PRESS RELEASE: WAIROA MAORI FILM FESTIVAL PROGRAMME NOW ONLINE
May 5th 2010, Nuhaka, Wairoa District, New Zealand
OVER NINE MONTHS OF WORK BEHIND THE SCENES has now come to fruition with the release of the festival programme of the WAIROA MAORI FILM FESTIVAL 2010. The festival event starts in Wairoa on Thursday 3rd June, then on to Nuhaka (Wairoa District) from Friday 4th June through to Monday 7th June (Queen’s Birthday). Hosts for the weekend are the Taihoa Marae Committee and Kahungunu Marae Committee. “Involving both of these marae closely with the operation of the festival is both a way for us to give back to these communities, and a way to profile more of the Wairoa District,” says Festival Director Leo Koziol, who is of Rakaipaaka, Kahungunu and Polish American descent.
The Wairoa Maori Film Festival Programme is now online and available to the general public at: http://www.manawairoa.com/index.htm.
Organisers of the festival invite you to join us for over fifty films by Maori and international indigenous film makers playing over five days during the Queen’s Birthday weekend vacation. All screenings will be uniquely played in a Marae venue in the tourism jewel that is Wairoa and Nuhaka (including Morere Hot Springs and Mahia – home of Moko the dolphin). “All our guest film makers from across the country and overseas have been invited to stay at Morere, where they can partake in the warm springs and bush walks when they aren’t watching and presenting movies,” says Festival Director Leo Koziol.
The festival kicks off on Thursday 3rd June at Taihoa Marae, State Highway 2, Wairoa. At 3 pm is the Official Festival Powhiri followed at 4 pm by a Welcoming Dinner for film makers and guests (all welcome please RSVP to Huia Koziol on 06 837 8854). At 5 pm is a special free screening of documentary KA HAKU AU profiling Kohine Whakarua, waiata scribe extraordinare. At 6 pm is the WAIROA MAORI FILM NIGHT, $10 a ticket fundraiser for Taihoa Marae Committee ($5 for kaumatua/kids under 13). Short films screening in Wairoa this evening include SIX DOLLAR FIFTY MAN, MOKOPUNA, WARBRICK and TWO CARS, ONE NIGHT. Then the feature presentation is BOY, Taika Waititi’s box office smash now playing all around the country, a drama / comedy hit with a real East Coast flavour.
On Friday 4th June, proceedings relocate to Kahungunu Marae, cnr Ihaka Street and Mataira Street, in Nuhaka. Nuhaka is located only 20 minutes from Wairoa township, and only 40 minutes south of Gisborne. At 9.30 am is the official Mihi Whakatau for our guests from near and far and then at 10 am is our inaugural MAORI FILM HUI. The topic of this hui will be “Taking Wairoa to Warsaw, Nuhaka to New York” and will include Korero Mo Te Whare Tipuna “Kahungunu,” presentations from NZonscreen.com, a LIVE SKYPE video link to Isuma.TV in the Arctic (korero with Nathalie Kalina, Inuit film maker, Canada), short films by Ben Cowper, Mike Corbiere, Sophie Johnson and Amy Taylor, with the day concluding with breakout workshops on how we translate our local Wairoa and Nuhaka stories on screen for local and global audiences.
Kahungunu will be a DIGITAL MARAE for the festival weekend, with free broadband Internet available to all attendees passcode: Kahukuranui. It is also hoped to launch a “Waka Whakaata” project at the Maori Film Hui, where independent Maori films will be taken to audiences around the world in partnership with international venues and partners.
At 6 pm is the Nuhaka Maori Film Night. A set of Nuhaka Archival Films will be played, with Nuhaka people invited to attend to identify their whanaunga who have appeared in these films, so that rights can be secured for ongoing screenings of these films to the general public. At 6.30 pm is the Matariki Short Film Selection Part One with the following independently produced short films MAJIC PAORA (Kelvin McDonald), LILY AND RA (Armagan Ballantyne/Briar Grace-Smith), URU (Hiona Henare), MY BROTHER’S KEEPER (Neville James Reedy), KEI HEA TE KURI (Ron London Haretuku), KIA TOA (Mark Wigglesworth) and KARERE (Neville James Reedy). The night concludes with kiwi feature film STRENGTH OF WATER by Director Armagan Ballantyne & Writer Briar Grace-Smith.
“THE STRENGTH OF WATER is a poignant and graceful Hokianga story that will likely leave nary a dry eye in the house in an engrossing film which is, among other things, a story about our relationship to jellyfish and chickens,” says Festival Director Leo Koziol. “Much as I guess that BOY is a story about our relationship to goats, at its heart this film is a child’s story and the innocent heart too often and too easily broken.”
Saturday 5th June at Kahungunu Marae is an early start at 9 am with OCTOBER SILENCE, Argentinian genocide stories long covered up about the Pillaga people, then at 10.20 am CANGLESKA WAKAN THE SACRED HOOP a meditative and important documentary.
At 11.30 am LAND OF THE LONG WHITE CLOUD profiles quirky Far North fishing stories from Florian Habicht. After lunch at 1.30 pm we proudly present Embargo Collective – Lars Von Trier’s Five Obstructions applied by leading global indigenous film makers, TAIKA WAITITI, RIMA TAMOU, STERLIN HARJO, BLACKHORSE LOWE, ZOE LEIGH HOPKINS, LISA JACKSON, and HELEN HAIG-BROWN. “Simply stunning,” says Festival Director Leo Koziol.
At 2.30 pm is OLDER THAN AMERICA, a feature film starring Georgina Lightning and Adam Beach. Director Georgina Lightning is planning to be in attendance at the festival, travelling all the way from Canada to be here for her screening. “Its not easy to describe Older Than America without giving away too much of the plot,” says Festival Director Leo Koziol, “Just come expecting to be engrossed in an important and mysterious story with relevance to all peoples of the world, in particular our native peoples.”
The day’s screenings close at 4.30 pm with the Matariki Short Film Selection Part Two – a PG13 Adults Only session – with BROTHER SMASHPROOF music video (Director Chris Graham), ZERO (Leo Woodhead), REDEMPTION (Katie Wolfe), THE LAST WORDS (Director Peter Bell), TE WHAKAPOURI THE DARKENING (Penehamine Netana Patuawa), DAYTRIP (Director Zoe McIntosh), MANUREWA (a stunning last minute addition to the festival), and finally MINUIT AOTEAROA.
Saturday evening is set aside for the awards dinner and entertainment, commencing at 7.30 pm with Kore / Tahi / Kore a Multimedia Display with installation works by Reuben Paterson and Tracey Tawhiao curated by Festival Director Leo Koziol. The installation will be open throughout the evening and late into the night as a meditation space for attendees at the festival. Then at 8.00 pm is Beneath The Maori Moon – Festival Awards & Nuhaka Musical Evening – with local bellbirds singing music of Nuhaka musical greats Walter Smith, Riki Smith, Tommy Taurima, and Huia Koziol – relive hits HOMETOWN BY THE BAY, BENEATH THE MAORI MOON, NUHAKA GENERAL STORE, and TE RINA. Musical MC for the evening is Cambridge Wairau, and the night closes out with a live performance by up and coming rap/R&B star TRU7HY (Jordan Koziol Repia).
On Sunday 6th June at Kahungunu Marae the day starts off at 9 am with a Festival Brunch for our guests and guest film makers. Then at 10 am is Finding Our Voice – Kohanga Reo New Zealand, followed by an encore screening (11.30 am) of Ka Haku Au – Kohine Whakarua stories produced by Maramena Roderick. At 1.00 pm is THIS WAY OF LIFE an Award Winning international feature fresh from the Berlin Film Festival profiling the Karena Family from Omahu who have been invited to attend the festival. “Directors Tom Burstyn and Barbara Sumner Burstyn thought they were making films on horse training, but instead got more than they bargained for as they bore witness to the whanau relations of the Karena clan,” says Festival Director Leo Koziol. “The film plays out more as a feature drama, and you often forget it is not a documentary, so engrossing is the story and so stunning is the photography and location shoots.”
Then at 2.45 pm is NO PETROL NO DIESEL, Stefen Harris’ hilarious sequel to WAIMATE CONSPIRACY, a classic Kiwi film hidden from audiences until now. Starring Jim Moriarty, Helen Pearse-Otene, Mark Hadlow and David McPhail, all who worked for free or little money just to make the film happen. “The independent spirit of film makers like Stefen Harris and the makers of last year’s WAEWAE EXPRESS shows the Kiwi Number 8 wire mentality is alive and well in New Zealand,” says Festival Director Leo Koziol. “These film makers are just doing it, and contributing to a thriving film industry up and down our country.”
Two exemplary examples of this independent spirit are presented at 4.30 pm, with Invercargill Shorts. This session profiles Southern Institute of Technology as supporters of amazing innovative new film works, with film studies graduate Jade Gillies (Nuhaka whanaunga) in attendance to introduce two brand new films: DELICATE (Director Brent Roderick) and OKU TUAKANA TWO BROTHERS (Matt Inns). “Viewers will be amazed at the production values of both of these ‘no-budget’ short films,” says Festival Director Leo Koziol. “Somehow on a zero budget they have managed to create stunning special effects (Delicate) and a sprawling recreation of olden days gone by (Oku Tuakana) making these film makers definitely ones to watch out for in future.”
After dinner at 6 pm on Sunday is A GOOD DAY TO DIE, A stunning portrait of the life of DENNIS BANKS who is the founder and leader of the AMERICAN INDIAN MOVEMENT (AIM). The day concludes at 8 pm with the BOY feature film directed by Taika Waititi. This special encore screening of BOY for Nuhaka audiences is a fundraiser for Kahungunu Marae all ticket ($10 ea.) proceeds donated back to the marae as a koha.
Monday 7th June at Kahungunu Marae, Nuhaka, is the closing day with the festival wrapping up by 2 pm. Those making an early start can watch (9.30 am) AFTER THE STORM, the New Zealand Premiere of Patty Loew’s new film on resource conflicts between fishermen and native people in Wisconsin. “Patty Loew was a guest at the Wairoa Maori Film Festival in 2008, and it is positive to see this relationship continuing on today,” says Festival Director Leo Koziol.
At 10 am is “Hawaii A Voice For Sovereignty” a stunning history of Hawaii by Director Catherine Bauknight that has been enlightening and engaging audiences Stateside including taking Audience Award at the Maui Film Festival 2009, and recently screening in Hollywood, Pasadena and Washington DC.
The festival’s final feature is at 11.30 am: REEL INJUN. An amazing trip through time, from the earliest silent films to present day, REEL INJUN looks at how Hollywood has portrayed Native American Indian peoples in film – the good, the bad, and the ugly. “This film is a stunning portrait and journey including interviews with Clint Eastwood, Jim Jarmusch, John Trudell, Adam Beach, Grahame Green, and Russell Means,” says Festival Director Leo Koziol. “The film is a deeply personal and poignant story from Director NEIL DIAMOND, with the film maker possessing a seeming naivete that enables him to act with grace in the face of seeming inhuman behaviour toward Native Peoples.”
The festival screenings then close at 12.45 pm with encore screenings of two short films: DAY TRIP and the special last minute addition to the festival MANUREWA (RP13 audiences). We bid farewell for another year at 1 pm with our Poroporoaki Luncheon. The theme for this year’s event is WAKA and the new branding for the event is FOOD FOR THE SOUL KAI MO TE NGAKAU. “The Waka is representative of our festival continuing onwards and outwards in a sustainable basis, facing the current treacherous waters of global recession and ecological collapse, and continuing to be a Voice for Maori and indigenous peoples, being what festival supporter Ella Henry has described to me as ‘Food For The Soul’” says Festival Director Leo Koziol.
“Having previewed all of this year’s festival programme a common theme throughout is the ongoing universally shared struggle of indigenous peoples,” says Festival Director Leo Koziol. “Simply preserving ones humanity in the face of cultural, ecological and social genocide around the world seems to me to be at the heart of the ongoing indigenous struggle. Somehow, in the face of all this people have managed to retain their culture, their identity and their languages. Somehow, after crushing blow after crushing, people have managed to retain their dignity and a sense of hope and change for the better in transformative times.”
The Wairoa Maori Film Festival is priced at $80 festival pass, $120 festival pass including all meals and marae stay accommodation for the entire weekend.
Authorised by: Te Roopu Whakaata Maori I Te Wairoa Inc. (c) 2010
