Kia Ora Koutou, the Wairoa Maori Film Festival season has passed, so now we can turn our attention to global trends in Maori film making and indigenous film creativity. And what a world it is!

This past weekend, Taika Waititi has a box office hit with WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS. In a few weeks, DARK HORSE starring Cliff Curtis in a groundbreaking role opens the New Zealand International Film Festival. And photographs are leaking out of the stunning new action thriller DEAD LANDS (below) coming out at the end of 2014!

The Wairoa Maori Film Festival has just had its most successful year ever, with film makers from Hawaii, USA, Poland, Samoa, Tahiti, the Cook Islands and across Aotearoa gathered for a wonderful Maori and indigenous film festival.

We've launched the new Kia Ora TV website (www.kiaora.tv) which we have plans to make into a platform for film makers to present their film works to discerning global audiences. And we've reawakened this ManaWairoa.com website, which will be the home for the Maori Film Letter, a Maori Film Archive, and a more extensive exploration of the history of Wairoa and in particular the history of film on NZ's East Coast (Ngati, Mauri, Broken Barrier, Pa Boys, Whale Rider).

For now Kia Ora TV is the home for our 2014 festival programme, which after Wairoa is travelling to Invercargill, Auckland, Sydney and Brisbane. Wairoa Maori Film Festival is also curator of the Nga Whanaunga Maori Pasifika programme of the NZ International Film Festival, curated this year with the help of guest curator Craig Fasi of the Pollywood Film Festival.

Next year looks even brighter and better! Its our 10th Anniversary, and we're planning something big to celebrate a whole decade of Maori film festivals. To get the ball rolling, we've reawakened this website so you can see where we've been over the past decade.

Next year's festival theme will be a revisiting of the original Wairoa Maori Film Festival theme - Te Ao Mai Nga Whatu Maori - the World Through A Maori Lens. The focus will be on the people behind the camera: the Maori directors and writers who lend authenticity and true indigeneity to film making in Aotearoa today!

Come back here regularly for updates on Maori film, and news as plans for a stellar year for Wairoa Maori Film Festival 2015 progresses!

- Leo Koziol (Ngati Rakaipaaka, Ngati Kahungunu)
Festival Director, Wairoa Maori Film Festival

In this media rich world, there are still many Maori and New Zealand films that are simply difficult to find a way to watch. Some Maori films are available online on YouTube in a less than legal manner, but increasingly options are available to legally view film content and pay to watch a film, with some of the proceeds hopefully making it to the film-makers themselves!

The NZ Film Commission has launched  "Films on Demand" service with great titles available including BOY, CAME A HOT FRIDAY, and UTU. This is a pay site with each film costing about $5 to rent online. The range is a bit "light" at present but is sure to grow in future.

BOY is also available to rent on iTunes (for the current bargain price of 99c) as are a number of other NZ features (though they're hard to find, unfortunately):

Jubilee starring Cliff Curtis
Mt Zion by Tearepa Kahi 
Once Were Warriors by Lee Tamahori
What Becomes of the Broken Hearted by Ian Mune

Overseas subscriber websites without geoblocking that include some NZ films include Mubi and Fandor. And of course Quickflix is available right here in NZ as a subscriber service.

Next month, we'll look through Quickflix for Maori and Australian Aboriginal film content, and profile NZ On Screen which has just released this amazing selection for Matariki.

Jenny Fraser, indigenous film maker and multimedia artist of Australia, was a special guest of the Wairoa Maori Film Festival in 2013. Next month, she launches the Solid Screen Festival at Innot Hot Springs, Far North Queensland.

"SOLID Screen is an International Indigenous Festival of the screen, to be held at Innot Hot Springs and open to the public. 

Solid Screen will include a range of work from screen queens that specialise in a range of contemporary practices. The screening responds to important transformations that have reconfigured opportunities for experimental arts, remix and media practice, internationally, in recent times.

The festival aims "to deliver Indigenous specific screen components to allow opportunities for Indigenous screen artists and artsworkers to develop professionally, develop greater understanding of new media and inter-disciplinary practices, and gain critical feedback on personal projects."

Guests of the festival are from near and far, including film makers from Aotearoa, Australia and Canada.

For more details check out their website at:

http://www.solidscreen.com.au/

It's been a while since our last Maori Film Letter, so here's some news snippets from the past couple of months:

• Aboriginal actor David Gulpilil wins Best Actor at Cannes for his role in CHARLIE'S COUNTRY directed by Rolf De Heer.
• LOADING DOCS has now officially been launched with a number of short documentaries including THE ROAD TO WHAKARAE by Tim Worrall.
• Indigenous Australian films tour East Africa.
• Name of US football team officially deemed racist against Native Americans.
• Top Ten indigenous heroes of Canada include film makers Alanis Obamsawin and actor Chief Dan George (Little Big Man).
• Tangata Whenua.com visits the set of DEAD LANDS.
• Independent “punk rock made” feature film JAKE stars Tainui Tukiwaho as D.
• Māori Television wins prize at WITBN
• Māori web series receives funding which will be “narrowcast” on MTS website
• Keri Kaa wins Children’s Book Award!

Friday May 29 to Monday June 1, 2015 * Matariki
Queen's Birthday Weekend
Kahungunu Marae, Nuhaka, Wairoa, Aotearoa

*** 10 YEAR ANNIVERSARY ***
Theme "Te Ao Mai Nga Whatu Maori -
The World Through A Maori Lens"

www.kiaora.tv
www.manawairoa.com

• TE NATI FILM FESTIVAL AWARD - 2 X RETURN TICKETS TO TAHITI TO ATTEND TE NATI 2015

INC'D by Darren Simmons and Rob Mokaraka

• BEST ACTOR – SHORT FILM (AOTEAROA AUDIENCE AWARD)

Rob Mokaraka in INC’D 

• BEST ACTRESS – SHORT FILM (AOTEAROA AUDIENCE AWARD)

Christine Edwards as Tai in AHI KA

• BEST SHORT FILM (AOTEAROA AUDIENCE AWARD) - PRIZE: TROPHY & $500 SPONSORED BY THE WHAKAKI SMITH WHANAU 

INC'D by Darren Simmons and Rob Mokaraka

• BEST INTERNATIONAL INDIGENOUS ENTRY

THE HAUMANA by Keo Woolford

• BEST AOTEAROA FEATURE DRAMA OR DOCUMENTARY - PRIZE: TROPHY & $500 SPONSORED BY BRAVE STAR MEDIA

KOTIRO MAORI E by Sophronia Smith

• WOMEN IN FILM & TELEVISION (WIFT) MANA WAHINE AWARD

TO KAY ELLMERS

• MANA WAIROA FESTIVAL PRIZE (BEST OVERALL ENTRY) PRIZE: TROPHY & $1,000 SPONSORED BY NGATI KAHUNGUNU IWI INC.

THE PA BOYS, Director Himiona Grace, Producers Mina Mathieson & Ainsley Gardiner

Ancient Spirits Beckon you to the Wairoa Maori Film Festival - a film festival experience like no other!

The festival is held in Kahungunu Marae, Nuhaka, which features in the 1955 epic film Broken Barrier by John O'Shea. Guests can stay on the marae (its included in your $100 festival pass) or at the nearby Morere Hot Springs, only a five minute drive away! 50 films, 16 screenings, guests from Poland, Hawaii, USA, Tahiti and Australia. Join Us!

The Wairoa Maori Film Festival is the premiere Maori and indigenous film festival of Aotearoa. This year our programme is better than ever. We've worked alongside the New Zealand International Film Festival to present a special preview of The Darkside by Warwick Thornton, as well as three programmes of brand new Maori short films.

We have guests from Hawaii to present Kumu Hina and The Haumana, special screenings of NZ features The Pa Boys, Fantail and White Lies, and presentation of the WIFT Mana Wahine Award at our Awards Gala Dinner on Saturday night.

The New Zealand Film Commission continues its auspicious sponsorship of the Wairoa Maori Film Festival, and our programming partners now include imagineNATIVE Film+Media Arts Festival (Toronto), Tropfest New Zealand, Te Nati Film Festival Tahiti and the South Seas Film & Television School.

This year looks better than ever. Three of the new Maori short films will have just screened at Cannes Short Film Corner. If you're an up and coming film maker, interested in making your own film, or simply a mad film fan, then Kahungunu Marae Nuhaka (and the nearby Morere Hot Pools!) is the place to be this Queen's Birthday Weekend!

The Wairoa Maori Film Festival was approached by film makers in Tahiti earlier this year to help them set up the Te Nati Film Festival - six new short films by Maori film makers, six new shorts by native Tahitians. The festival has a focus on cultural exchange, and as a result we can now announce the TE NATI HAWAIIKI HOU SHORT FILM PRIZE.

We have worked with young emerging film makers in Tahiti French Polynesia, lead by Tiairani Drollet-Le Caill, to establish a cultural exchange in film between Maori (Native New Zealand) and Maohi (Native Tahitian) film makers.

Each year, six short films will be selected by each festival to screen at their festival partner. This year, the Wairoa Maori Film Festival worked with the Association of the Te Nati Film Festival to select six Maori short films that will screen in Te Nati in April 2014. The following six films to screen in Tahiti are:

THE RANGIMOEKAUS 5 MIN
HOME (AUSTRALIA) 15 MIN 
TOHUNGA 8 MIN
RISING DUST 15 MIN 
AHI KAA 14 MIN CANNES
INC'D 16 MIN

Our kind thanks to the directors and producers of the above six films who have agreed to their films screening in Tahiti, and with one to receive a PREMIERE PRIZE, the TE NATI "HAWAIIKI HOU" SHORT FILM PRIZE, comprising:

• 1 x International Airfare from Auckland to Papeete to attend the TE NATI FILM FESTIVAL 2015
• Accommodation and meals for 1 person for the duration of their stay in French Polynesia
• Attendance of guest film maker to TE NATI FILM FESTIVAL 2015 at   @ Le Musee de Tahiti et des Iles
  Punaauia, Tahiti, French Polynesia.

The TE NATI "HAWAIIKI HOU" SHORT FILM PRIZE will be presented by Tiairani Drollet-Le Caill and Lennie Hill, Executive members of Te Nati Film Festival, at the Wairoa Maori Film Festival later this month.

This year, Hiona Henare is attending the Berlin Film Festival, 2nd biggest film festival in the world, as one of only 300 film makers worldwide selected to take part in Berlinale Talents. There she will also participate in the NATIVe programme and the European Film Market.

Hiona Henare hails from "The Nua" - Horowhenua/Levin - and is of Ngati Mauaupoko, Ngati Raukawa and Ngapuhi descent. Hiona's film URU won the Audience Award at the Wairoa Maori Film Festival in 2010, and and her film script RABBIT was highly commended at the NZFC-sponsored Pikihuia Awards in 2013.

"After many years in the industry helping others to chase their dreams I am finally bringing my own dreams into the light. What I’ve discovered about myself as a Director/Screenwriter & Producer, is a desire to make films that celebrate a contemporary cinematic femininity. Innovation is vital to my process I don't want to be restricted by technical boundaries I want freedom to take risks... to play organically with natural light and sound, accidental moments, shooting from the hip... spending time on films, not necessarily money."
- Hiona Henare, Berlinale Talents 2014

As well as developing her film project in Berlin, Hiona will work on behalf of the Wairoa Film Festival at the European Film Market to strengthen relations with international native filmmakers.

Hiona Henare is attending Berlinale with the generous support of the New Zealand Film Commission.

The Maoriland Film Festival of Otaki has been announced and launched, with a five-day programme online at their website.

The festival is the creative vision of television producer and film director Libby Hakaraia. Her film "Lawnmower Men of Kapu" won the Aotearoa Short Film - Audience Award at Wairoa Maori Film Festival 2012. 

Libby Hakaraia's vision for Maoriland is spurred on by the "resonance of bringing films back to small communities like Otaki that often get missed out by the big film festivals that go to all the main centres" (Waatea News).

Libby Hakaraia says the Maoriland Film Festival will "complement the Wairoa Maori Film Festival, and it could become part of an international circuit of indigenous film festivals."

The Wairoa Maori Film Festival applauds the launch of Maoriland, with Otaki joining communities like Hokianga, Parihaka, Ruatoki, Waiheke and Nuhaka/Wairoa on a national circuit of Maori film festivals - past, present and future.

After the success of MT ZION, which launched last year on Waitangi Day last year, Kiwi audiences have once again the opportunity to view another modern Maori movie classic on our nation's special day.

The World Premiere took place at Poho-O-Rawiri Marae in Gisborne, thanks to the enthusiastic "crowd-mobbing" of Te Hamua Nikora.

Nothing but positive reviews on TVNZ, NZ Herald, Gisborne Herald, TV3.

The soundtrack has already topped the iTunes charts.

Go see it cuzzies!

It's only February, but there's already the following to report on the Maori / indigenous / Pasifika films front:

FIFO TAHITI: This fabulous film festival of Oceania documentary also includes short films and a "Oceania Pitch" competition. Good thing, too, because both prizes went to NZ-based film makers!

Congratulations! BEST SHORT FILM to I’M GOING TO MUM’S directed by Lauren Jackson and produced by Andrew Cochrane & Jeremy Macey, that wins a prize of 100 000 XPF.

Congratulations! PITCH PRIZE to NIKKI SI’ULEPA, for her project TAKU IPUKAREA, that wins a price of 120 000 XPF.

For the full list of winners, go to the FIFO WEBSITE.

AACTA AWARDS AUSTRALIA:  Deadly! Our Aussie indigenous mates took out Best Drama - Television at the AACTA Australia film and television awards for REDFERN NOW (Season Two) directed by Darren Dale and Miranda Dear.

New Zealand's own TOP OF THE LAKE took out Best Mini-Series or Tele-Feature.

Full list of awards here.

WIFT WOMEN IN FILM & TELEVISION AWARDS NEW ZEALAND: After a couple of year's break, WIFT NZ is relaunching the WIFT Awards:

"2014 marks an impressive 10 years since the inception of the Women in Film and Television Awards. After a 3 year hiatus, we're back honouring success within our industry since 2010.

We are also giving a special acknowledgement to the past 3 winners of the Wairoa Maori Film Festival's recipients of the WIFT Mana Wahine Award - Keri Kaa, Ella Henry and Katie Wolfe." - WIFT website

Also to be presented on the night will be the Te Puni Kōkiri Te Reo Maori Champion Award.

Join us once again in 2014 for the Wairoa Maori Film Festival.
Kahungunu Marae, Nuhaka, Wairoa District, Thursday May 29th to Monday June 2nd 2014. Theme: "Indigenous Frequencies."
www.manawairoa.com

Very big news to end out the year. Avatar 2, 3 and 4 will be made out of New Zealand, and will be released sequentially in 2016, 2017 and 2018.

The New Zealand Government has made substantial amendments to industry incentives, see coverage New York Times.

The DVD and Blu Ray of Avatars will feature promos of New Zealand. Hopefully with some inclusion of Maori and Pacific Cultures. James Cameron will sit on an industry panel. NZ government will be an investor in films that look to make vast profits. More >

Avatar famously includes a pivotal "Hongi" scene derived from Maori and Polynesian culture.

Hollywood looks set once again to exploit Polynesian culture in a (literally) Disneyfied way in Disney's Moana.

Is it okay for Hollywood to continue to exploit indigenous stories and storytelling? Do indigenous people and artists benefit in any ways from projects such as these?

ATOM AWARDS AUSTRALIA

The IPAF Atom Awards in Australia recognises film and media excellence in education and industry.

In 2013, the Winner of Best indigenous Resource was YANGAN by Kelrick Martin (Director) and Martin Jowsey (Producer). The film tells the story of the fight for an Aboriginal warrior’s return home to unite his broken community – 180 years after his brutal murder.

Finalist Judges for this category in 2013 were Leo Koziol, Festival Director, Wairoa Maori Film Festival and Penny Smallacombe, Acquisitions and Programming, NITV Australia.

MOA FILM AWARDS AOTEAROA

Both Maori and Pasifika film makers and actors were recognised at the second ever Moa Film Awards of Aotearoa last week.

SHOPPING by Louis Sutherland (Samoan) and Mark Albiston swept the awards:

Rialto Channel Best Film: Shopping
Flying Fish Best Director: Shopping - Louis Sutherland and Mark Albiston
Apex Insurance Best Screenplay: Shopping - Louis Sutherland and Mark Albiston 
Mili Pictures Best Supporting Actor: Shopping - Julian Dennison 
Mili Pictures Best Supporting Actress: Shopping - Laura Petersen 
Niche Cameras Best Cinematography: Shopping - Ginny Loane 
Letterboxd Best Poster Design: Shopping - Geoff Francis 

Villa Maria Best Actress went to Papua New Guinean actress Xzannjah for Mr Pip.

Lotech Best Documentary Editor went to He Toki Huna: NZ in Afghanistan - Annie Goldson and James Brown. The film's Directors were Annie Goldson and Kay Ellmers.

Though nominated for nine Moa Awards, Mt Zion only walked away with one: APRA Best Sound: Mt Zion - Dick Reade.

The highlight of the evening was presentation of a Lifetime Achievement Award to Geoff Murphy.

INDIGENOUS FILM ADVANCES TOWARDS OSCARS

Though no Maori or New Zealand live action short films are in contention for the 2014 Oscars, a Native Canadian Inuit film has made the short list of ten.

Throat Song by Miranda Pencier and Stacey Aglok McDonald (Inuk) is the story of a young Inuit woman who searches for a way out of her abusive relationship only to find the voice she thought she'd lost forever.

Documentary filmmaker Alanis Obamsawin (Canada) has received the Lifetime Achievement Award in Filmmaking for her dedication to documenting the lives and concerns of First Nations people in Canada.

The Award was presented by the international WIFTS foundation in Los Angeles. More details at their website >

Prizes were also presented to Antonio Prebble and Dana Rotberg for their work on WHITE LIES.

Join us once again in 2014 for the Wairoa Maori Film Festival.
Kahungunu Marae, Nuhaka, Wairoa District, Thursday May 29th to Monday June 2nd 2014. Theme: "Indigenous Frequencies."
www.manawairoa.com