MĀORILAND 2018 – Call For Submissions 

Programming Policy/ Kaupapa

Māoriland Film Festival is an international indigenous film festival that celebrates indigenous voices and story telling in film. Each March, Māoriland invites indigenous films and their creators to Ōtaki on New Zealand’s Kapiti Coast for five days of screenings, workshops and special events.

Māoriland considers film, video, audio, digital and interactive media works made by indigenous creatives from around the globe. To be eligible for submission, an indigenous creative must be credited in a key role such as director, producer or screenwriter.

While a key creative involved in the project must be indigenous, the issue or content of the film may be of a non indigenous matter. This recognises the diverse experiences, identities and perspectives of indigenous people(s), worldwide.

The festival programming panel may consider at its discretion films that have no key indigenous creatives but have been created in association with indigenous people or communities. References will be requested for films submitted under this category.

For the 2017 Māoriland Film Festival we received over 2800 submissions from around the world. In order for your film to be considered please consider whether it is eligible. Indigenous includes First Peoples, Native, First Nations and Aboriginal people who belong to or whom have had an uninterrupted relationship with their land. This is distinct from those people who have arrived from another place to live in a country.

Priority is given to works that have not yet been broadcast in New Zealand or over the Internet. International and New Zealand premiere status is also a consideration. Made-for-television films and documentaries are eligible for submission (consideration will be to given to their broadcast status). Music videos are eligible for submission to the Festival, regardless of their New Zealand broadcast status.

Episodic television series (dramatic or documentary), news reports, extended reportage, television magazine formats, and information programming or segments (such as PSAs) are NOT eligible for programming consideration EXCEPT where an episode may be viewed independently of the series as a stand alone item.

Filmmakers under the age of 22 are eligible to also apply under the Rangatahi (youth) Festival programme.

Selection criteria for Māoriland Film Festival are based on:

• A key member of the creative team (director, writer, producer) must identify as Indigenous. Consideration will also be given to films that have strong indigenous representation in cast and theme, however, this will be at the discretion of the selection panel.
• The relevance of the work to the Indigenous community and to general New Zealand audiences as a whole.