Māoriland world’s biggest

The Māoriland Film Festival is now the biggest indigenous film festival in the world.

The festival celebrates 10 years of indigenous storytelling in March, when it presents more than 140 short and feature films from 150 indigenous nations during the five days from March 15 to 19, in Ōtaki.

MFF director Libby Hakaraia says the 10-year anniversary coincides with the festival becoming the largest international indigenous film festival in the world.

“This year’s festival marks a milestone for indigenous storytelling in Aotearoa. ‘Mā mua e kē anō ai mā muri – We look to the past so the future may be different’ is a fitting theme for our 2023 programme,” she says.

“We started the Māoriland Film Festival in 2014 as a small whānau group of film-makers, lawnmower contractors and a health sciences graduate, as a platform for indigenous film and filmmakers. Since then it has presented more than 2000 indigenous films, hosted hundreds of national and international film-makers, and brought more than double the population of Ōtaki to watch films over the five days each year (12,000+ people).

“We have built the MFF to become a must-attend event for indigenous film-makers, festival directors and industry professionals from all over the world. It’s gratifying to have them tell us that Māoriland is culturally unique, relevant and memorable.”

In addition to an extensive film programme, MFF2023 features the 10th anniversary of the E Tū Whānau Rangatahi Film Awards, VR, XR, AR, and gaming technology, screen industry events, NATIVE Minds lecture series hosted by Tainui Stephens, stunning exhibitions at Toi Matarau gallery and carving of the Māoriland pou (posts) by Te Matatoki carvers, the 2023 Māoriland artists in residence.

2023 Programme

The full programme can be viewed on the website: mff.maorilandfilm.co.nz/ mff2023-programme

There’s something for everyone in the line-up, with both short and long form drama spanning from the humorous to the supernatural, sci fi, historical and horror.

Powhiri, Raukawa Marae, Mill Road, Ōtaki. Wednesday March 15, 11am-1pm.

Māoriland Film Festival opens with a formal welcome to manuwhiri tuarangi and official guests of MFF2023.

Raukawa Marae is the principal meeting place of Ngāti Raukawa ki te Tonga. The marae is one of five closely linked marae in the district. The others are Te Pou o Tainui (Ōtaki), Katihiku (Ōtaki), Wehiwehi (Manakau), and Tukorehe (Kuku).

Keynote speaker: Libby Hakaraia. Rangiātea Church, 33 Te Rauparaha Street, Ōtaki.

Wednesday March 15, 5.30-7.30pm.

The Māoriland keynote address is a personal and historical perspective given by a prominent Māori film-maker.

Celebrating a decade of indigenous storytelling, Libby Hakaraia (above) will be giving the Māoriland keynote address this year, showing excerpts from the Māoriland Films of the 1920s created in Ōtaki, as well as some of the films that have inspired her in her 30+ years in the industry.

Libby will also share the Māoriland vision for the future, including capacity building with rangatahi.

Past Māoriland keynote speakers have been Tainui Stephens, Lawrence Makoare, Larry Parr, Julian and Mabelle Dennison, Rawiri Paratene, Heperi and Awatea Mita, Temuera Morrison, Rena Owen and Waihoroi Shortland.

Put on your most glam outfit and walk the red carpet for the annual Māoriland Red Carpet Party, a celebration of the film-makers and their collaborators at MFF2023. The quartet will take you on a musical

Opening night screening, March 13: Ka Pō. 8pm, Memorial Hall, Main St, Ōtaki.

A young woman escapes an abusive relationship and discovers her roots in this wild Aotearoa-produced indigenous adventure set in the rugged wilderness of Kauai, Hawaii.

In the mountains of Kauai, a drug-addicted native Hawaiian woman, Nanea, lives with her troubled boyfriend, Eli, inside an abandoned school bus. On the night of her mother’s funeral, she reaches breaking point and destroys Eli’s possessions, sending him into a bitter rage. Nanae flees into the surrounding forest. Now on the run, Nanea suffers from drug withdrawal and encounters a mythical creature named Yahdella who sends her on a soulsearching journey. Territorial anger sweeps through the valley sending Eli over the edge and on the hunt for blood. Deep in the forest, Nanea hears the voices of her ancestors, who guide her to an ancient waterfall where her journey of self-discovery takes on an entirely new transformation.

A unique combination of talent comes together to create the lyrical, tragic and meditative NZ-US film Ka Pō, a first feature for Hawaiian director Etienne Aurelius, produced by Oscar-nominee Chelsea Winstanley (Ngati Ranginui, Ngāi te Rangi, Pākehā).

Ka Pō is a magical work that meditates deeply on the tragedy of methamphetamine addiction in Polynesian communities, and how the spirit of the land and the people has the power to heal. The journey of lead actress Mainei Aloha Kinimaka (Kanaka Mao’li) forms the heart of the story, as she flees deep into the forest that holds secrets and her destiny.

Ka Pō is a surprise, coming from the Hawaiian film community, a “native noir” film more akin to Aotearoa films such as Stray or Bad Blood. The Kauai forest is dark and damp and brooding – far, far away from the warm sands of Waikiki. Moments of magical realism mirror the works of Filipino-Native film genius Auraeus Solito, and his Busong Trilogy – mesmerising moments that both surprise and astonish.

Etienne Aurelius is indigenous Filipino (Tumanang tribe) and was raised within his extended native Hawaiian community in Kauai, which informed his love for the a’ina (land) and indigenous storytelling. Etienne spent many years working alongside Jason Momoa and early on in his career made the film We Are Mauna Kea – a documentary highlighting the indigenous struggle against the construction of a 30-metre telescope on sacred lands. Audiences will know Mainei Aloha Kinimaka from Apple+ See starring Jason Momoa, who is Mainei’s cousin.

Tangata Whenua by Barry Barclay

1974 | 45min | Documentary March 16, 10.30am

Civic Theatre, Main St, Ōtaki. After digital restoration by Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision, Māoriland is screening the first episode of the 1974 television series Tangata Whenua.

Tangata Whenua was a groundbreaking six-part documentary series that screened in prime time 49 years ago. Each episode chronicled a different iwi and included interviews with kaumātua by historian Michael King. These remain a priceless historical record.

Part 1: In Those Times – Ngākahikatea Wirihana reminisces about her early life at the time of King Mahuta.

Part 2: Moko – Herepo Rongo is the last woman with moko kauae in the Poihâkena community. Māori elders discuss the significance of moko kauae and the role of the kuia who still have them.

Part 3: Herepo's Place – Herepo revisits places of her youth and discusses her present life, looking after her mokopuna. She emphasises the value of land and describes how her community at Raglan lost its land to the government during the war and how the local authorities turned it into a golf course. Features Eva Rickard and family.

Destiny: Iran

Saturday March 18, 3.30pm 72 min. Memorial Hall Main Street, Ōtaki. This warm and intimate observational portrait captures a young woman caught between traditional gender roles and her desire for self-determination, volleyball, and Instagram. After the death of her mother, 18-year-old Sahar is left in charge of her poor, mentally disabled father in an isolated village in Iran. Sahar dreams of attending university and becoming a doctor, but her extended family insists she plays the role of caretaker unless her father remarries.

New Zealand Premiere: Slash/Back: Canada

Sunday March 19, 6pm. 86 min. Memorial Hall, Main St, Ōtaki.

Maika wakes up to another typical day of her summer holiday in the tiny Arctic hamlet of Pang, a sleepy hamlet nestled in the majestic mountains of Baffin Island in the Arctic Ocean; 24 hours of sunlight, no school, no cool boys (well . . . except one). But Maika and her ragtag friends are suddenly forced into action when they uncover an alien invasion. These teens have been underestimated their whole lives, and using makeshift weapons and their horror movie knowledge, they swing into action to defend their home.

Kainga, Friday March 17, 6pm, 85min. Memorial Hall, Main Street, Ōtaki. Kainga navigates the thorny terrain of home in Aotearoa from the perspectives of 11 Pan-Asian women.

Writers and directors from Māori-Chinese Aotearoa, China, Philippines, India, Iran, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Myanmar and Tamil Eelam, explore the historical connection to tangata whenua, feelings of isolation, community support in lieu of family, home precarity, excitement about making home, longing to be “back home”, being othered at home, and finally claiming home. Each 10-minute story, set in the same house across several decades, honours these experiences one brick at a time.