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community casting him...We all thought he'd be great for the role because he had an energy to him and he was definitely the best looking guy in town." However, Dain, who is believed to have never seen a film and had no acting experience, was initially apprehensive about his role and resisted his casting. Dain knew the importance of the love story and its history for his village. Bentley remembered, "The problem was that he didn't want to do it. He knew the story, he knew that he would have to play a love interest and he had a wife and he was quite shy. It actually took the chiefs to be a bit stern with him and say 'you have to do this for the tribe', and as soon as he got that word he took it up with interest and professionalism and he really worked hard." According to Butler, the film's other co-director, "The whole process of acting was something that he had not thought about...I don't think at that stage he had seen a movie." Dain proved to be a quick study, who quickly improved due to patience and practice. He eventually delivered a compelling, well-acted performance which won praise from both the directors and film critics. "He kept on improving and improving and by the end he could play any role that he chose. If he did decide to go into the movie business he'd have had no problem," said Dean. Marie Wawa was selected to star opposite Dain as his love interest.
312:, "It was an accident, certainly nothing life threatening and that's become infected," and added, "You'd have to say it probably wouldn't have happened if he had have got earlier medical attention. That's one of the things that when we go back, we just want to talk about ways in which you can prevent this sort of tragedy from happening again because it is preventable."
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to life, Butler and Dean cast local first-time actors in the production. Yakel's residents nominated Mungau Dain for the lead role because they considered him to be the best looking man in the village. Bentley Dean, the film's co-director, explained that "It wasn't a case of me casting him it was the
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wearing traditional
Tannese clothing. While in Venice, Dain praised the city during an interview, saying, "This is such a good place, with many buildings, many cars, many people — it's such a good place," while praising his home village in Vanuatu, "my life here is not as good as my life back at
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in collaboration with Yakel's villagers and other local residents. The film is based on the true story of a ni-Vanuatu village couple who fell in love during the 1980s. In the movie, a young woman, Wawa (played by Marie Wawa), is destined for an arranged marriage as part of a peace deal with a
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warring tribe. However, Wawa falls in love with the grandson of her village chief, Dain (played by Mungau Dain). However, the couple's families would not allow them to marry and they committed suicide. The real-life events and themes of forbidden love bare similarities with
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The village of Yakel observed a traditional two week period of mourning following Dain's death. Dain was survived by his wife, Nancy, and their three children - a daughter and two sons. One of their sons, Martin, was named in honor of the co-director of
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211:. The tragic suicides of the couple, as well as deaths of other young people in similar circumstances, led Yakel's and elders in other Tanna island communities to legalize
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of the Tanna Coffee
Development Company, which works with Yakel residents, Dain was "a key participant in the everyday life of his village and the community at large."
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Academy Award nomination for Best
Foreign Language Film, Dain said he never imagined that the film would make it as far as Port Vila, let alone
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on Tanna on 6 January 2019. The cargo plane carrying his coffin was met in Tanna by a number of dignitaries, including Deputy Prime
Minister
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in 2017. Dain, who reportedly had never seen a movie before his casting, traveled internationally in support of the film, including to
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339:. A large number of Tanna residents gathered to meet the coffin and plane as well. His death led to tributes across social media.
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Dain, Wawa, and the film's other ni-Vanuatu traveled throughout the world to promote the film. Dain appeared at the
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network consisting of several other Tanna villages, utilizes goods such as pigs, yams, and taro as its form of
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168:. The village, which had no electricity, is home to approximately 200 residents. Yakel, which is part of a
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634:"INTERVIEW - Marie Wawa, Mungau Dain on being in Venice at 'Tanna' Interview - 72nd Venice Film Festival"
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Following the film, Dain began meeting with an acting group in Port Vila to continue in the profession.
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299:. He died from the infection five days later at Vila Central Hospital in Port Vila on 5 January 2019.
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and friend of Dain, said that his death could have been prevented with antibiotics. Dean told
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514:"Mungau Dain, Tanna star and 'Vanuatu's Brad Pitt', dies after untreated leg infection"
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287:. While in the capital, Dain suffered a cut on his leg in an accident on
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244:. Dain, Marie Wawa, and two other Tannese stars of the film traveled to
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actor and villager who starred in the 2015 Australian-Vanuatuan film,
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430:"Mungau Dain, Villager Star in Pacific Island Film, Dies at 24"
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752:"Mungau Dain, humble Pacific island movie star, dies at 24"
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Dain was born in 1994 in the small village of Yakel on
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721:"Vanuatu village mourns Tanna star Mungau Dain"
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132:in 2015 and was nominated for a
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608:Radio New Zealand International
442:from the original on 2019-01-10
323:, Minister of Internal Affairs
692:Narai, Benjamin (2019-01-05).
354:Martin Butler, co-director of
110:(1994 – 5 January 2019) was a
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471:Willie, Royson (2019-01-07).
729:. 2019-01-15. Archived from
662:"Film stars go to Hollywood"
611:. 2019-01-21. Archived from
512:Harmon, Steph (2019-01-06).
551:Marks, Kathy (2015-09-11).
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803:People from Tafea Province
327:, Parliamentary Secretary
134:Best Foreign Language Film
660:Garae, Len (2017-02-16).
428:Ives, Mike (2019-01-10).
275:to seek work as seasonal
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252:on February 26, 2017.
190:Australian directors
250:89th Academy Awards
236:In 2017, following
138:89th Academy Awards
754:. 11 January 2019.
699:Vanuatu Daily Post
667:Vanuatu Daily Post
519:Guardian Australia
478:Vanuatu Daily Post
317:Whitegrass Airport
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642:. 2015-09-09
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793:2019 deaths
788:1994 births
769:Mungau Dain
285:New Zealand
246:Los Angeles
146:Los Angeles
108:Mungau Dain
23:Mungau Dain
782:Categories
737:2019-02-05
706:2019-02-04
678:2019-02-05
646:2019-02-04
619:2019-02-05
569:2019-02-09
530:2019-02-04
489:2019-02-04
446:2019-02-04
362:References
279:in either
122:Marie Wawa
112:ni-Vanuatu
82:Occupation
281:Australia
273:Port Vila
242:Hollywood
218:To bring
156:Biography
142:Australia
71:Port Vila
440:Archived
267:co-star
174:currency
98:Children
238:Tanna's
233:home."
136:at the
75:Vanuatu
54:Vanuatu
44:Yakel,
293:sepsis
150:Venice
90:Spouse
356:Tanna
345:Tanna
331:, MP
304:Tanna
265:Tanna
259:Death
221:Tanna
201:Tanna
185:Tanna
126:Tanna
117:Tanna
93:Nancy
85:Actor
773:IMDb
194:and
148:and
61:Died
41:1994
38:Born
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