Based on a true story, TANNA is set in the South Pacific where Wawa, a young girl from one of the last traditional tribes, falls in love with her chief’s grandson, Dain. When an inter-tribal war escalates, Wawa is unknowingly betrothed as part of a peace deal. The young lovers run away, but are pursued by enemy warriors intent on killing them. They must choose between their hearts and the future of the tribe, while the villagers must wrestle with preserving their traditional culture and adapting it to the increasing outside demands for individual freedom.

"Lauded around the world by critics and audiences alike, Oscar-nominated TANNA is the first feature film shot entirely in the South Pacific nation of Vanuatu, and was performed entirely by the villagers of Yakel. The people of this remote community, high in the mountain rainforests near a spitting volcano, truly wear grass skirts and penis sheaths and have rejected colonial and Christian influences in favor of their traditional and pure "Kastom" system of laws and beliefs. Their customs and lifestyle have changed little for centuries. Before Tanna, they had never before seen a movie or a camera, yet welcomed the filmmakers to live with the tribe for seven months where they absorbed stories and observed ceremonies, with the input and collaboration of the local people. None of the 'cast' had ever acted before, but astonishingly, they passionately and naturally re-created this real-life story from recent tribal history as if they had had years of training." (Rotten Tomatoes)

"The movie is a tremendous accomplishment, especially considering that the cast had never seen cameras before - much less movies - yet still agreed to star in the drama." (The Washington Post)

"TANNA is a movie in which every single shot is picturesque, and more than a few of them are genuinely beautiful." (The New York Times)

"A tale of star-crossed love that is as poignant as the insights are acute into vanishing tradition and the changing status of women." (Radio Times)

"The performances here, from complete nonprofessionals, make you wonder whether acting is as much a natural inheritance as a trained craft." (The Detroit News)

Saturday, July 29
Doors 12:45 pm | Movie 1:15 pm

Advance tickets $10 | $12 at the door

*Minors OK in the balcony! Must be 19+ w/ID for bar service and main floor seating.
**Groupons and passes OK! Please redeeem at the door.

TANNA (Martin Butler & Bentley Dean, 2016 / 104 mins / PG) Set on a remote Pacific island, covered in rain forest and dominated by an active volcano, this heartfelt story, enacted by the Yakel tribe, tells of a sister's loyalty, a forbidden love affair and the pact between the old ways and the new.