DATES: SATURDAY JUNE 31st & SUNDAY AUGUST 1st

SATURDAY JUNE 31st

OFFICIAL FESTIVAL POWHIRI

11.00 am Mauaupoko Marae, Levin, Saturday June 31st

Join us as the Wairoa Maori Film Festival team travels to Levin to assist Nua Film Festival Director Hiona Henare as we present the second annual NUA FILM FESTIVAL, this year being held during Maori Language Week.

Special Presentation: KA HAKU AU

2009 NZ 52 mins Producer Maramena Roderick

12.00 pm Mauaupoko Marae, Levin, Saturday June 31st

The Story of Kohine Whakarua, song writer extraordinaire. In Te Reo Maori with subtitles.

View the Official Website.

MATARIKI SHORT FILM FESTIVAL (PART ONE)

1.00 pm Mauaupoko Marae, Levin, Saturday June 31st

BROTHER SMASHPROOF // 2009 NZ 5 mins Director Chris Graham

Maori and Polynesian group Smashproof profile tragedy and struggle in South Auckland.

SIX DOLLAR FIFTY MAN // 2010 NZ 15 mins Directors Mark Albiston & Louis Sutherland

Set in 1970s New Zealand, The Six Dollar Fifty Man follows Andy, a gutsy 8 year-old boy who is forced to break out of his make-believe superhero world to deal with playground bullies.

LILY AND RA

// 2009 NZ 8 mins Director Armagan Ballantyne

The injury and nursing back to health of a small bird is a metaphor for Ra's fractured home life. Film produced by ART for The World under the auspices of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. Script by Briar Grace-Smith.

URU

// 2010 NZ 16 mins Director Hiona Henare

URU is the story of a young dispirited Maori woman finding her identity.  Based on the true story of a group of Kahungunu women struggling for the rights of Maori Women and Maori values in New Zealand during the 1890’s. Actors: Noa Campbell, Shannon Claire.

MOKOPUNA // 2009 NZ 12 min Director/Writer Ainsley Gardiner

Mary is a part Maori girl, living in middle class suburban New Zealand. 

KEHUA // 2009 NZ 13 min Director/Writer Wiremu Grace

On returning to his home for the first time, a boy discovers he has a gift for seeing spirits – but he must gather his strength to understand their messages.

 

THE WHITE TIGER

// 2009 NZ 8 mins Director Taika Waititi (Te Whanau-a-Apanui)

An urban warrior returns to his tribal homeland in a quest for his cultural identity.

WARBRICK // 2009 NZ 15 min Director Meihana & Pere Durie

One man’s legacy, one nation’s legend.

THIS WAY OF LIFE

(2009 NZ, 85 mins Directors Tom Burstyn & Barbara Sumner Burstyn)

2.15 pm Mauaupoko Marae, Levin, Saturday June 31st

A  long documentary about a poor yet loving young family – Mum, Dad and six young children eight years and under who live in rural Hawkes Bay near Omahu and the Ruahine Ranges.  Dad, Peter Ottley-Karena hunts and raises horses.  Mum is expecting their 7th child and the family is struggling to cope with being evicted by Peter’s step-father  from the Karena family home. The documentary has to do with how family bonds are strengthened despite the conflict.. Peter feels that love of family and children takes priority. 

 

OLDER THAN AMERICA

(2007 Canada 102 mins Director Georgina Lightning)

 

A government worker goes to a small Indian reservation in Minnesota to investigate a mysterious earthquake. He befriends the local police chief (Adam Beach), who leads him to an abandoned school at the heart of the quake. What he finds is a legacy of abuse and torture, as a young woman's vision tells of a terrifying past. Gripping and often unsettling, Older than America is a potent thriller about the legacy of Indian Boarding and Residential Schools in the USA and Canada, and the true horror of this little discussed part of North American history.

First-time feature film director and lead actress Georgina Lightning (Cree) has extensive experience in the film industry as an actor, a producer, and acting coach. In 2008, she was named by Filmmaker Magazine one of the top 25 filmmakers to look out for. Since its premeiere at imagineNATIVE, Older than America has won over 18 awards at film festivals around the world. Lightning is also the cofounder of Tribal Alliance Productions, a production company committed to producing media that matters, told from a native perspective. A long-time advocate of Native Indian advancement in the film industry, Lightning also formed Native Media Network, a group dedicated to the promotion and advancement of Native Indian talent.

BOY // 2010 NZ 87 min Director/Writer Taika Waititi

6.00 pm Mauaupoko Marae, Levin, Saturday June 31st

Its 1984 on the East Coast. Boy is eleven years old and crazy about Michael Jackson. His brother Rocky has magical powers and his father Alamein is fresh out of prison.

THE STRENGTH OF WATER

8.00 pm Mauaupoko Marae, Levin, Saturday June 31st

// 2009 NZ 90 mins Director Armagan Ballantyne

An ineffable unity of loss and renewal, sadness and hope flows through this bold and gravely beautiful film. Twins Kimi and Melody are ten years old. They live a happy, fulfilled life in a remote Maori community. But then a mysterious stranger turns up one day, and disaster strikes. Tai – the stranger – is responsible for an accident that separates the twins. Tai is punished by the others for his negligence. Meanwhile Kimi is overcome by grief and a feeling of infinite solitude. He has lost his inner balance. Script by Briar Grace-Smith. Cast: Hato Paparoa, Melanie Mayall-Nahi, Jim Moriarty, Nancy Brunning, Isaac Barber, Pare Paseka, Shayne Biddle.

SUNDAY AUGUST 1ST

REEL INJUN (2009 Canada 85 mins Director Neil Diamond)

12.00 pm Mauaupoko Marae, Levin, Sunday August 1st

A powerful homage to North American Native people throghout a century of cinema, Reel Injun is a retelling of the history of the Hollywood Indian. Embarking on a personal quest to deconstruct the image of the stoic Indian that dotted television screens all over the world, Cree director Neil Diamond compares his own Northern-Canadian upbringing to the vastly different portrayals he grew up knowing and loving in the movies.

MATARIKI SHORT FILM FESTIVAL (PART TWO)

1.30 pm Mauaupoko Marae, Levin, Sunday August 1st

WAITANGI – MAJIC PAORA

// 2010 NZ 5 mins Director Kelvin McDonald

Majic Paora is a young 14 year old singer, and this is her waiata story of Waitangi and its meaning to her and her whanau.

MY BROTHER’S KEEPER

// 2010 NZ 20 mins Director Neville-James Reedy

“My Brothers Keeper” tells the tale of what happens to a family in a time of hardship.  Relationships are tested and pushed to the limit.  But through the abiding nurture and continuing support of a loving father….his legacy will live on.

KEI HEA TE KURI

// 2010 NZ 8 mins Director Ron-London Haretuku (Ngapuhi)

Mother has left for the weekend and half-caste Rarotongan siblings Taki andToka are left alone with nothing in the fridge.  Growing up with their English mother they have no knowledge of their tribal roots.  A big effort is made by their polynesian friends – Tasi (Samoan); Tipii (Tongan) and Tama (Maori).  They are all trying to organize a traditional feast by hunting and gathering to help reconnect the two brothers to their  Polynesian culture when Toby, the dog, runs away.

KIA TOA

// 2009 NZ 12 mins Director Mark Wigglesworth

Sent to war with no guns, a story of a group of Maori warriors in World War I.

OKU TUAKANA MY BROTHERS

(2010 NZ 40 mins Director/Writer Matt Inns)

New Zealand, 1846... when a wounded Gabriel Connell, a Corporal of the British Army, spares the life of an enemy Maori warrior, Te Raukura, the pair become stranded together in the frozen aftermath of a bloody skirmish. Able to find shelter for himself, Raukura is faced with the decision of whether to save the life of his dying enemy... 

KARERE

// 2010 NZ 6 mins Director Neville-James Reedy

Original Music by Natrose and Jahfire.  “Karere” an old warrior sits at the edge of a fire singing a strange and ancient song.

NO PETROL, NO DIESEL

(2009 NZ 104 mins Director Stefen Harris)

3.00 pm Mauaupoko Marae, Levin, Sunday August 1st

The ‘good, hard working people’ of Temuka take on Overseas International Liquids, aka Big Oil, in Stef Harris’ genial new small-town comedy. With Jim Moriarty, Helen Pearse-Otene, Mark Hadlow and David McPhail. Oscar Devlin and his whanau must fight the petrol company to keep their home town alive.  

POROPOROAKI

5.00 pm Mauaupoko Marae, Levin, Sunday August 1st

The first annual Murupara Film Festival closes at a Poroporoaki and a farewell for guest film makers and the festival team from Wairoa.