True life documentary about Peleti Oli-Alainu’uese and community.

We are so proud to announce that Peleti, one of our Napier barber tutors, will be featured in a documentary talking his story and how he has changed the lives of his clients.

This documentary web series is about Flaxmere resident Peleti Oli-Alainu’uese and the Maori and Pacific men who frequent his Hastings Barbershop.

On the outside Peleti just runs a barbershop but his barbershop has become much more than that to the predominantly Māori and Samoan community of men (and the occasional women) who are customers there. Somehz Touch Barbershop is a sanctuary for men in the area and doesn’t involve alcohol. Peleti has known many of his clients for years, and some have been regulars since they were kids. On any given day, men of all ages patiently wait for their time in the chair. They travel to the small, unassuming barbershop from all over Hawkes Bay for a buzz and a chat.

The series is sometimes raw, sometimes funny, sometimes sad, but always real and honest.

Over the course of the series we get to know a range of people both through their interaction with the barbershop, and in their own worlds outside the barbershop. Each episode will take the audience further into the Hastings and Flaxmere community to see another side of a place often maligned by the media.

Everyone comes here. Kids come here because they can be themselves. Businessmen come here, celebrities, mobsters. Street kids hang out all day and I teach them my craft. We talk about all sorts of stuff. About life. I have a place in my heart for those who are poor. Because I grew up poor. I say to these kids ‘We’re making it in Flaxmere, so you can make it.’

The barber shop is at the center of the series, and it will feature in each episode. Some episodes revolve around Peleti and his world, how the barbershop came to be, his philosophy on barbering, and life. Other episodes feature clients who we either meet inside the barbershop or in their own worlds outside of the barbershop. At some point during every episode the client will enter the world of Peleti and his barbershop.

The Barber is a feel-good series about hope and being kind to each other in the face of adversity. Over the course of the series we will get to know Peleti, his community and several of his regular clients.

Release date: 21 January 2019 – Network: Maori TV
contentcredit: TheBarberDocoWebSeries
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