VIFF -- Review: Tenor: My Name is Pati

Pati (left) and his brother Amitai are both tenors

Tenor: My Name is Pati (2025)

The film opens with a conductor who explains he's about to go on a three-week holiday after having worked non-stop, when a record executive asks him to help record a tenor. The conductor recalls as soon as tenor Pene Pati sang his first note, he said it was better than a holiday.

What a start to Tenor: My Name is Pati, about a Samoan native, raised in New Zealand becoming one of the rising stars in opera, with comparisons to the late Luciano Pavarotti. 

Pati sings Nessun Dorma

I had not heard of Pati before, but his story is so compelling that you can't help but want to cheer him on.

Director Rebecca Tansley poured all her energy (and money) into making this film and she more than delivers in this heart-warming documentary.

Pati is one of four children who were born in Samoa, an island country in Polynesia. They grew up going to church each Sunday and singing in the choir. His parents, who were in healthcare, decided it would be better for the family to move to New Zealand for a better life, though they were looked down on, taking more menial jobs.

For Pati, financial worries were not part of his memories; he seemed happy and optimistic and thought he would have a career in computer science. He was in the rugby team in high school when the music teacher was looking for male voices in The Pirates of Penzance and he and other rugby players were recruited. When Pati sang, he was hooked.

It was his music teacher who introduced him to opera -- he had no idea who Pavarotti was -- and helped him apply for scholarships to study in Wales. 

Then his career went a bit sideways when he, his younger brother Amitai, and cousin Moses Mackay formed a group called Sol3 Mio, and became a pop and funny version of the Three Tenors (Pavarotti, Jose Carreras and Placido Domingo). 

Tansley has had screenings with Pati, not VIFF

They became so popular in New Zealand, but at the same time opera on stage was beckoning and Pati felt torn at first, but decided he needed to go his own path.

The documentary features his parents, siblings, Amitai, their spouses (both sopranos!) along with lots of video footage from when Pati was a child. 

After the screening Tansley explained it was crucial for her to get his parents' blessing to make the film, and it took years to build relationships with opera houses in Europe in order to film in them. She also wanted to make sure she was culturally sensitive to Samoan tradition and culture, and learned a lot about opera in the process.

A former journalist, Tansley said when she discovered Pati's story, she used the money her father bequeathed her to travel around Europe and do research. 

Tenor: My Name is Pati won a VIFF 2026 Audience Award, and it's not hard to see why. The film is making the circuit at film festivals now and hopefully will be shown again to a wider audience. Whether you are an opera lover or not, it's a documentary that celebrates possibility and having passion for your work.

Tenor: My Name is Pati

Directed by Rebecca Tansley

104 mins