Kath Akuhata Brown on 4th Cinema
Past and Presence: Towards a Maori Aesthetics of Cinema
by Kath Akuhata-Brown
Haere e nga wairua, haere atu koutou I te huanui, I te ara kua papatauria e te tapuwae kauika tangata. Takoto mai koutou I te urunga e kore e nekehia, I te moenga e kore e hikitia. Kua ngaro nga whaikorero, nga kaihautu, kua whakangaro atu I te ara e kore e titiro whakamuri mai ano. Hoki atu ki a tatou tipuna, haere atu ra.
E nga mana, e nga reo, rau Rangatira ma, tena koutou. E nga Tangatawhenua o te ao, he mihi aroha ki a koutou katoa.
Tribute must first be made to those of our loved ones who have departed from the path followed by the living and sleep on the pillow that moves not and the bed that cannot be carried away.
Farewell to our great orators, whom have taken the pathway from which no backward glances are possible. Return to the warmth of our company of elders.
To the living I bid you greetings; your dignity is made manifest through the voice and the word. To those first of the land, it is with love and humility that I bring the respects of my elders to you.
The dignity of my elders and teachers has been upheld, the farewells have been made and respect for those upon whose land we enter has been made also. The wairuaremains intact.
* * * * * *
While Maori cinema has become an established presence in the international film world, I wish to discuss an aspect of it that is rarely referred to: specifically,wairua (spiritual presence), and the way it informs the shape of our cinema. Spirituality is something of an uncomfortable topic in mainstream film literature, which is fundamentally grounded in (so-called) rationality and shuns the mystical. But for many Maori filmmakers and artists, wairua is a generative force, a strength that can be harnessed and focused into practical tools for artistic creation. These tools exist within our psychic and emotional framework, and it is our task to identify them, organize them, and use them to create a cinema that is expressive of and responsive to our own voice—and in so doing to actually recreate that voice through the medium of cinema, a voice that has been imperilled by two centuries of conquest and colonization.
Our desire to reclaim our Maori-ness derives from a yearning to take back ownership of a culture that was once on the brink of extinction. After an 1859 census determined that the Maori population numbered only 56,000, the New Zealand government adopted a policy designed to "smooth the pillow of a dying race"—essentially encouraging Pakeha (white) New Zealanders to help the Maori "die with dignity" by quashing their culture and assimilating them into Pakehasociety. The language of our Maori elders has been irremediably transformed through decades of disuse brought on by this insidious process of legislative colonization, and that unwilled metamorphosis has profoundly altered our conception of our world. It is through our language that we are able to identify ourselves and our sense of where we belong: we have identified our mountains, rivers and sacred places; we know their names and from whence those names came.
However, words are only one way of communicating. There is also the language of the spirit, which is indefinable, intangible and, inexplicably, directly within our reach. It is a language that is bound to inherited memory and speaks in visual symbols that contain an emotional truth. It cannot be compromised, because it is also a language that is repulsed by deceit; when it is spoken to us we are struck by its beauty, and in the recesses of our heart we sense its truth.
A few years ago, a Pakeha friend of mine said that the tangi—the three-day funeral ceremony—was the cliché of Maori storytelling. Although I was offended at first, her comment led me to recognize just how intrinsic this motif is in Maori television and cinema, and to divine the reason why: the tangi is one of the last manifestations of traditional Maori culture in daily life. We are encouraged to grieve, and when the time comes for the final farewell, it is done with great ceremony, and great emotion. The overarching philosophy for the tangi is kua heke te hupe: let the snot flow freely. For three days the tears and snot run, the orations of our elders give us comfort, and everyone is welcomed by the soaringkaranga (call) of the elder women, whose voices tear down the veil between life and death and call forth the past to witness the present. The tangi is where great drama unfolds, and where all the contrasts of Maori life are displayed: the speech-making can scale the heights of poetry, and within moments descend into barefaced insults; heart-rending emotion can suddenly give way to side-splitting comedy.
Grief informs us as a people, and no matter how far we are from home, by virtue of our whakapapa (genealogy) we can draw upon our ancestors' presence to give us comfort. It is this intergenerational connectedness—combined with a dedication to tino rangatiratanga (self- determination) and a fierce political consciousness—that has informed Maori art in the modern era. In the 1930s, the great Maori leaders Princess Te Puea Herangi and Sir Apirana Ngata identified that art and culture was the key to raising the spirits and the consciousness of our people. Our stories and our heritage are contained in our traditional craftsmanship, and it was by keeping these skills and knowledge alive that our people would endure. To walk into a marae (the communal house used for ceremonial gatherings) is to enter the Maori universe: the woven tukutuku panels map out the pattern of the cosmos, and the carved figures of our legendary forebears speak to our relationship with the eternal. The shape of the house is that of the body of a human: it tells us that we are one with our environment.
This visualization of Maori thought and philosophy has now made its way to the cinema screen; we have had to learn how to speak this new language, and apply our abilities to weave and carve with fibre and wood to the materials of light and sound. In a lecture he delivered at Auckland University in 2003, Barry Barclay—director of such films as Ngati, Neglected Miracle and Feathers of Peace—coined the term "fourth cinema" to describe Indigenous film practice (first cinema being American/Hollywood, second being art films, third the "cinema of the so-called Third World"). He declared that [f]or such a radically new type of cinema to blossom, there would have to be some alternative base firmly set in the customs and laws of the community that conceived and manufactured the film. Such a base is not only possible but usual within Indigenous frameworks. In the Maori world, for example, commentators have identified core values which govern life, values such aswhakawhanaungatanga (relationships) mana (dignity) manaakitanga (hospitality)aroha (love), tapu (sacred), mana tupuna (prestige of ancestors) and wairua(spiritual presence). Imagine that the makers of fourth cinema come to accent [these values] in their productions. Indeed, there are glimpses of that already having happened—in the way, for example, that Maori filmmakers have been insistent on occasion that their films be accompanied to a new venue and be presented to the people of that area with full ceremony.
My very strong hunch, and it is an informed hunch, is that if we as Maori look closely enough and through the right pair of spectacles, we will find examples at every turn of how the old principles have been reworked to give vitality and richness to the way we conceive, develop, manufacture and present our films. It seems likely that some Indigenous film artists will be interested in shaping films that sit with confidence within the first-, second- and third-cinema framework. While not closing the door on that option, others may seek to rework the ancient core values to shape a growing Indigenous cinema outside the national orthodoxy.
If I were to look to our Maori protocols to find the tools for creating art in a contemporary context, I would turn to the works of Maori academic Professor Mason Durie, who developed the Whare Tapawha (Four Pillars) model, which deals with Maori health care and well-being. I have loosely adopted this model, and its four key values, in order to articulate a framework for discussion about the particular qualities of Indigenous storytelling and their application to cinema.
Te taha hinengaro focuses on the emotions. It is understood that the mind and body are inseparable, and that communication through emotions is important and more meaningful than the exchange of words.
Te taha wairua refers to spiritual awareness. It is believed that without this, an individual can be lacking in well-being and therefore more prone to ill health.Wairua explores relationships with the environment, people and heritage. Spiritual awareness is crucial for making effective decisions.
Te taha tinana refers to the physical being, which for our purposes it can be associated with technical aspects of art-making.
Te taha whānau is the most fundamental unit of Maori society. Whānau are clusters of individuals descended from a fairly recent ancestor. Whānau may include up to three or four generations, and its importance will vary from one individual to the next. The beliefs, expectations or opinions of the whānau can have a major impact on the career choices that an individual makes. It is from this pillar that intergenerational connectedness flows.
Together these four pillars keep the house in which our stories are stored strong and secure. They allow us to venture out into the world to collect different experiences and then return to our house, secure in the knowledge that the pillars are strong enough to sustain us. For the Maori, the cinema is a gateway back to this undying world; in the words of the great Maori director Merata Mita, "the audience sees. . . resurrections taking place; a past life lives again, wisdom is shared, and something from the heart and spirit responds to that short but inspiring on-screen journey from darkness to light." It begins as it ends, with our ancestors—time becomes non-linear, the spirit of our lands and peoples travels unrestrained, passing the mind and stepping with grace directly into the heart.
Na reira,e nga manutioriori, nga kai korero me nga tohunga katoa tena koutou, tena koutou tena koutou katoa, ka huri.
Kath Akuhata-Brown is of Ngati Porou descent. A graduate of the Binger Filmlab in Amsterdam and a filmmaker for over two decades, she is also a Development Executive at the New Zealand Film Commission and is a member of Te Paepae Ataata, the Maori Feature Film Development Fund.
FIRST RELEASE OF NZ FILMS FOR WAIROA MAORI FILM FESTIVAL 2015
PRESS RELEASE: FEATURE, DOCUMENTARY & SHORTS 2015
(Sunday 12 April 2015)
WAIROA MAORI FILM FESTIVAL has announced a selection of its feature, documentary and New Zealand short film programme screening at our festival this year (May 29 to June 1 2015, Kahungunu Marae, Nuhaka).
NZ FEATURE: UMBRELLA MAN
2015 New Zealand 118 minutes, Directors Lennie Hill (Māori) and Darren Simmonds (Pākehā)
An elderly homeless man befriends a runaway teen in order to rescue him from a life on the streets; and in the process, they become each others salvation.
NZ DOCUMENTARY: GENOME
2015 New Zealand 25 minutes Rachel Anson (Pākehā)
By observing genetics in our own families, we can make predictions about our future; from diabetes to dementia, where our ancestors came from to what our future children might look like. But what if you were the only branch on your genetic family tree?
At eleven days old Sarah (Māori) was adopted and for the last 28 years she has never known anything about her biological parents, her medical history or ancestry. Sarah has decided to investigate her own DNA by using a direct-to-consumer genetic testing kit. What will her results reveal about her past? Are there genetic concerns for her future? Can new technology help answer the age old question ‘Who am I?’
NZ SHORT: TITS ON A BULL
2015 New Zealand 15 minutes Director Tim Worrall (Māori)
Set in a Maori women's rugby team, Tits on a Bull follows Phoenix Tawhana, the young star of the team, as she struggles to choose between her longtime friendship with aging coach Rusty or her new relationship with lesbian team-captain, Melanie.
Tampere Film Festival 2015.
NZ SHORT: OW, WHAT?
2015 New Zealand 15 minutes Director Mike Jonathon (Māori)
A young boy from Ruatoki recognizes two unusual guardians, as he is conflicted between becoming the man of the house and playing rugby with his mates.
NZ SHORT: ELEVATION
15 New Zealand 12 minutes Director Tihini Grant (Māori)
Dark Comedy. Trapped in an elevator, a white supremacist and a Maori gang member have the chance to confront their issues and come out better men... or not.
NZ SHORT: TAMA
2014 New Zealand 10 min Director Ryan Alexander Lloyd (Māori)
With a beautiful treatment of archival footage, Lloyd recreates an emotional, honest and unconventional portrait of a father and his middle-aged son exploring memories, feelings of loss and the presence of hope. Award-winning filmmaker Ryan Alexander Lloyd is primarily a director of photography whose work has been seen at festivals, including Vienna, Melbourne and NZ.
Award-winning filmmaker Ryan Alexander Lloyd (Ngai Tahu, Maori) is primarily a director of photography whose work has been seen at festivals, including Vienna, Melbourne and New Zealand. He has won a number of Australia Cinematography Society (ACS) awards for his work in Dramatic Short Films and was selected to participate in the Berlinale Talent Campus 2013.
Tama screened at imagineNATIVE Toronto, Canada, in 2014.
KKIFF 2015
KOTA KINABALU INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2015
In 2015, the Wairoa Maori Film Festival is partnering with the Kota Kinabalu International Film Festival in Borneo, Malaysia. As part of this partnership, we will be presenting the Ngā Whanaunga Māori Pasifika Shorts programme from the New Zealand International Film Festival of 2014. This programme was first presented at the New Zealand International Film Festival, with the short films co-curated by Leo Koziol (Wairoa Maori Film Festival) and Craig Fasi (Pollywood Film Festival).
Click here for the detailed programme screening at the event this June.
Click here to go to the official KKIFF Film Festival website.
Sacred Screen Episode 1
Have you checked out Sacred Screen yet? Hiona Henare has been prolific in interviewing leading Maori and international thinkers about their views on spirituality and indigenous belief systems. Wairoa Maori Film Festival and Nuhaka Films are proud to be supporters of Sacred Screen, and we are planning to host a Sacred Screen half-day symposium at our festival this year. Here is episode one:
(( Please SUBSCRIBE to Ancient Spirits Beckon )) Blessing our sacred screen for this Waitangi day special, we feature Ruia Aperahama and his korero on Maori prophets and prophecy.
Maori Film Letter, February 2015
The latest Maori Film Letter is now online, with the latest information on upcoming events partnering with the Wairoa Maori Film Festival. We are excited about the range of Maori and native films coming through around the world, check out the latest international film festivals, intriguing news from the world of entertainment, and some trailers of films you just might be seeing at the upcoming 10th BIRTHDAY Wairoa Maori Film Festival, May 29th to June 1st, Wairoa Aotearoa New Zealand! READ MAORI FILM LETTER >
T-TAHITI READY FOR LAUNCH
Its all go for T-Tahiti Film Festival (previously Te Nati) in Tahiti this April!
Film visionaries in Tahiti Tiairani Drollet Le Caill, Lennie Hill, Mark Ruak and others are making films in Tahiti and will be showcasing a collection of Maori films. The Maori film programme at T-Tahiti will be:
HOME by Apirana Ipo Te Maipi (Maori)
AHI KA by Richard Curtis (Maori)
TOHUNGA by Rebecca Collins (Maori)
IN THE RUBBISH TIN by Riwia Brown (Maori)
RISING DUST by Jack Woon (Non-Maori)
INC'D by Darren Simmonds (Pakeha)
Check out all the details on their website.
ROQUEFORT PACIFIQUE
Wairoa Maori Film Festival will be present at the Rochefort Pacifique Cinema & Literature in France next month. Held from 25 to 29 March in the town of Rochefort, France, the festival is an ongoing celebration of Pacific film and literature.
Literary luminaries who will be present include Witi Ihimaera, who has had three novels made into films - Whale Rider, Nights in the Garden of Spain, and White Lies. Witi Ihimaera's Patriarch/Bulibasha is currently in pre-production with Lee Tamahori tagged to direct.
A special programme of Maori-made and Maori-themed short films will be presented at the Rochefort Pacifique festival, alongside feature films including WHITE LIES, BOY and THE PA BOYS.
The Maori short film programme at Rochefort Pacifique is curated by the Wairoa Maori Film Festival:
URU by Hiona Henare (Maori)
AHI KA by Richard Curtis (Maori)
PUMANAWA by Poata Eruera (Maori)
TOHUNGA by Rebecca Collins (Maori)
IN THE RUBBISH TIN by Riwia Brown (Maori)
INC'D by Darren Simmonds (Pakeha)
BUTTERFLY by Renae Maihi (Maori)
FOOTSTEPS by Lennie Hill (Maori) (Filmed in Cook Islands)
Representatives of the Wairoa Maori Film Festival will look to strengthen ties with the film industry in France whilst at this festival, including to the CLERMONT-FERRAND FILM FESTIVAL where OW WHAT? by Mike Jonathon is currently screening.