ANNOUNCING INDIGENOUS CREATIVE ECOSYSTEM PURITIA

Māoriland Charitable Trust is excited to announce Puritia, a capability-building ecosystem for Māori and Indigenous filmmakers and digital creatives. 

At the heart of Puritia is an Indigenous IP statement, which is being developed with global indigenous partner Film Festivals and with leading Māori IP specialist Lynell Tuffery Huria.

The first stage of Puritia – the Puritia Framework – is to be published today. This 52 page document outlines Māoriland Charitable Trust’s approach to talent development and production.

Purita will launch this afternoon at Māoriland Film Festival in Ōtaki. The 10th Māoriland Film Festival, which opened on Wednesday 15 March and runs until Sunday 19 March, is the largest in the festival’s history with over 140 Industry participants in attendance including Indigenous filmmakers from over 100 nations. Audiences to the five-day film festival are already exceeding MFF2022 which attracted some 12,500 people.

The Puritia ecosystem will enable Māori potential to be identified and developed through film and creative technology. 

“What we do at Māoriland is unique globally, we’re often asked to share how we do things or to bring our programs to communities across Aotearoa and the world – so for our 10th birthday, we decided to share what we’ve learned and developed so far. This is Puritia,” said Puritia Project Lead, Madeleine Hakaraia de Young. 

PURITIA is an extension of the sophisticated work that Māoriland has thus far undertaken  to establish a world recognised Indigenous film festival and the tikanga-led creative and digital Māoriland Hub, that operates full time.  

Both ventures are based in Ōtaki and provide cultural, social and economic benefits to our community. Māoriland tours nationwide with creative workshops and screenings, extending this impact to Māori communities across Aotearoa. 

Māoriland has already impacted the NZ Screen Industry through its work with rangatahi; enabling youth to have access to the tools and mentoring to successfully enter the screen and creative industry. 

 Today, Māoriland will also announce the Puritia Incubator, a year-long, intensive production-based training programme for Māori entering the screen industry. “Production in Aotearoa is booming – but our industry needs skilled workers. The Puritia Incubator builds on the success of the Ngā Pakiaka Incubator Programme to train rangatahi to work on set – in camera, sound, grips, lighting, all the way through to post-production,” said Māoriland Productions lead producer, Libby Hakaraia. 

 The Puritia Incubator opens for applications today. There are 20 places available for rangatahi aged 18 – 30. Participants will receive training and mentorship from industry tuakana, and will work on a series of Māoriland Productions over the next 12 months. 

 The final piece of Puritia is a platform – to connect Māori and Indigenous filmmakers with their communities, audiences and supporters globally.

“Puritia is not an Indigenous streaming platform” said Puritia Creator Maddy de Young Hakaraia. “It is about connecting Indigenous storytellers here in Aotearoa and across the planet with each other and with audiences. We want to create an ecosystem of support and lifelong relationships that enable Indigenous filmmakers and digital creatives to have sustainable careers”, said Maddy.

Māoriland Charitable Trust Managing Director Libby Hakaraia says Puritia is a response to the vertical success of the MFF.

“There are audiences who are very curious about Indigenous stories. In that way, the Māoriland Film Festival is both a connector and an activator meaning that Filmmakers connect with audiences who are then activated to follow the careers of filmmakers who return to the MFF year after year. Puritia will enable audiences to tangibly support filmmakers and their projects as funders or in other ways. It’s an ecosystem that extends networks and takes out the gatekeepers.” said Libby

Puritia is being developed by Māoriland Charitable Trust with support from the Ministry of Culture and Heritage Innovation Fund.