso and Olivé.
Coming Soon!
ACCOLADES
2025 Recommended for funding with PIC
GIRLS LOVE BOYS LOVE
GIRLS LOVE BOYS LOVE is the first Boys Love (BL) documentary looking to explore the intricate facets of BL culture between Japan and America.
WINDSOR PARK: THE SINKING STREETS
WINDSOR PARK: THE SINKING STREETS, is about one of the first all-Black housing communities in North Las Vegas seeking justice after withdrawal of groundwater and geological faults caused their homes and streets to sink and crack. Although the government offered financial help to relocate, it was not enough to buy comparable homes, and many residents were financially unable to take advantage of it. They feel ignored and neglected by their government. The film questions whether this is an issue of systemic racism.
ACCOLADES
Winner, Pacific Southwest Student Emmy - Producing 2021
Winner, Pacific Southwest Student Emmy - Editing 2021
Windsor Park documentary used in testimony to get Nevada Senator Dina Neal's bill passed to get new homes (KSNV News 3)
Residents of sinking North Las Vegas neighborhood see their struggles in documentary (Fox 5 Local News)
UNLV Graduate Film Student selected for The Thousand Miles Project with Pachinko’s writer/producer Soo Hugh
UNLV Film & Boyd School of Law Premiere Documentary “Windsor Park: The Sinking Streets” Sept. 23
Contact