Kaimana, "Next Goal Wins"

The Collection with Brad Gilmore

NEXT GOAL WINS also introduces Kaimana as Jaiyah, the team’s striker, who is really the most influential person on the island. Jaiyah is Fa’afafine, which in American Samoan culture are people who have fluid genders that move between male and female worlds, showing two spirits in one person that coexist. “It is a sacred part of their culture, it is just accepted,” explains Waititi.NEXT GOAL WINS is Kaimana’s acting debut, as she steps into the shoes of Jaiyah Saelua, the world’s first transgender football player in a FIFA World Cup qualifying match. Kaimana drew upon individual and collective personal stories to bind the two Fa’afafine into one powerful, singular performance.Kaimana was the only actor to meet their real-life counterpart and she gives insight on how she is inextricably connected to Jaiyah. “There wasn’t a need to divorce myself between the real Jaiyah and the character in the film because we are so similar,” she recalls. “It was actually the tool that I used to guide me through it.” Jaiyah doesn’t have an agenda except for being herself and supporting the team and the community she loves.“While Thomas is trying to get his head around what this role is,” explains Waititi, “Everyone else is fine with it – no one ever talks about it again. And that's what my aim is, if we address things like this in film or TV, it's to not have to talk about it. It can just be there and it's part of the thread and the texture and the fabric of the whole story, and you don't have to have a big scene with a monologue where someone's explaining why it's okay.”By the end of the story, you see how the relationship between Jaiyah and Thomas has evolved and transformed into one of love and trust.