Wairoa Film Festival Postponed to 2024
Photo from Takitimu Marae Artists & Writers Gathering, 1974; Photo by John Miller.
The next iteration of the Wairoa Māori Film Festival is currently planned to go ahead October 6 to 8 at Kahungunu Marae, Nuhaka, and Gaiety Theatre, Wairoa.
However, due to ongoing challenges post-Cyclone Gabrielle (roading, transportation, accommodation) the organisers of this year’s festival have decided to postpone the festival until 2024.
“Our usual date for the festival is King’s Birthday weekend (formerly Queen’s Birthday), and this has always been a popular time that people knew our festival was on,” says Festival Director Leo Koziol. “We are hopeful to go ahead next year on King’s Birthday weekend and will start planning now for a ‘double’ festival with films from 2023 and 2024.”
An important part of the Wairoa Māori Film Festival is presentation of the WIFT NZ Mana Wahine Award. Discussions with Women in Film & Television (WIFT) NZ has resulted in the decision that the 2023 Mana Wahine Award will be presented at the WIFT Awards in February (29 February). “We are thankful for WIFT NZ accommodating this request to continue with the award, presented annually for over a decade now.”
Wairoa Māori Film Festival will continue with other activities across the motu to celebrate Māori film. This year WMFF presented Māori films for Matariki at Te Papa, Wellington City Gallery, Auckland Town Hall and Corban Estate Arts Centre (Auckland). WMFF also co-curated Ngā Whanaunga Wairoa Pasifika shorts for the NZIFF film festival, which screened nationwide in over 14 centres.
“We are disappointed we wont be bringing the magic of the film festival to Wairoa in October, but look forward to bringing the festival back post Cyclone Gabrielle next year,” says Leo Koziol. The 2024 date will mark the 50th anniversary since the Wairoa Māori Writers & Artists gathering at Takitimu Marae in 1974 (see photo above), and 75 years since the opening of Kahungunu Marae in Nuhaka (our host marae).
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Wairoa Film Festival to be Postponed
Press Statement: Wairoa Māori Film Festival 2023 to be Postponed
May 1, 2023
The Wairoa community has been adversely affected by Cyclone Gabrielle, and organisers of the annual Wairoa Māori Film Festival have therefore decided that this year’s event will be postponed from June to October 2023.
In February of this year the community of Wairoa, like many other communities across New Zealand, was adversely affected by the impacts of Cyclone Gabrielle. Over a hundred homes were flooded in the Wairoa suburb of North Clyde, along with businesses and community facilities. The land and waterways were devastated far and wide. The town was cut off from the rest of the country, and remains so to the south towards Napier.
Wairoa is a strong and resilient community and has risen up to strive to recover from Cyclone Gabrielle. An annual part of the Wairoa calendar that always brightens the year is our Wairoa Māori Film Festival. For 18 years, the annual Wairoa Māori Film Festival has celebrated the best of Māori movie making right here in our town and at the local Kahungunu Marae in Nūhaka, with movie makers and movie stars travelling in to Wairoa to join the celebration.
Last year's festival was a great success, with the presentation of the WIFT Mana Wahine Award to Desray Armstrong, four days of movies at our Gaiety Cinema, an environment themed programme with timely films about protecting our precious Taiao and a celebratory High Tea event for both filmmakers and the local community.
Our usual date for the Wairoa Māori Film Festival is Queen’s Birthday weekend (now called King’s Birthday weekend) which this year is June 2 to 5. Until now, festival organisers have been planning to proceed to this date. After much discussion and hui, it has been decided that the Wairoa Māori Film Festival will be postponed in 2023 to the weekend of October 6 to 8.
An October date will give our community time to recover from the impacts of Cyclone Gabrielle. By then our roads north and south should be fully reopened, reconnecting to our many whanau and friends down in Hawke’s Bay. Wairoa and Nūhaka will be more able to host guests by this time, and a springtime festival will bring new hope as our festival looks to the future.
“Wairoa Māori Film Festival was one of the few film festivals in the world with movies in cinemas during the Covid-19 lockdowns,” says Festival Director Leo Koziol. “We got through the Covid-19 pandemic together, and we will get through the impacts of Cyclone Gabrielle together.”
Until October, the Wairoa Māori Film Festival (WMFF) will continue its work in the community to support media and film making. Recently, Te Paea Whakatope and Leo Koziol of WMFF have started a weekly free film screening at the town’s Gaiety Theatre. In Nūhaka, WMFF is working with Kahungunu Marae who are hosting the development of a digital hub with a new digitisation machine kindly donated by Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision.
“Wairoa is resilient and the Māori film festival will continue,” says Festival Director Leo Koziol. “In our 18th year, we are looking towards celebrating our 20th birthday in 2025. In Nūhaka, our host marae Kahungunu is celebrating its 75th year in 2024. Wairoa Film Festival is the longest running Māori film festival in the country, and we are determined to continue.”
The dates for this year’s festival have been changed on the FilmFreeway film entries page. Filmmakers are encouraged to continue entering their works, using the publicly available late entry waiver code: manawairoa23
Here is the website link: https://filmfreeway.com/wairoa
The Wairoa Māori Film Festival team looks forward to seeing you all here in October for our 18th annual celebration of the best in Māori and global indigenous filmmaking.
Over Matariki, the Wairoa Māori Film Festival will still have a presence with moving image art installations curated for Circuit in Wellington and the Arts House in Auckland and Kia Ora Shorts at the Corban Estate Arts Centre in Auckland. Festival Director Leo Koziol will also be the co-curator of the Ngā Whanaunga Māori Pasifika film programme at the prestigious New Zealand International Film Festival.
ENDS
Website: www.Maorimovies.com
TAIAO THEME FOR FILM FESTIVAL
TAIAO THEME FOR FILM FESTIVAL
For Immediate Release - Monday 23 May 2022, Wairoa, Aotearoa
The theme for this year's Wairoa Maori Film Festival is "Taiao" meaning Environment. "The world currently faces huge environmental challenges, and it is in the wisdom of the Ancients - our own Maori ancestors, that a new pathway can be found," says Festival Director Leo Koziol.
Prince Harry recently released a project embracing "Kaitiakitanga" which shows how Maori values are being embraced globally. Over five days, there will be documentaries, short films, panel discussions and keynote talks on the topic of "Taiao."
"One of our guest speakers is Chris Huriwai, a Maori Vegan activist who features in the film 'Milked' screening at Kahungunu Marae," says Leo Koziol. "The film directly connects the death of many of our waterways to the industrial expansion of dairy farming across Aotearoa."
Joining Chris Huriwai at the Food Sovereignty Hui (Mana O Te Kai) will be Kay Baxter, founder and visionary creator of the Koanga Garden seed storage centre, located in Wairoa's own Marumaru valley. "Koanga Gardens wants to embrace Kaitiakitanga and work with local Iwi to embrace seed storage and self reliance in the context of regenerative agriculture."
The Food Sovereignty Wananga takes place 10 am to 4 pm at Kahungunu Marae, Nuhaka, on Friday June 3. It is hoped to fundraise for the establishment of a seed storing Pataka at Kahungunu Marae in Nuhaka, sharing seed up and down the East Coast.
Also occurring at the marae is the Kahungunu Marae open day on Saturday June 4th and the WIFT Mana Wahine High Tea on Sunday June 5th.
Festival Director Leo Koziol has established a new film production house called Nuhaka Film that will be nurturing filmmaking and storytelling in the community. The first "Camera in the Community" documentary was filmed at a weaving wananga in Nuhaka this past weekend. "Taiao is so special to us, it is integral to Toi Maori," says Leo Koziol.
Taiao Films at Wairoa Maori Film Festival include GATHER, THE SEEDS OF VANDANA SHIVA, ROHE KOREPOREPO THE SWAMP THE SACRED PLACE, MILKED and FOOD FOR THE REST OF US. There will be a special presentation of Barry Barclay's THE NEGLECTED MIRACLE presented by Nga Taonga Sound and Vision.
All the details of the 17th annual Wairoa Maori Film Festival can be found at: www.maorimovies.com
Authorised by Wairoa Maori Film Festival Inc.Photo: Pili Ka Mo'o by Justin Ah-Chong
WIFT Mana Wahine Award to Desray Armstrong
11 May 2022
Women in Film & Television (WIFT) NZ and the Wairoa Māori Film Festival Inc. are delighted to announce that the 2022 WIFT NZ Mana Wāhine Award recipient is Desray Armstrong (Te-Aitanga-a-Hauiti, Ngāti Porou).
The Award will be presented at the Mana Wāhine High Tea at Kahungunu Marae, Nuhaka on Sunday 5 June.
Women in Film and Television (WIFT) and the Wairoa Māori Film Festival Inc are proud to announce that the 2022 WIFT Mana Wāhine Award will be presented to producer Desray Armstrong (TeAitanga-a-Hauiti, Ngāti Porou) at Wairoa on Queen’s Birthday Weekend.
Desray is a well-known stalwart of the Māori screen industry, in which she has been active since 2004, initially as a production manager and coordinator as well as a producer of short films such as Meathead (2012), Ellen is Leaving (2013) and Snowmen (2014).
From 2007 – 2011 she partnered with producer/director Chelsea Winstanley in their production company StanStrong focussed on content with a Māori worldview such as the music documentary series Haumanu (2012).
More recently under her Sandy Lane banner she has produced a slate of acclaimed feature films, Stray (2018), Coming Home in The Dark, Juniper (2021), and Millie Lies Low (2022) as well as two seasons of Mike Minogue’s comedy web series The Watercooler (2016, 2018). In this time, she also line produced Alison McLean’s The Rehearsal (2016), tv series Wellington Paranormal (2018-19) and Jake Mahaffy’s Reunion (2020).
Desray has previously worked on a range of international productions filming in New Zealand such as ‘Slow West’, ‘Mortal Engines’, ‘A Wrinkle in Time’, ‘The Light Between Oceans’, and ‘Z for Zachariah’ as well as on uniquely Māori and Kiwi stories like ‘Tangiwai – a love story’, ‘Hunt for the Wilderpeople’, and ‘What We Do in the Shadows’.
In 2021 Desray won the New Zealand Film Commission’s prestigious Te Aupounamu Māori Screen Excellence Award. Previous career recognition includes the Te Kai Ngakahi Melissa Wikare Award (2019), the SPADA Independent Producer of the Year Award (2018) and being named WIFT Woman to Watch (2016).
Desray has served on the Boards of WIFTNZ and Ngā Aho Whakaari; recognised for her integrity, she is active in creating pathways for more women and Māori to step into key roles in feature film.
Jonathan Brough, director of Snowmen, captured her essence when he noted she is much beloved in the industry, “not just because she cares deeply for everyone who works on her projects, but because she so obviously loves what she does” (NZOnScreen).
Desray Armstrong
The WIFT Mana Wāhine Award recognises and supports the achievements of Māori Women in film and television who work tirelessly, diligently and with vision to support and promote Māori culture, Te Reo Māori, Tikanga Māori and the welfare and stories of wāhine. The Award was first initiated in 2011 by Wairoa Māori Film Festival director Leo Koziol and his mother Huia Koziol.
Tickets ($50 each) for the Mana Wāhine High Tea and Film Festival can be booked at: Wairoa WIFT Mana Wahine High Tea Celebration – Tickets at Eventfinda
ABOUT THE FESTIVAL
The 17th Wairoa Māori Film Festival has over 50 short films and 10 feature films, all screening at the Gaiety Theatre and Kahungunu Marae over five days, from June 2 nd to 6th 2022. The theme this year is “Taiao.”
The programme overview is available at https://www.kiaora.tv
Festival Passes are available on request at maorimovies@gmail.com ($150 per person, limited availability, includes marae stay). Screening passes are $100: Available on Eventfinda.
For media enquiries please contact Leo Koziol, Festival Director, Wairoa Māori Film Festival, on maorimovies@gmail.com or mob: 021 434 123.
WIFT NZ Mana Wahine Award to Briar Grace Smith
11 May 2021
Women in Film & Television (WIFT) NZ and the Wairoa Māori Film Festival Inc. are delighted to announce that the 2021 WIFT NZ Mana Wāhine Award recipient is Briar Grace-Smith (Ngā Puhi, Ngāti Wai), ONZM.
The Award will be presented at the Wairoa Māori Gala Film Awards at the iconic Gaiety Theatre, Wairoa, on Sunday 6 June.
Briar Grace-Smith (Ngā Puhi, Ngāti Wai), ONZM, is a renowned and award-winning writer, actor, director and producer. Briar was co-director (alongside Ainsley Gardiner), writer and actor in the adaptation of Patricia Grace’s novel Cousins, which took over $1 million in its first three weeks of screening in March this year!
This is but a small selection of her creative endeavours:
She has acted with the Māori theatre cooperative Te Ohu Whakaari, and Māori theatre company He Ara Hou.
Briar’s early plays Don't Call Me Bro and Flat Out Brown, were first performed at the Taki Rua Theatre in Wellington in 1996. Her play Waitapu, was devised by He Ara Hou and performed by the group on the Native Earth Performing Arts tour in Canada in 1996. For Ngā Pou Wahine, Briar earned the Bruce Mason Playwriting Award in 1995. She went on to win the Best New Zealand Play at the Chapman Tripp Theatre Awards in 1997 for Purapurawhetu. The Listener labelled the play “a new classic of New Zealand theatre”, and it was later filmed for the TV series Atamira (2012).
In 2000, she received the Arts Foundation Laureate Award. In 1993 she was Writer-in-Residence at Massey University, and in 2003 she was the Writers’ Fellow at Victoria University. Her 2014 play Paniora was inspired by the story of Spanish influence in the East Coast.
Her television credits include drama Fishskin Suit, which won best drama at the NZ Television Awards. Charlie The Dreaded, one of six Māori language stories, was produced for the Aroha series in 2002. Briar has also worked as a writer on various television drama series, among them Being Eve (2002) and Kaitangata Twitch (2010). She co-wrote Billy, a tele-feature about the life of comedian Billy T James, with Dave Armstrong.
In 2010, Briar won the NZ Scriptwriters Award for the feature film The Strength of Water, which premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival, and which she also co-produced.
Briar has also directed films. In 2017 she was one of eight wāhine Māori to write and direct a piece for extraordinary and innovative feature film Waru, and in 2018 she directed the short film Krystal, which had its world premiere at ImagineNative, the largest indigenous film festival, held in Toronto each year.
Those fortunate to know Briar acknowledge her as intelligent, witty, humble, an incredibly warm and compassionate person, a loving mother, a supportive mentor, and loyal friend. Briar has an unwavering commitment to telling stories that reflect the complexity, diversity, and breadth of Māori culture and society, particularly from a uniquely woman’s perspective. As she states in her NZ On Screen biography, “I’m probably telling the same story again and again, and it’s about the underdogs. They’re the characters that interest me”.
The WIFT Mana Wāhine Award recognises and supports the achievements of Māori Women in film and television who work tirelessly, diligently and with vision to support and promote Māori culture, Te Reo Māori, Tikanga Māori and the welfare and stories of wāhine. The Award was first initiated in 2011 by Wairoa Māori Film Festival director Leo Koziol and his mother Huia Koziol.
Tickets for the Awards Gala and Film Festival can be booked at Eventfinda - Māori Film Awards only $50: Link to Festival Tickets https://www.eventfinda.co.nz/2021/wairoa-maori-film-awards 2021/wairoa
ABOUT THE FESTIVAL
The 16th Wairoa Māori Film Festival has over 60 short films and 10 feature films, all screening at the Gaiety Theatre over five days, from June 3rd to 7th 2021.
Watch feature films like Cousins and James & Isey and new international fare such as The Last Forest (Brazil) and Beans (Canada).
There is a strong Pacific focus with two short film programmes, and feature documentaries Loimata – The Sweetest Tears, directed by Anna Marbrook, and Tupaia's Endeavour, directed by Lala Rolls.
The festival awards this year will be presented at a special 16th anniversary celebration night at the Gaiety Theatre.
Wairoa Māori Film Festival has two wahine (female) guest curators who contributed to this year's programme. Tuāfale Tanoa'i (Linda T) has curated "Fetū Fitu" an hour-long programme of moving image art works by Pacific women. Judith Schuyler (Onyota’a:ka, Haudenosaunee) has curated "Turtle Island Shorts" a collection of indigenous moving image art works form Canada.
The programme overview is available at https://www.kiaora.tv
Along with the awards night, the other big night is the Pixie Williams A Homecoming Celebration event, with live music and the Pixie Williams documentary, only $50:
https://www.eventfinda.co.nz/2021/pixie-williams/wairoa
Festival Passes are available on request at maorimovies@gmail.com ($150 per person, limited availability, includes marae stay).
For media enquiries please contact Leo Koziol, Festival Director, Wairoa Māori Film Festival, on maorimovies@gmail.com or mob: 021 434 123.
Jean Swainson Foundation Pitch Wairoa Prize 2021
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
THE JEAN SWAINSON FOUNDATION PITCH WAIROA PITCH PRIZE
Wairoa, 12 May 2021
UPDATE: 29 May 2021, This Pitch Wairoa competition has been indefinitely postponed.
ONLINE FORM LINK HERE
Wairoa Māori Film Festival is proud to announce an exciting new opportunity for short filmmakers and aspiring rangatahi film creatives:
The Jean Swainson Foundation Pitch-Wairoa Prize
Generously sponsored by Cam Swainson-Whaanga, filmmaker and founding director of Jean Swainson Foundation, the prize will be awarded for the best pitch for a Short fiction or documentary film, up to 15 min, featuring WAIROA town and/or region (very roughly from Morere to Mohaka).
The Prize is worth up to $20K total value, towards production & post-prod services and equipment hire (in Wairoa) and up to $5K cash (towards other costs).
The pitching competition is free and is open to Māori and Pasifika creatives (writer and director of the proposed short) age 16 and over.
We will work with the winner to produce the short film, which will premiere at the Wairoa Māori Film Festival 2022 and may be eligible for national and international festivals and venues.
The pitching competition will take place as part of WMFF, on Saturday afternoon June 5th. Entrants can pitch in person or via Zoom.
Online registration is required to be eligible. Entrants can upload their pitch prior to the live pitch session.
Full details will be live soon at: www.kiaora.tv
Deadline: May 30th 5pm.
You can also contact Festival and Jury Chair, Deborah Walker-Morrison (d.walker@auckland.ac.nz)
WIFT Mana Wahine Award 2020
WIFT Mana Wahine Award to Nicole Hoey
Women in Film & Television (WIFT) NZ are delighted to announce that the recipient of the 2020 WIFT NZ Mana Wāhine Award is the wonderful Nicole Hoey. This award will be presented at the Wairoa Māori Film Festival Gala Awards dinner on Sunday 25 October.
Nicole (Ngāti Kahu, Te Aupōuri) has been a leader in te reo Māori broadcasting for the past thirty years through her company Cinco Cine. After a decade of producing award-winning commercial work for international and domestic clients, Nicole switched Cinco Cine’s focus to normalising and revitalising te reo Māori via television, film and later digital media.
In 1997 she created the Koina Te Kōrero campaign around Māori placenames for TV3, putting Māori language into primetime for the first time on that mainstream network.
Nicole has not only produced thousands of hours of television, film and more recently online content, she has also provided opportunities for hundreds of Māori to develop production skills, alongside their te reo.
Programmes like the award-winning Pūkana, Kōrero Mai and Te Uru Whetu have helped boost the careers of a generation of Māori musicians, including Aria, Teeks, and Maimoa Music.
Alongside this, industry heavyweights such as Reikura Kahi, Kawariki Morgan, Quinton Hita, and Matai Rangi Smith, have all come through the Cinco Cine whānau.
More recently, the award-winning series Tākaro Tribe uses animation to nurture te reo for mokopuna (the very young).
In 2016 Cinco Cine was recognised for its training and mentoring of Māori film practitioners, receiving the inaugural Ngā Aho Whakaari Te Pou Taunaki Award.
As well as helming her company, Nicole has held several board positions in the screen industry: Board Member and Acting Chair of New Zealand On Air, Deputy Chair of the New Zealand Screen Council, President and an executive member of SPADA (the Screen Production and Development Association), Treasurer of Ngā Aho Whakaari and an Executive member of WIFT - Women in Film and Television.
Nicole has devoted her life and career to advancing and enhancing te iwi Māori, and te reo me ngā tikanga Māori, and is a truly worthy example of Mana Wāhine.
Media Enquiries: WIFT NZ Ph. 09 3734071 | e: office@wiftnz.org.nz
Festival enquiries: Leo Koziol, Festival Director, 021 434 123 maorimovies@gmail.com
The 15th annual Wairoa Māori Film Festival takes place Labour Weekend 22nd to 26th October 2020 at Gaiety Theatre, Wairoa, and Taihoa Marae, Wairoa. The full programme of the festival is at:
www.kiaora.tv
Advance sales are available at Eventfinda and in person at the Gaiety Theatre.
The WIFT Mana Wahine Award will be presented at the festival 15th Anniversary Awards Dinner on Sunday 25th October.
Award Winners 2019
WAIROA MAORI FILM FESTIVAL
AWARD WINNERS 2019
Pitch Wairoa Pitching Prize
Te Hira Horua Waiariki $1,500 towards his film project
Jade Waetford $1,500 towards her film project
Mana Wairoa Te Reo Prize
Recipient: Hinekura, Becs Arahanga
Te Wairoa Media Prize
Recipient: Liz Hunkin
Prize: Artwork from Wairoa District Council
Kete by Jan McKenzie commissioned by Wairoa Maori Film Festival
Moana Jury Short Non-Fiction Prize –Pasifika Director
Recipient: Toa`ipuapuagā, Strength in Suffering, Vea Mafileo
Moana Jury Short Fiction Prize –Pasifika Director
Recipient: Liliu, Jeremiah Tauamiti
Whenua Jury Short Non-Fiction Prize Prize – Maori Director
Recipient: Take, Victoria Hunt
Whenua Jury Short Fiction Prize Prize – Maori Director
Recipient: Ani, Josephine Stewart-Te Whiu
Mana Wairoa Male Actor
Recipient: Shane Rangi (Die Like a Shark)
Mana Wairoa Female Actor
Recipient: Darneen Christian (Krystal, by Briar Grace-Smith)
Women in Film & Television (WIFT) Mana Wahine Award
Recipient: Whetu Fala
Mana Wairoa International Indigenous Award
Recipient: Hiona Henare for women directors of Spirit Womon
Mana Wairoa – Advancement of Indigenous Film
Recipient: Fred Renata
Mana Wahine Award 2019 to Whetu Fala
Whetu Fala
9 May 2019
Women in Film & Television (WIFT) NZ and the Wairoa Māori Film Festival Inc. are delighted to announce that the 2019 WIFT NZ Mana Wāhine Award recipient is Whetu Fala.
The Award will be presented at the Wairoa Māori Gala Film Awards at the iconic Gaiety Theatre, Wairoa, on Saturday June 1.
Whetu Fala (Ngā Rauru, Ngāti Maniapoto, Ngāti Maru ki Taranaki, Samoa, Rotuma)
Whetu Fala is an entrepreneur and creative, infused with te wairua auaha, the creative spirit. She has owned Fala Media for over twenty years. Whetu has produced, directed and edited hundreds of hours of television, including drama, documentaries, reality series and short films since starting at TVNZ in 1988.
Whetu has a background in theatre as an actor. Her work includes a Young Māori in Performance season at the Sydney Opera House, and her own theatre company, He Oriori mo ngā Tamariki, toured to Storytellers International, Alburqerque, New Mexico. She has graced the screen in numerous films and television series, and is a founding member of Taki Rua Theatre, Te Manu Aute Māori in Film, Women in Film & Television Wellington, Ngā Aho Whakaari Māori Screen Guild, and Pacific Islanders in Film & Television Aōtearoa.
In 2016 Whetu was appointed to the Board of Māori Television. She also sits on the Boards of Ngā Taonga Sound and Vision and Te Puna Ataata (the New Zealand Film Heritage Trust). Most recently she has returned to her home town of Whanganui to take on the position of Manager for Awa FM, promoting the stories and language cadence of the Whanganui River region to the world.
As an aside she was one of the case studies in a PhD documentary, entitled 'Emancipatory Māori entrepreneurship in screen production’ (Henry, 2012), where she said, “I would say to other Māori and Pacifica, mahia te mahi, you are what you do, not what you say you do”, and that is exactly what Whetu has been doing for over thirty years, mentoring, coaching, supporting, guiding, collaborating, creating, bursting through glass ceilings, and doing it all with a joy for life, a sharp intellect, an acerbic sense of humour, and a great love of people, which is a privilege to behold. She encapsulates everything that is Mana Wāhine.
The WIFT Mana Wāhine Award recognises and supports the achievements of Māori Women in film and television who work tirelessly, diligently and with vision to support and promote Māori culture, Te Reo Māori, Tikanga Māori and the welfare and stories of wāhine. The Award was first initiated in 2011 by Wairoa Māori Film Festival director Leo Koziol and his mother Huia Koziol.
Tickets for the Awards Gala and Film Festival can be booked at Eventfinda – Māori Film Awards only $50, Full Festival Pass including Awards $150
Festival Pass:
https://www.eventfinda.co.nz/2019/wairoa-maori-film-festival-2019/wairoa
Gala Tickets:
https://www.eventfinda.co.nz/2019/wairoa-m-ori-film-awards-gala-2019/wairoa
The Wairoa Māori Film Festival this year has twenty screenings with over 50 shorts, and five feature dramas / documentaries. Screenings are held in Kahungunu Marae, Nuhaka, famed for featuring in scenes from John O’Shea’s BROKEN BARRIER in 1955. For the fifth year, the festival will also be at the reopened Gaiety Theatre in Wairoa. A selection of the Māori and Pasifika short films screening at the festival will go on to comprise the New Zealand International Film Festival Ngā Whanaunga programme which will premiere in Auckland later this year. A number of Māori film makers will be feted at the awards, including Whetu Fala and master cinematographer Fred Renata. Closing night is “Bush Cinema” underground shorts at Morere hot springs, with the pools open late into the night. The Wairoa Māori Film Festival is sponsored by the New Zealand Film Commission and Wairoa District Council. The entire programme can now be viewed online at: www.kiaora.tv
For media enquiries please contact Leo Koziol, Festival Director, Wairoa Māori Film Festival, on maorimovies@gmail.com or mob: 027 2808729.
Mana Wahine Award 2018
Wairoa Maori Film Festival -
Women in Film & Television Mana Wahine Award 2018
Ainsley Gardiner
30 April 2018
Women in Film & Television (WIFT) NZ and the Wairoa Māori Film Festival Inc. are delighted to announce the 2018 WIFT NZ Mana Wahine Award recipient is the extremely talented Ainsley Gardiner.
The Award will be presented at the Wairoa Māori Gala Film Awards at the iconic Gaiety Theatre, Wairoa, on Saturday June 2.
Ainsley Gardiner (Te Whānau-A-Apanui, Ngāti Pikiao, Ngāti Awa) has a long and impressive body of work and screen industry experience. She graduated from the Avalon Film and TV production course in 1995, going on to intern for Larry Parr at Kahukura Production. Though she wanted to write and direct, she fell into producing, co-producing the 26-part Lovebites series, and short film, The Hole (1998). She went on to produce the ‘low-budget’ feature film Kombi Nation (2003) in Europe.
In 2004 she established Whenua Films with actor Cliff Curtis, to promote indigenous story-telling on screen. They produced Taika Waititi’s award-winning short films, Two Cars One Night (2003), and Tama Tū (2004), then his first two features, Eagle vs Shark (2007), and the incredibly successful Boy (2010). She wrote and directed her first short film Mokopuna in 2007.
At the same time, Ainsley was appointed to Te Paepae Ataata, which was born out of the aspirations of the pioneers Māori film-makers, Barry Barclay, Merata Mita, Tama Poata, Don Selwyn, Tungia Baker and Wi Kuki Kaa, all of whom are now deceased. They set a high standard for creative excellence and Māori integrity. Te Paepae Ataata was set up in 2008 to nurture and celebrate a Māori cinematic voice and to provide an alternative development pathway for Māori filmmakers.
In 2015 Ainsley founded Miss Conception Films with Georgina Conder. Their new production company is focused on female-lead character driven projects with female key creatives, epitomised by their latest film as producers, The Breaker Upperers, premiering this month in New Zealand. Ainsley works hard to mentor emerging filmmakers.
In 2017, Ainsley made her debut as a feature film director, working alongside seven other Māori female directors to make the powerful film Waru, which has won critical acclaim nationally and internationally. She balances all this with being a mother of a young family.
The WIFT Mana Wāhine Award recognises and supports the achievements of Māori Women in film and television who work tirelessly, diligently and with vision to support and promote Māori culture, Te Reo Māori, Tikanga Māori and the welfare and stories of wāhine. The Award was first initiated in 2011 by Wairoa Māori Film Festival director Leo Koziol and his mother Huia Koziol.
Tickets for the Awards Gala and Film Festival can be booked at Eventfinda – Māori Film Awards only $50, Full Festival Pass including Awards $150
Festival Pass:
https://www.eventfinda.co.nz/2018/wairoa-maori-film-festival-2018/wairoa
Gala Tickets:
https://www.eventfinda.co.nz/2018/wairoa-m-ori-film-awards-gala-2018/wairoa
The Wairoa Māori Film Festival this year has 13 screenings with over 50 shorts, and five feature dramas / documentaries. Screenings are held in Kahungunu Marae, Nuhaka, famed for featuring in scenes from John O’Shea’s BROKEN BARRIER in 1955. For the fourth year, the festival will also be at the reopened Gaiety Theatre in Wairoa. Keynote speaker at the Awards Night will be infamous activist and esteemed artist Tame Iti. A selection of the Māori and Pasifika short films screening at the festival will go on to comprise the New Zealand International Film Festival Ngā Whanaunga programme which will premiere in Auckland later this year. Closing night is “Bush Cinema” underground shorts at Morere hot springs, with the pools open late into the night. The Wairoa Māori Film Festival is sponsored by the New Zealand Film Commission, Radio Waatea, Te Matarae O Te Wairoa Trust and Wairoa District Council. The entire programme can now be viewed online at: www.kiaora.tv
For media enquiries please contact Leo Koziol, Festival Director, Wairoa Māori Film Festival, on maorimovies@gmail.com or mob: 027 280 8729