DATE SET: WAIROA MAORI FILM FESTIVAL 2016
Image: Rebecca Collins (Ngapuhi) TOHUNGA Cinematographer Jack Woon
PRESS RELEASE: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
The date time and venue for the Wairoa Maori Film Festival is LIVE!
Film makers and creative visionaries from around the planet are invited to an activation of native vibrations at the Wairoa Maori Film Festival 2016.
The festival will run from Friday June 3 to Monday June 6, at Kahungunu Marae, Nuhaka. It is hoped to also incorporate the newly opened Gaiety Theatre into all or part of the weekend, alongside a full weekend film hui at the marae.
The theme of the festival this year will be NATIVE VIBRATIONS with a unique collection of Rastafarian films out of Jamaica. "We hope to connect with the global Black experience out of communities like Harlem in New York and Trenchtown in Jamaica." says Festival Director Leo Koziol. There will be a night of Maori Reggae Music Fusion at the centrepiece of the festival to celebrate this theme.
Guests and participants of the festival will be invited to ACTIVATE YOUR NATIVE commencing a planetwide discussion on "What is Native?" in an age of multiculturalism and placelessness? As our native lands and resources become increasingly commodified, is our indigenous culture too merely another work to be traded on the open market in the world of film and cinema?
Discussions will take place across three strands: ILLUMInative - how spirit and connectedness and healing defines and affects who and how you are defined as as a native person; COLORnative - how your skin color and appearance defines and affects who and how you are defined as as a native person; and ALTERnative - how your personal relationships - across color, gender, tribe and culture - affect who and how you, your partner and your descendants are defined as a native person.
The New Zealand Film Commission has once again been confirmed as primary support sponsor of the 2016 Wairoa Maori Film Festival. "Film works are also planned to go on to other film festivals across New Zealand and internationally, including hopefully once again the hugely popular 'Nga Whanaunga' programme at the NZ International Film Festival," says Mr. Koziol.
NAU MAI! NAU MAI! HAERE MAI!!
TO AN ACTIVATION OF NATIVE VIBRATIONS
Announcing the Official Dates of the
Wairoa Maori Film Festival 2016
Kahungunu Marae, Nuhaka & Gaiety Theatre, Wairoa
Friday June 3 to Monday June 6 * Queen's Birthday Weekend
Maori Films * Annual Maori Cinema Hui * Art & Wananga
Call for Entries: Coming Soon on Film Freeway
ACTIVATE YOUR NATIVE