Plot

Paprika Leaverton, Host and Director of this award-winning film explores the vanishing female art form of Hiko or Juggling, while sharing the unique history of these Polynesian women and their Queen Salote in the Kingdom of Tonga.

Hiko in Tonga' is a multi-award winning documentary about a unique and vanishing culture of Polynesian women jugglers in the Kingdom of Tonga.

Hiko, a Polynesian juggling culture only performed by girls and women, is still around today but the roots are from tribal times and were adapted into the modern Tongan world through an ancient chant into a cultural dance by the Queen Salote College.

Take a step back through time with stories shared by these remarkable women and how the Hiko has been passed on for multiple generations since the beginning of their recorded history.

Hiko has incredible depth of empowerment for the females in a male dominated and developing country. The Hiko involves throwing tui tui nuts in the air at world record status. Male jugglers dominate the world, yet in Tonga, no men juggle.

Paprika Leaverton, a professional juggler and the Host/Filmmaker, explores how this world of juggling has bypassed time from tribal culture to the present Tongan Monarchy. The Hiko opens the doors to the lives and unknown stories of these unique and talented women.

The film also explores how traditions get lost and re-discovered and includes insight and historical footage of Queen Salote (1918-1965) who was Tonga's beloved Queen that maintained the cultural history and still inspires the women today.

The film goes in-depth into the Queen's influence on the world and her unusual appearance at Queen Elizabeth's Coronation in 1953 complete with historical footage.

'Hiko in Tonga' shares the stories of these remarkable women who have no idea why their tradition of Hiko is so exceptional. This film was made to save this beautiful tradition of Hiko. Keep Hiko Alive!