Tommy likes hip-hop dancing, has a mad crush on the lead kapa haka girl at school and believes he can kung fu the biggest bully terrorizing the local Riversdale Park. But his mum, has different plans for Tommy. She wants him to wake up on time for school, go to university and learn all things Niuean. Their two wills collide but both must compromise in order to fly. An ode to teenagers and their mums, Birds by Dianna Fuemana is told through the eyes of a young Niuean boy growing up in Auckland’s Avondale hood-lands.