Team
Ben Mikha - Director, Producer, Cinematographer, Editor
Ben Mikha is a self-taught filmmaker based in Aotearoa/New Zealand of Samoan and Chaldean descent. His filmmaking has been shaped by a lifelong curiosity around identity, culture and the human spirit.
Before becoming a full-time filmmaker, Ben worked as an international flight attendant, using his staff travel to reach remote corners of the world and create short films documenting Indigenous cultures. This led to him being discovered by Discovery in 2017, where he began creating stories for their digital platforms. In 2019, he moved to New York to become a key creative at Beautiful Destinations, shooting and editing international campaigns across destinations including Egypt, Jamaica and Germany, with his work reaching millions of viewers.
In 2021, Ben shifted his focus toward cinematography, working primarily across the commercial space while continuing to pursue documentary filmmaking independently. His work has received multiple Gold and Silver NZCS Awards, a UNWTO Best Commercial for Direction, a Gold Telly Award and a Webby nomination. ‘Keepers of the Afi’ represents a return to his own heritage.
Eden Vawdrey - Producer
Eden Vawdrey is a Sāmoan producer based in Aotearoa New Zealand. With ten years of film industry experience, Eden has built a career inspired and grounded in the preservation and uplifting of indigenous practices with an emphasis on te Moana-Nui-A-Kiwa, the Pacific region connecting her back to her people and place of origin. Beyond the screen, Eden works to connect herself in real time with her Samoan culture as a student of traditional polynesian way-finding techniques through Te Toki Voyaging Trust. She is also re-indigenising her relationship to music by learning to play traditional Samoan instruments such as the Fagufagu, one of the hero instruments heard in the musical composition of Keepers of the Afi.
Gabby Fa’ai’uaso - Producer
Gabby is a Director and Producer based in American Samoa. She studied film at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa and returned home to share the stories of her Sāmoan people through her creative media businesses, Alafaga and Fale Film LLC. Her dream is to help strengthen the foundation of film in Pasefika, where the source of her people’s stories live.
Andrew Faleatua - Composer
Andrew Faleatua is an internationally recognized film composer of Samoan descent, whose work spans five feature films (appearing in mainstream cinemas worldwide), numerous short films and television series. In 2026, he completed the score for Rebecca Tansley’s feature film TENOR: My Name is Pati released earlier this year.
He also recorded Tusalava with STROMA and Isitolo Alesana to accompany Len Lye’s 1929 film for upcoming exhibitions at the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery | Len Lye Centre later in 2026 (a follow-up from STROMA's live accompaniment of Len Lye’s 1929 film Tusalava in 2025).
Matatia Foa’i - Composer
Matatia Foa'i is a music producer, composer, percussionist, and vocalist of Polynesian and British descent. He is best known as a member of the band Te Vaka, renowned for its contemporary Pacific music.
Working closely with his father, Opetaia Foa'i, Matatia gained international recognition for his contributions to the soundtracks of Walt Disney Animation Studios' Moana (2016), Moana 2 (2024), and Disney's live-action Moana (2026). In 2026, he is scheduled to release his fourth Pacific fusion percussion album, Te Vaka Beat's Volume 4.
Mike Howell - Colorist
Mike Howell is a New York City-based colorist at Color Collective, where he’s worked since 2012. Raised in Birmingham, Alabama, he studied at the Savannah College of Art and Design with stops in Northern California and Chicago before relocating to New York to begin his filmmaking career.
His work on a variety of projects over the years has equipped him with a toolset capable of nuanced, clean grades to more bold and daring looks depending on what the current story is asking for. Each project's unique qualities and challenges are what fuel him to keep growing creatively.
Dyego Cortinas - B Camera Operator
New Zealand-Based, Uruguayan artist Dyego Cortinas has worked for the last 20 years in film and photography, capturing stories that have taken him all over the world. His experience ranges from billion-dollar Hollywood films to filming Indigenous Shamans in Colombia, fireknife dancers in Samoa, Diabetic mountain climbers in the Los Andes Mountains and many others. These experiences have given him a profound view of the human experience, greatly impacting his life and the particular way in which he sees life through the camera.
Dyego has a bachelor’s degree in Social Communications with a specialisation in Cinematography from the Catholic University of Uruguay. With extensive training and experience in New Zealand/Aotearoa’s Film Industry.
He also works as a Neuro-Linguistic Programming practitioner and, with his wife, runs workshops and Sound Journeys focused on well-being throughout New Zealand. You’ll usually find him supporting local musicians, tree-planting communities and biodiversity development efforts, as well as surfing, recording bird song, and holding long, reverb-charged, synth sessions.