25 Days of Indigenous Creativity

Tis the season! Every day until Christmas, we will be sharing an Indigenous film/show/artwork that you can enjoy at home.

RĀ TUATAHI

INKY PINKY PONKY

Written by: Amanaki Prescott-Faletau and Leki Bourke-Jackson

Directed by: Damon Fepulea’i and Ramon TeWake

Produced by: Hope Papali’i and Elizabeth Koroivulaono

When a young fakaleiti falls in love at St Valentine’s Highschool, she must navigate her way through a world of intolerance and bigotry to find happiness – in an unexpected place.

RĀ TUARUA

COUSINS – WATCH HERE

Screenplay by: Briar Grace Smith

Directed by: Aisnley Gardiner, Briar Grace Smith

Produced by: Georgina Conder, Ainsley Gardiner, Libby Hakaraia

Connected by blood but separated by circumstances, three cousins spend a lifetime in search of each other. Based on the 1992 novel by Patricia Grace.

Young Mata, Young Makareta and Young Missy at Spectacle Hills, Rotorua_1

RĀ TUATORU

RECIPROCITY PROJECT SEASON 1 – WATCH HERE

Reciprocity Project films are at the center of a broader media ecosystem that includes learning materials, discussion guides, podcasts, photography, art, music, and more.

In Season One of Reciprocity Project, storytellers and community partners created films in response to a question: what does ‘reciprocity’ mean to your community? In many Indigenous languages there is no word for reciprocity; rather, it’s embedded in every aspect of existence for our peoples, connecting all beings, seen and unseen.

RĀ TUAWHĀ

PEPEHA PENDANTS – SHOP HERE

Artist: Maihi Potaka

Iwi: Ngāti Hauiti, Ngāti Manawa, Te Āti Haunui ā Pāpārangi, Te Āti Awa

Description: Double sided laser engraved acrylic. The Hei Kakī show engraved patterns, intricately designed to elevate the wearer’s well-being through the symbols, motifs, shape and form.

Materials: Acrylic perspex, cotton polyester

*the pendants are double sided with a different colour on each side*

RĀ TUARIMA

IN MY BLOOD IT RUNS – WATCH HERE

When Dujuan cannot run nor fight alone, he faces the history that runs straight into him and realises that not only has he inherited the trauma and dispossession of his land, but also the resilience and resistance of many generations of his people.

Directed by: Maya Newell

Produced by: Larissa Behrendt, Rachel Naninaaq Edwardson

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RĀ TUAONO

WHINA – WATCH HERE

The story of Dame Whina Cooper, the beloved Māori matriarch who worked tirelessly to improve the rights of her people, especially women. Flawed yet resilient, Whina tells the story of a woman formed by tradition, compelled by innovation, and guided by an instinct for equality and justice whose legacy as the Te Whaea o te Motu (Mother of the Nation) was an inspiration to an entire country.

Directed by: James Napier Robertson, Paula Whetu Jones

RĀ TUAWHITU

TE WHĀNAU ARIKI – SHOP HERE

by Messini Palace (Ngāti Apakura, Waikato Tainui, Ngāpuhi)

Messini Palace creates a range of stunning resin sculptures and ornaments, including these colourful tiki cubes, ‘Te Whānau Ariki’.

RĀ TUAWARU

WAIATA BROS – WATCH HERE

Waiata Bros are joyous waiata with animated characters and “earworm” tunes designed for tamariki and adults alike and especially those who are embarking on their reo Māori journey.

21 year old Turanga Mahutonga is Waiata Bro’s. Turanga wrote, recorded and animated these catchy Māori language songs to share his love for his native language.

Album is available to stream on Spotify. Music videos are out on YouTube.

RĀ TUAIWA

WARU – WATCH HERE

Eight female Māori directors have each contributed a ten minute vignette, presented as a continuous shot in real time, that unfolds around the tangi (funeral) of a small boy (Waru) who died at the hands of his caregiver. The vignettes are all subtly interlinked and each follow one of eight female Māori lead characters during the same moment in time as they come to terms with Waru’s death and try to find a way forward in their community. In Māori, waru means eight.

Directed by: Briar Grace-Smith, Casey Kaa, Ainsley Gardiner, Katie Wolfe, Renae Maihi, Chelsea Cohen, Paula Whetu Jones, Awanui Simich-Pene

RĀ TEKAU

KAPAEMAHU – WATCH HERE

Kapaemahu is an animated short film that reveals the hidden history of four healing stones on Waikiki Beach, also known as the Wizard Stones.

Directors: Dean Hamer, Joe Wilson, Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu

RĀ TEKAU MĀ TAHI

HOUHERE EARRINGS – SHOP HERE

By Taonga Puāwai

These Houhere flowers are simply ātaahua! Cut from luxe iridescent, metallic acrylic with a glitter finish and paired with two layers of gold mirror centre, presented on a half sleeper stud.

RĀ TEKAU MĀ RUA

TUFFS POLY FONTS – SHOP HERE

By Michel Tuffery

The ubiquity of the alphabet assumes particular character and purpose in Michel Tufery’s Poly Fonts, a visual diary of stories told during the first years of his granddaughter Alice.

Long an advocate for environmental protection and creative pedagogy, Michel’s letters also illustrate his own journeys from Bluff to Cape Reinga, and from Aotearoa to the creatures, islands and voyagers of the great Moana ā Kiwa. From Albatross to Yellow-eyed Hoiho, there is an ethic of care and an educational lens with each Font full of rich narratives and messages.

RĀ TEKAU MĀ TORU

FAST HORSE – WATCH HERE

Sundance-winning Fast Horse follows the return of the Blackfoot bareback horse-racing tradition in a new form: the Indian Relay. Siksika horseman Allison Red Crow struggles to build a team with second-hand races and a new jockey, Cody Big Tobacco, to take on the best riders in the Blackfoot Confederacy at the Calgary Stampede.

Directed by: Alexandra Lazarowich

RĀ TEKAU MĀ WHĀ

PAKU TAPUTAPU – SHOP HERE

By Johnson Witehira & James Prier

Children’s Contemporary Māori Gardening Tools! The Paku ‘Timo’ and ‘Toki’ come with a handle and blade both made from high quality recycled nylon, lashing in both natural and pango jute twine.

Paku is a New Zealand design studio dedicated to creating products uniquely of Aotearoa. We do this by combining mātauranga Māori (Māori knowledge) with the latest technologies to reimagine the objects around us in a bicultural way.

RĀ TEKAU MĀ RIMA

MFF SUMMER MERCH – SHOP HERE

Māoriland Film Festival Summer merch is here in fresh new colours and styles for the sunny season! Now available online and in-store at Toi Matarau Gallery, get your new Māoriland threads before they’re gone!

RĀ TEKAU MĀ ONO

SWEET AS – WATCH HERE

An Indigenous teenager discovers photography during a youth trip in Western Australia.

With problems on the home front, 16-year-old Murra is on the verge of lashing out. That is, until her policeman uncle averts her self-destructive behaviour with a lifeline: a “photo-safari for at-risk kids”. Murra isn’t entirely convinced, but she soon joins cantankerous Kylie, highly-strung Sean, happy-go-lucky Elvis, and team leaders Fernando and Mitch on a transformative bus trip through the Pilbara. On the trail, the teens learn about friendship, first crushes and their true selves, as well as the forces of ‘reality’ that puncture the bubble of youth.

RĀ TEKAU MĀ WHITU

TE WHĀNAU MOANA – SHOP HERE

By Marie Waaka & Arahia Ngatai

Te Tākupu, Te Wānanga o Raukawa is happy to present this book, a new te reo Māori children’s book by Marie Waaka with illustrations by Arahia Ngatai. Tamariki and their whānau can dive in to the fun and rythmical language of Te Whānau Moana with its underwater characters and their antics.

RĀ TEKAU MĀ WARU

THE DEAD LANDS – WATCH HERE

After his tribe is slaughtered through an act of treachery, Hongi (James Rolleston) – a Māori chieftain’s teenage son – must avenge his father’s murder in order to bring peace and honour to the souls of his loved ones. Vastly outnumbered by the band of villains, Hongi’s only hope is to pass through the feared and forbidden Dead Lands and forge an uneasy alliance with the mysterious ‘Warrior’ (Lawrence Makoare) a ruthless fighter who has ruled the area for years.

Directed by: Toa Fraser

RĀ RUA TEKAU

MERATA: HOW MUM DECOLONISED THE SCREEN – WATCH HERE

This film is an intimate portrayal of pioneering filmmaker Merata Mita told through the eyes of her children. Using hours of archive footage, some never before seen, her youngest child and director Hepi Mita discovers the filmmaker he never knew and shares the mother he lost, with the world.

Directed by: Heperi Mita

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RĀ RUA TEKAU MĀ TAHI

MĀNUKA EARRINGS – SHOP HERE

By Taonga Puāwai

These pīwari pastel pink Mānuka are so sweet!

Colours: Pink, Hot Pink, White

Materials: These pūawai are attached separately to their transparent smokey leaves for movement, and are completed with multi glitter centres.

RĀ RUA TEKAU MĀ RUA

UTU REDUX – WATCH HERE

The digitally remastered and restored cut of Utu (1983). In 1870, Te Wheke finds his tribe massacred by colonial forces. He seeks utu (retribution) and in the process, provokes those that he encounters to consider what utu means for them.

Directed by: Geoff Murphy

RĀ RUA TEKAU MĀ TORU

VAI – WATCH HERE

9 female Pacific filmmakers, filming in 7 different Pacific countries, tell a story of empowerment through culture over the lifetime of one woman, Vai, played by a different indigenous actress in each of the Pacific countries.

Directed by: Nicole Whippy, ‘Ofa-Ki-Levuka Guttenbeil-Likiliki, Matasila Freshwater, Amberley Jo Aumua, Mīria George, Marina Alofagia McCartney, Dianna Fuemana, Becs Arahanga

Produced by: Kerry Warkia, Kiel McNaughton

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RĀ RUA TEKAU MĀ WHĀ

TE MAHI MĀRA: HUA PARAKORE – SHOP HERE

By Jessica Hutchings

This book makes explicit the connections between the global and the local, between the political and the personal. Jessica Hutchings explains the political implications of the decisions that we make about growing and eating kai. She encourages us to take control over the food security of our whānau, providing practical advice on how to grow kai in accordance with the kaupapa of hua parakore, and reassuring us that becoming a hua parakore gardener is a journey that anyone can embark on.

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RĀ RUA TEKAU MĀ RIMA

ISLAND OF MYSTERY – WATCH HERE

Josh crashes back 700 years in time into sisters, Kura and Rangi as they run from a magical taniwha. When Josh joins the search for the stolen god-stick a fast paced adventure following clues and outwitting incredible creatures begins.

Reversioned into te reo Māori right here at the Māoriland Hub!

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