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
PRESS RELEASE: HAWAIIKI HOU - WORLD MAORI FILM FESTIVAL CONGRESS
Brent Reihana and Riika Lintola of the SYDNEY MAORI FILM FESTIVAL, a founder member of Hawaiiki Hou the World Maori Film Festival Congress.
31 MAY 2015, Wairoa, Aotearoa New Zealand: At the Maori Film Awards last evening, hosted at the Gaiety Cinema as part of the Wairoa Maori Film Festival, HAWAIIKI HOU - the World Maori Film Festival Congress was launched.
Former Wairoa Mayor Derek Fox announced the establishment of the World Maori Film Festival Congress. The newly established World Maori Film Festival Congress will connect cinematic art events in Nuhaka, Wairoa, Auckland, Sydney, Cairns, Rarotonga, Honolulu, Tahiti and New York City.
Events that are founder members of this network are:
Wairoa Maori Film Festival, a premiere signature Maori event hosted in Nuhaka and Wairoa annually by Te Roopu Whakaata Maori I Te Wairoa Inc. Sponsor include New Zealand Film Commission, Wairoa District Council and Te Matarae O Te Wairoa Trust.
Rarotonga Maori Film Festival: Wairoa Maori Film Festival is working together with Derek Fox and Jaewynn McKay of Woven Pacific. The Rarotonga Maori Film Festival will occur in the Cook Islands later this year as part of the 50th Anniversary of Cook Islands Independence, hosted by Aotearoa House.
Sydney Maori Film Festival, to occur in Sydney later this year. Hosted by Brent Reihana and Riika Lintola of the Sydney Maori Business Network, this is the third Maori Film Festival hosted in Sydney, Australia.
New York Maori Film Festival: Wairoa Maori Film Festival is working together with Sarah Smith of Mokoism to launch a joint venture New York Maori Film Festival for late 2015. Event partners are in discussions with the Metropolitan Museum of Art to host the Opening Gala for the New York Maori Film Festival, with a delegation of Maori film makers in attendance.
Representatives of three associate members of the World Maori Film Festival Congress were present and talked of their festival events which will share indigenous film content, including Maori, Hawaiian and Aboriginal Australian.
Jenny Fraser spoke of the SOLID SCREEN Screen Arts festival held in Innot Hot Springs, Queensland, and hosted out of Cairns, Australia. SOLID SCREEN hosted a gathering of global indigenous wahine in 2014, including Hiona Henare, film maker and member of the Wairoa Maori Film Festival Board.
Lennie Hill spoke of the T-Tahiti Maori to Maohi film festival, founded by himself and Tiairani Drollet LeCaill of Tahiti. T-Tahiti sponsored two Tahitian film makers to be in attendance at the Wairoa Maori Film Festival, and sponsored the T-Tahiti Wairoa prize that will see Tim Worrall, director of "Tits on a Bull" flying business class to Tahiti next year to the T-Tahiti film festival.
Louisa Tipene Opetaia spoke of the Aotearoa NZ Film Festival held annually at the Honolulu Museum of Art in Hawaii. Each year, NZ films are screened at the museum, including a selection of short films curated by the Wairoa Maori Film Festival.
This announcement was made a sold-out Gala Awards Dinner at the newly reopened Gaiety Cinema in Wairoa. Stark Raving production is looking to set up a film production house out of the Gaiety Cinema, including full post-production facilities. Stark Raving is based in Hong Kong and is associated with the Shaw Group of film studios, whose heritage go back to the era of Bruce Lee.
ENDS
Packed house at the Gaiety Cinema, Wairoa, for the Maori Film Awards.
PRESS RELEASE: MAORI FILM AWARDS 2015
MAY 31 2015: The newly reopened Gaiety Cinema in Wairoa hosted the Maori Film Awards Gala of the Wairoa Maori Film Festival last night.
The following awards were presented:
AOTEAROA SHORT FILM - BEST ACTOR (AUDIENCE AWARD)
TIMOTI TIAKIWAI – IN OW WHAT? BY MIKE JONATHON
AOTEAROA SHORT FILM - BEST ACTRESS (AUDIENCE AWARD)
MARIA WALKER - IN TITS ON A BULL BY TIM WORRALL
T-TAHITI PRIZE (RETURN BUSINESS CLASS FLIGHT TO TAHITI ON AIR TAHITI)
TITS ON A BULL BY TIM WORRALL
AOTEAROA SHORT FILM - BEST SHORT FILM (AUDIENCE AWARD)
TITS ON A BULL BY TIM WORRALL
WOMEN IN FILM & TELEVISION WIFT MANA WAHINE AWARD
CHELSEA WINSTANLEY
INTERNATIONAL INDIGENOUS PRIZE
BLACK PANTHER WOMAN - BY RACHEL PERKINS
MANA WAIROA AWARD FOR OVERALL BEST ENTRY & ADVANCEMENT OF INDIGENOUS RIGHTS TO:
CONFESSIONS OF PRISONER T - THE TEINA PORA STORY - MICHAEL BENNETT
Keynote speaker was veteran film maker Gaylene Preston who also presented the WIFT Mana Wahine Award. Chelsea Winstanley was unable to attend, as she is six months hapu, but was able to send a Skype video for everyone at the festival.
Michael Bennett was present to accept the Mana Wairoa Award. He also invited lead investigator in the Teina Pora Case Tim McKinnell to the stage, where he received a standing ovation.
Over 100 people attended two Powhiri on Friday afternoon at Kahungunu Marae, followed by a night and two days of screenings at a packed marae.
To commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Wairoa Maori Film Festival and the 40th anniversary of the Maori Artists & Writers Hui in Wairoa in 1975, Saturday afternoon was given over to a roundtable discussion about the past, present and future of Maori film.
Speakers on the roundtable included academics Dr Davinia Thornley (Univ. of Otago), Deborah Walker Morrison (Univ. of Auckland) and Dr Ella Henry (AUT). Film makers part of the "Maori New Wave" spoke of their self-funded projects in gestation: Hiona Henare on Native in Nuhaka, Lennie Hill on Umbrella Man, Mark Ruka on Barcrawl, Nikki Si'ulepa on her Latin America travel diary, and Kim Hegan on 54 Ghandi Road.
On Sunday, films also screened at the Gaiety Cinema in Wairoa. The closing night is a "Bush Cinema" at Morere Hot Springs, ended a grand celebration of 10 years of the Maori Film Festival in Wairoa.
ENDS
DECOLONISING THE SPIRIT
DECOLONISING THE SPIRIT
By Leo Koziol, Festival Director, Wairoa Māori Film Festival
A curated collection of Maori Made and Maori Themed Shorts Films
Selection for Rochefort Pacifique Festival of Cinema & Literature 2015
Tihei Mauriora!
Ka Tangi Te Titi!
Ka Tangi Te Kaka!
Ka Tangi Hoki Ko Au!
The breath of life!
The Titi bird sings in the sea!
The Kaka bird sings in the forest!
The song and cry of life heralds to the universe!
Ko Leo Koziol taku ingoa
Ko Ngati Kahungunu te Iwi
Ko Rakaipaaka te Hapu
Ko Moumoukai te Maunga
Ko Nuhaka Te Awa
Ko Nuhaka Te Kainga
Ko Kahungunu Te Marae
Te Roopu Whakaata Maori I Te Wairoa i te Moemoea!
I am Leo Koziol of the Kahungunu tribe
My sub tribe is Rakaipaaka
My mountain is Moumoukai
My river and village is Nuhaka
My meeting house is Kahungunu Marae
There we live the dream every year of the Wairoa Maori Film Festival!
I bring with me here to Rochefort, France, Europe, the dreams and visions of our Maori people of Aotearoa New Zealand, the Tangata Whenua people of the land!
We celebrate Tangata Maori film making – stories of the collective culture of our islands and society that are identifiable as Maori, stories from our many tribes across our many islands, a people now collectively known in the modern western colonised world as Māori!
Every year for the past decade, we have gathered in Wairoa to screen and purview the best of new Maori film making – new storytelling on screen. We are fortunate in our country to have an arts positive agency in the form of the New Zealand Film Commission – and I acknowledge Witi Ihimaera, our esteemed fellow guest and board member of the commission – this commission funds on an ongoing basis film making and storytelling in our country and their record of support and funding for Maori tales in recent times is strong.
So this collection of short films is presented to you all here this week. Maori films that reflect what it means to be MAORI NOW – to be of FREE SPIRIT to celebrate the culture and traditions we hold dear, to be of ACTIVIST SPIRIT to reflect on the journey we have travelled in facing the challenge of our cultural colonisation, and to be of OPEN SPIRIT attuned to the deeper elements and heart of Papatuanuku – our great Earth Mother – and Ranginui – our great Sky Father!
My tribe is Ngati Kahungunu, and my village is Nuhaka. In the shadow of Moumoukai mountain our great ancestor Rakaipaaka settled, and we now are a proud and independent sub tribe in our hidden valley. Kahungunu was protagonist in one of Maoridom’s greatest love stories, he stole the heart of Rongomaiwahine from neighbouring Mahia and from this love our energy and stories was borne.
Our mantra in all of time has been Make Love, Not War. Kahungunu's children set forth into battle only reluctantly, and then often times for reasons of romance, not vengeance. Kahungunu's eldest son Kahukuranui set forth into battle to win the hand of the woman who would become his wife, Tu Teihonga, his task to bring her the man who had murdered her first husband. Kahukuranui succeeded, and a love was borne, and the first child of this love was Rakaipaaka, chieftain ancestor of my village.
From this seed that spread outwards came the story of Te Huki, who strategically married his children across the land to create a stronghold for Kahungunutanga. The story of Mahinarangi, who wooed Tainui chief Turongo with the scent of oiled Kawakawa leaves, bringing peace between two great warring tribes, and establishing the strong and culturally rich Ngati Raukawa tribe of today.
But my job here today is not to tell you stories and tales of my tribe (though I think very much they would make great films!). My job here today is to honour the stories and tales of other tribes, stories put onto screen in a selection of films screening this week at Rochefort Pacifique.
FREE SPIRIT
Before Aotearoa, came Hawaiiki. It is readily acknowledge by many that the shores of Rarotonga are where the many great canoe set off for Aotearoa, my line of ancestry coming from the Takitimu canoe, a canoe of Tohunga, of tapu (sacred) males who intermarried with those who came before (some of them their own relatives) to establish tribes from the top of the North Island to the bottom of the South.
Maori film maker from Ngapuhi, Lennie Hill, independently funded and made FOOTSTEPS, a realisation on screen of an ancient story of the Cook Islands people, the people of Rarotonga and their many neighbouring islands. In the film, a young boy and his father are threatened by an enemy canoe, so they make chase to the nearest island where the father cleverly covers his son’s footsteps with his own, and then hides his son up a tree. Alas, the father is murdered and the son can only look by in silence and grieve his father's loss. He wraps his father's body in leaves and takes him out to sea, out to Tangaroa from whence he came. As they filmed this movie, the sacred fish of the Cook Islands people swam in, believed by people of this tribe to be the spirits of departed souls returning. Lennie Hill filmed this work on site on the island of Aitutaki, with untrained actors retelling a tribal story of their own people.
Rebecca Collins, also from Ngapuhi, translates a story in the inter-times, when Maori were beginning to be colonised and traditional TOHUNGA (shamen, witch doctor, spirit doctor) practices were beginning to be suppressed. A young boy is ill, a paean to the story of NGATI by the great rangatira of film making Barry Barclay. He lays in bed until one of the Aunties realises perhaps the Tohunga can help. The film is a window into another world and another time; the story, of Ngapuhi and of Hokianga, is told in the Hokianga, and the landscape and light of the place is still alive and on screen. The Tohunga comes, and we bea witness to a sacred spiritual practice, one which, as we learn at the end of the film, English colonising authorities were already taking actions to suppress.
These two films are windows into a world, a world now long gone. Because the writing was on the wall, and the march of colonisation was on its way.
ACTIVIST SPIRIT
The triple threat of land theft, religious conversion and cultural belittlement is explored in the next clutch of films.
In Richard Curtis’ AHI KA a young girl sets up camp to ward off and fool the surveyors. Following the principle of "terra nullis" (empty land) land surveyors of the time would peg out and claim ownership of land that had no demonstrable existence of residence. So, in a true story, a young girl sets up camp, lights a fire (the “ahi ka” or flame of occupation) and demonstrates a very early example of the Maori activist spirit.
In PUMANAWA and URU, both of our protagonists find the activist spirit in them to rebel against both Christianity and western cultural superiority.
In Poata Eruera’s PUMANAWA, Mere is deemed as unworthy of her deeply Christian husband, he asks God to forgive her for her "fallen" nature and so she runs away only to be symbolically crowned by thorns of a barb wire fence. Mere finds her spiritual strength to follow her true self in the ghost spirits of her ancestors that she constantly sees and honours by making traditional "Texas Bread." At the end of the film, this tradition continues with her daughter, and the circle is closed.
In Hiona Henare's URU, the character of Uru has turned her back on Maori ways and traditions. She has found the love of a white man, and her mannerisms and speech have been colonised, she belittles her sister’s use of the Maori language and activist belief in traditional culture, she has no interest in going along to the belittled "women's hui."
Then halfway through the film something turns. The death in childbirth of her handmaiden reminds URU of the time she lost her child in miscarriage, wandering lost in a dream in the forest she sees her past self where she is burying in ritual her lost baby, returning baby to papatuanuku the earth mother.
By the end she is transformed, in a literal water ritual she becomes the barefoot Maori woman activist at the end of the film, imbued with "Ihi" a force from outside of herself that deeply remembers who she is and where she comes from.
As an aside, Hiona Henare's URU is actually based on a real speech present to a Māori women’s welfare hui in the 1800s of Ngāti Kahungunu women, with the closing speech being the words of the speech presented in real life in the past. The outcome of this hui was the establish of the New Zealand Māori Women’s Welfare League dedicated to supporting women and families in health, welfare and care.
OPEN SPIRIT
I end this conversation with a discussion on three contemporary shorts, BUTTERFLY, INC'D and IN THE RUBBISH TIN. These three contemporary tales share the theme of struggling to retain a free and open spirit in the face of adversity and the challenges of modern life.
Young Kiri in BUTTERFLY is teenage and pregnant, we don't know who the father is, but it is hinted that it is her stepfather. Present day Kiri is pregnant and knows this new child will be redemption for her of "the one that got away" the baby they came in to her life but just wasn't meant to be.
Kiri is estranged from her family back home – her mother is white, so one assumes her birth father was Maori – so she finds solace and family in the Kapa Haka group. She is open and proud in spirit on the stage when she is performing the poi, she knows the one who cannot stay is inside her and she is proud.
That Kiri is able to open in spirit in the face of such adversity, proud that a little spirit dwells inside her as she performs on the stage, a spirit she knows is destined to leave, is a reflection of an ability to achieve a decolonisation of the spirit.
Alas the lead character in Riwia Brown’s IN THE RUBBISH TIN does not have the same ability to find strength in adversity. Pippa is a latchkey kid, left at home alone on the day of her birthday, she wanders the street until she finds she has to find shelter from the rain in – of all places – the rubbish tin. Yet the strength she finds in adversity is able to shine, the resilience of a child aware of the fear of the world – her only friend a dog-eared teddy bear – the sense is that Pippa will persevere and continue to see hope and light in the world.
The film is a highly collaborative work, the animation by the Pakeha Simmonds brothers, based on a short story by Apirana Taylor. INC’D isa another work of collaboration between Maori and non-Maori / Paheka film makers. It controversially took the Best Short Film – Audience Award at the Wairoa Maori Film Festival last year, and it is a work of film I would view as being a Pakeha film – a film that decolonizes the Pakeha spirit by holding a mirror up to the prejudices and conventions of present day mainstream NZ and Australian culture.
Gary is rich and successful, a corporate ladder climber working in Australia. He has to go home for his father’s tangi (funeral) and there the wero (challenge) is laid down:
Ko tenei te turangawaewae
Ko tenei to iwi
Ko tenei to marae
This is your land
This is your tribe
This is your marae
Gary must take a transformative step to acknowledge the handing down of the Rangatira (chiefly) line, and he does so by the receiving of the ta moko – the tattooing of the face in Maori tradition.
He returns to Sydney, and faces the consequence. His corporate bosses send him packing quickly out the door. But he can return to his people, to his forgotten daughter, to Aotearoa where ta moko is no longer a barrier to employment.
One imagines two other dream versions of this film. One, where, like a stock lawsuit drama – think “Philadelphia” or “North Country” or “Erin Brockovich” – Gary takes his court case to the human rights commission and wins his case to express his culture in the tradition of his people, and at the end of the film he gets a high powered CEO role at a Japanese corporation, where his new board are all tatted-up Yakuza chiefs.
The other, I imagine a young Maori Member of Parliament in the 1930s, still has a tattoo on his arm, goes to the Maori Committee Chambers in Wellington, and his wife absentmindedly only irons a short sleeve shirt. On a hot January Wellington day, the Chairman of the Committee – no doubt, an Englishman – says “Gentleman, I give you permission to remove your jackets,” such was the tradition of the time. The poor 1930s Gary is berated repeatedly, until mopping his heavy brow, he removes his jacket to a universal “gasp” from everyone in the room when they see his ta moko – on his arm.
The director and producer of INC’D have held up a mirror to Pakeha attitudes to Maori culture. Gary and other young successful Maori can wear Ta Moko with pride and respect, an outward reflection of the deep confidence held within. It’s the Pakeha culture – be it Invercargill, Auckland or Sydney – that needs to adjust and live within a bicultural (Aotearoa) or multicultural (Australia) framework for society to grow, and indeed, decolonize its spirit.
A coda – the Producer of the film, Ian Bowmer, made sure the Maori consultation on his film with Darren Simmonds was strong . This involved a script advisory with Brad Haami, and cultural consultation with Cyril Gilroy from the marae in Invercargill. The lead actor, Rob Mokaraka, made substantial input into the cultural storytelling of the film, and was tagged on as a Creative Producer.
CONCLUSION
The paradox of our age is that the more technology pushes us apart, the more it demands us to come together to remember the fundamentals of the communal experience. We can watch film as a stranger in a cinema or alone on a big screen television in isolation, but when we watch films collectively there is a different energy of purpose.
This energy of purpose is about embracing notions of community: be it the community of a small village such as Nuhaka, or the global village of indigenous film makers who flock to our festival each year. This energy of purpose is about embracing the indigenous frequencies that are a commonality between all peoples with a strong connection to the Earth and the Universe, to Papatuanuku and Ranginui.
Attune to these frequencies, and you can commence the process of decolonizing your spirit. Sit through a collection of Maori-themed short films, in all their postmodern diversity, and you find a slow awakening of both spirit and dreaming.
I spoke with Maori academic Dr Pat Hohepa recently about the people of French Polynesia and their fascination with Aotearoa. He said they see us – Maori of New Zealand – as a "Hawaiiki Hou," or a "New Hawaiiki." The collection of Māori directed and Māori themed short films presented in the collection here at Rochefort Pacifique tell us yes, Ka Pai, a New Hawaiiki is Borne.
- Leo Koziol, Ngati Rakaipaaka, Ngati Kahungunu
Rue Pierre Loti, Rochefort, France, March 2015
WIFT MANA WAHINE AWARD 2015
Photographer: Kane Skennar
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: WAIROA MAORI FILM FESTIVAL INC and WOMEN IN FILM & TELEVISION (WIFT) NZ, 11 MAY 2015
Women in Film & Television (WIFT) NZ and the Wairoa Māori Film Festival Inc. are proud to announce the 2015 WIFT NZ Mana Wahine Award recipient is one of New Zealand's most exciting newer producers, Chelsea Winstanley (Ngati Ranginui).
The award will be presented at the Gala Festival Awards at the iconic Gaiety Theatre, Wairoa, on Saturday May 30.
The 2009 recipient of the Woman to Watch Award at the WIFT Film and Television Awards, Chelsea has produced and directed feature films, television, documentaries and short films since, receiving many international awards and accolades along the way.
With Taika Waititi and Emanuel Michael, Chelsea produced the multi award-winning mockumentary What We Do in the Shadows, which has played at prestigious international film festivals, notably Toronto (winner of the People’s Choice award) Sundance and Berlin. The film currently holds the number one slot on the comedy and horror charts on US iTunes after a limited, highly successful self-funded cinema release in the US. Together with Taika Waititi, Chelsea was responsible for distributing the film both within New Zealand and internationally, with remarkable innovation and results.
The judging panel selected Chelsea for the quality and success of her body of work so far and for her professionalism, integrity and willingness to take risks. As a young Māori woman and mother of two, she is leading the way for other up-and-coming Māori women screen practitioners, with her example of a fearless approach to the international market for Māori storytelling.
She has been an executive board member of Nga Aho Whakaari (Māori in Screen) and a governance board member of WIFT Auckland.
Tickets for the Awards Gala and Film Festival can be booked at Eventfinder - Gala Awards $80. Full and Festival Pass including Gala $225.
http://www.eventfinder.co.nz/2015/wairoa-maori-film-festival/Wairoa
The Wairoa Māori Film Festival this year has 28 screenings with 62 shorts, six documentaries and five features. Screenings are held in Kahungunu Marae, Nuhaka, famed for featuring in scenes from John O’Shea’s BROKEN BARRIER in 1955. For the first time since 2009, the festival will also be at the reopened Gaiety Theatre in Wairoa. Guests in attendance include international film makers from Tahiti and Australia. For the first time, the festival is hosting the premiere of a feature film, UMBRELLA MAN, by Lennie Hill, screening on opening night and at the 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. The Māori Film Awards Gaiety Grand Gala will include presentation of a number of awards, including the WIFT Mana Wahine Award, and a special “Native Now!” multimedia showcase with works by Charlotte Graham, Marta Szymanska, Rosanna Raymond, Mika and Lisa Reihana. Special presentations include a 4th cinema academic panel, a “Māori new wave” micro budget film making panel, a special screening of CONFESSIONS OF PRISONER T with director Michael Bennett and private investigator Tim McKinnell, and the first NZ screening of Jason Momoa’s ROAD TO PALOMA. 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, Te Matarae O Te Wairoa Trust and Wairoa District Council. The entire programme can be viewed online at: www.kiaora.tv
Here's the Line Up for Wairoa 2015...
Announcing the Official Programme of the
Wairoa Maori Film Festival 2015
Friday May 29 to Monday June 1, 2015 * Matariki
Queen's Birthday Weekend
Film Hui: Kahungunu Marae, Nuhaka, Wairoa, Aotearoa
Grand Gala and Maori Film Day: Gaiety Theatre, Wairoa, Aotearoa
Closing Night: Morere Hot Springs, Wairoa, Aotearoa
FRIDAY MAY 29TH: KAHUNGUNU MARAE, NUHAKA
3 pm Official Festival Powhiri
4 pm Registration
5 pm Wahine Shorts
5.30 pm Welcome Hakari Dinner
6 pm Maori Shorts I
8 pm Umbrella Man - Lennie Hill
SATURDAY MAY 30TH: KAHUNGUNU MARAE, NUHAKA
9.15 am World Shorts I
10.30 am Genome
11 am Maori Shorts II
12 pm Lunch with Virtual Reality Demo
12.30 pm 4th Cinema Academic Panel: Dr. Ella Henry, Dr. Davinia Thornley, Deborah Walker Morrison
1.30 pm The Maori New Wave Panel
3 pm The Dead Lands (R) Toa Fraser
3 pm Hawaiian Shorts (G)
SATURDAY MAY 30TH: GAIETY THEATRE, WAIROA
6 pm Ribbon Cutting with Mayor of Wairoa
6.30 pm Red Carpet Reception
7 pm Maori Film Awards Gaiety Grand Gala!
Keynote: Gaylene Preston ONZM, Native Now! Media Art Showcase, Live Music, Kapa Haka
SUNDAY MAY 31ST: KAHUNGUNU MARAE, NUHAKA
9 am Black Panther Woman - Rachel Perkins
9 am World Shorts II
10 am Another Trip to the Moon - Ismael Basbeth
10 am My Legacy
11 am Circle of Life
11.30 am Confessions of Prisoner T - Michael Bennett
12.30 pm Lunch
1 pm Road to Paloma (R) Jason Momoa
1 pm Te Kati - Goethe Mystery (G)
2 pm Tatau
3 pm The Dark Horse
5 pm Closing Dinner
SUNDAY MAY 31ST: GAIETY THEATRE, WAIROA
10 am to 2.30 pm Wairoa Maori Short Film Day FREE
A collection of Family-Friendly NZ short films to celebrate the reopening of the Gaiety Theatre
3 pm Umbrella Man - Lennie Hill
SUNDAY MAY 31ST: MORERE CLOSING NIGHT FREE
7 pm Bush Cinema - Underground Shorts
9 pm DJ Set - Daughters of Hathor with Media Art Projections
MONDAY JUNE 1: KAHUNGUNU MARAE, NUHAKA
9 am Poroporoaki and Formal Closing of Festival
The End
Wairoa Maori Film Festival 2008
A powerful image from Tearepa Kahi's TAUA formed the poster for our 2008 festival.
2011 WAIROA MAORI FILM FESTIVAL
In 2011, we reflected on the development of the Maori film industry, looking at some of the landmark works in Maori film making. The article was published in MANA, and is below.
You can also DOWNLOAD THE FULL 2011 FILM PROGRAMME HERE IN PDF.
MANA MAGAZINE THIS MONTH asked me to reflect on the development of the Maori film industry, and in particular pick my five favourite Maori films of all time. My first two thoughts
were to think of the breadth and depth of Maori talent out there, and how difficult it would be to whittle my list down to five. I sat down with my thoughts, and came to arrive at five dramatic features, one short film and a documentary. I listed what are arguably the seven most groundbreaking Maori films, one for each star of Matariki.
With the outstanding exception of Ramai Hayward and her creative marriage to Rudall Hayward, it wasn’t until the early 1980s that Maori began to tell their own stories onscreen. NGATI (1987) was the first feature film directed and written by Maori, with a primarily Maori cast. Barry Barclay’s direction paired with Tama Poata’s script presented the archetypal East Coast story, with an ensemble cast lead by Wi Kuki Kaa. Each went on to sustain careers in film, Barry going on to direct three more features and a number of documentary works, Wi Kuki in further features and shorts, his last starring role in River Queen.
The second feature film directed and written by Maori was ONCE WERE WARRIORS (1994). It was a stunner. It broke box office records, and made stars of Rena Owen, Cliff Curtis and Temuera Morrison. On the strength of their performances, this trio of actors were able to seek out and get work in Hollywood, often in ethnic character roles and, curiously, science fiction epics. Director Lee Tamahori has since had ups and downs in Hollywood, but his current upswing is the story of the son of Saddam Hussein, “The Devil’s Double” which premiered at Sundance this year.
The impact of ONCE WERE WARRIORS were cultural and were broad. Lee Tamahori’s adaptation of the Alan Duff novel held nothing back and put a warts and all mirror up to Maori society and the kiwi underclass. The film dealt with issues of gangs, crime, disaffection, rape, sexism, incest and family violence and it sent a powerful message that embracing our traditional Maori culture, living within a tikanga-based whanau-connected framework, is a genuine and real way to escape from this vicious circle.
The cultural impact of Don Selwyn’s MAORI MERCHANT OF VENICE (2002) were similarly significant for our culture, but in a much gentler way. This two and a half hour Shakespeare adaptation silenced doubters and drew fluent Reo speaking audiences to cinemas across the country, the first feature fully scripted and presented in Te Reo Maori. Two years later, Maori Television was launched, and suddenly we had gone from two hours of “ghetto” Sunday morning Reo programming on TVNZ to a whole bilingual channel presenting news, documentaries, talk shows, game shows, sports and karaoke competitions in primetime.
WHALE RIDER (2002) was released not long after Maori Merchant of Venice. Some in the Maori film-making community argue that this is not a Maori film, having been directed by a Pakeha. I tend to agree, but only in one respect. WHALE RIDER is first and foremost a Woman’s film, and then secondly a Maori film. Niki Caro’s adaptation of Witi Ihimaera’s children’s book is an uncompromising magical realism feminist fable that sings the song of Tangaroa. It’s worth noting that Niki Caro’s next film was NORTH COUNTRY, a powerful story where Charlize Theron’s character – in the great spirit of Paikea – refused to accept sexual harassment and inequity as a woman.
WHALE RIDER made an Oscar-nominated star and celebrity of Keisha Castle Hughes, following in the teen acting footsteps of Anna Paquin in Jane Campion’s THE PIANO. Keisha has gone on to a number of acting roles in Israel, Australia, and France, including one playing the Virgin Mary, though surprisingly none in a Maori role to date.
Also making an appearance at the Oscars – though asleep at the time – was Taika Waititi. His Oscar-nominated short TWO CARS, ONE NIGHT (2004) finally came to full cinematic fruition with the release of BOY (2010) last year. We played the two films one after the other at a packed Taihoa Marae; and you could see once again that, like a modern-day Maui, Taika had the storytelling gift from day one. BOY’s box office smashing success was a surprise, his continuing ability to capture audiences heart and soul was not. Taika is starring with Ryan Reynolds and Temuera Morrison this June in GREEN LANTERN, and has also just had his television pilot picked up by MTV USA.
The documentary is DAY 507 (1978). We still reel from Merata Mita’s sudden passing a year ago, but the film works that she has left behind are taonga that tell the story of a nation and a generation. Merata bore witness to the eviction of Ngati Whatua from their ancestral land on May 25, 1978, and she chose to record this on film with the support of the people of the land. Riveting, groundbreaking, heartbreaking.
Merata had just returned to Aotearoa to work and produce and mentor many emerging young Maori film makers. And it is there that the legacy must continue. Barry Barclay, Tama Poata, Wi Kuki Kaa, Don Selwyn and Merata Mita, our forebears of Maori film, film-making and storytelling have passed to the spirit world, but the vision persists.
Today, looking at the WAIROA MAORI FILM FESTIVAL programme for 2011, we have the talent, we have the commitment and we have the stories to keep putting ourselves uncompromisingly onscreen. Actors like Temuera Morrison in TRACKER, Pete Smith in HUGH AND HEKE, Rangimoana Taylor in HOOK LINE & SINKER. Director Michael Bennett with his first feature film MATARIKI. New short film directors like Rachel House, Nathaniel Hinde, Tammy Davis and Kararaina Rangihau.
The kaupapa laid down for the WAIROA MAORI FILM FESTIVAL was to celebrate and support Maori film and film making talent, leading the way as indigenous film makers, and striving to achieve as global film makers. We celebrate the achievements of this year’s Maori film and acting community, and look forward to more films in future – a second feature completely in Te Reo, a 3D science fiction fantasy film with Taniwha and Turehu, and another blockbuster from Taika Waititi. GIRL?
- Leo Koziol, Festival Director Wairoa Maori Film Festival
Our Second Year Programme
in 2006, we profiled NGATI with special guest Barry Barclay present, along with Keri Kaa. We remembered Tama Poata and Wi Kuki Kaa who had passed the previous year.
Take A Trip Down Memory Lane
Here on PDF is the original festival programme for the Wairoa Maori Film Festival way back in 2005... CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD IN PDF FILE
