Disabled artists in Taiwan are redefining what dance can be - and John Ross and Paula Whetu Jones, two New Zealand filmmakers, are making the film that tells that story.
The Eternal City documentary follows Resident Island Dance Theatre through the making of a groundbreaking international performance premiering in November 2026.
To complete the film, they need $16,000 NZD to get their NZ production team on the ground in Taiwan for the next critical filming block.
To date, this project has been entirely self-funded and independently made because the filmmaking team sits between the recognised funding models; as New Zealand film makers wanting to make a film in Taiwan.
Paula Whetu Jones is a filmmaker, writer, and producer with over two decades of experience in the New Zealand screen industry. She has been a wheelchair user for sixteen years and is constantly told what is and is not possible because of her disability, her age, because she is a woman, because she is Māori. She is constantly proving people wrong.
THE DETAILS
Making a world-class performance is hard. Making one where everybody on stage has had to fight harder than most just to be in the room, that's something else entirely.
The Eternal City documentary is not about the show. It's about everything it takes to get there.
The follows Resident Island Dance Theatre, Taiwan's pioneering mixed-ability dance company through the full arc of creating their most ambitious work yet: an international co-production with New York disability arts ensemble Kinetic Light and Bay Area musician ONIKHO, premiering at the National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts in November 2026.
We are making this film because these stories deserve to exist beyond a single night of performance. A show plays and it's gone. A documentary lasts. It travels. It finds the people who need it most.
For a taste of their story so far, head HERE, and to help this team to Taiwan to finish telling it, click HERE to give their crowdfunding campaign a Boost!