Tongan Ark

Society in the Tongan islands is whirling, flooded by the demands of globalisation, debt, corruption, immigration and political reform. Within this chaos is an oasis of art, philosophy and science. 'Atenisi Institute is a sanctuary of real education.

Over 45 years the founder Futa Helu, created a haven for those who were brave enough to challenge conventions and controls.Tongan Ark is a surprising epic at a pivotal time in the history of a great Polynesian kingdom. It is also a story about one man's vision of what his people might retain from both worlds.

What will become of this lifeboat of culture, this synthesis of Europe and the indigenous, ahead of its time, abandoned on a sea of frenetic change?