Team
Our People Are Our Strength
Libby Hakaraia
Head of Production
Ngāti Raukawa, Ngāti Kapu
Libby Hakaraia is a producer, director and writer for television and film. Libby is a producer of 26 short films and a writer/director of three short films that travelled to international film festivals around the globe. Libby has worked on many films and television productions as a producer/director. She was a producer of the 2021 feature film COUSINS.
Libby is passionate about the role of the storyteller and about carving out opportunities for Māori and Indigenous filmmakers and artists.
For the past 10 years, Libby has led the successful growth of the Māoriland Film Festival now the largest Indigenous film festival in the Southern hemisphere. She has spearheaded the establishment of the Māoriland Hub and the strategy of the Māoriland Charitable Trust to be a centre of excellence for Māori Film and Creative Arts.
In 2022 Libby was awarded an MRNZ for her services to media and film in the Queen’s Platinum Birthday honours.
In 2019 she won the Women in Film and Television Entrepreneur award.
Tainui Stephens
Producer
Te Rarawa
Tainui Stephens (Te Rarawa) is an independent film and television producer, director, executive producer, writer, and presenter. He lives in Ōtaki Beach, in Raukawa territory.
Tainui was an early producer for iconic Māori television series like WAKA HUIA, MARAE and ANZAC DAY; NĀ RĀTOU MŌ TĀTOU. He has made influential social documentaries like MĀORI BATTALION MARCH TO VICTORY, THE NEW ZEALAND WARS and TAUMATA 3001. He has been a producer for feature films that have taken Māori stories worldwide RIVER QUEEN, RAIN OF THE CHILDREN, THE DEAD LANDS and WHINA.
For nearly four decades Tainui has created screen stories helping to define the Māori television and film voices that speak to the marae, the home, and the world. He is committed to the stance of the Māori storyteller in all modern media. He remains attracted to compelling stories that critique and celebrate the human condition.
Matilda Poasa
Talent Development Producer
Samoa
Tālofa lava, mālō le soifua. I’m Matilda Poasa. I’m Sāmoan from the villages of Falelatai and Faleasi’u on my mum’s side and my dad is from the villages of Saleaula and Vaie’e.
As a storyteller, I’m motivated by the desire to see more Māori, Pasefika and Indigenous stories and people on the big screen and to have those stories unapologetically told by the people to whom they belong.
Madeleine Hakaraia de Young
Producer
Ngāti Raukawa, Ngāti Kapu
Madeleine Hakaraia de Young (Ngāti Kapu) is the Kaiwhakahau Hōtaka at Māoriland Charitable Trust. In this role, Madeleine oversees programming for the Māoriland Film Festival (MFF), the largest presenter of Indigenous screen content in the southern hemisphere.
Year-round Maddy supports the wider work of the trust as a centre of Māori film and creative excellence. At the centre of this is Te Uru Maire – the Māoriland Rangatahi Strategy, which nurtures rangatahi to find their voice through film and develop the practical skills to tell their unique stories.
Supported by a team of rangatahi, Te Uru Maire is delivered through film and technology programmes across Aotearoa. Over the last two years, this has seen Madeleine co-produce eight professional rangatahi short films for Ngā Pakiaka Incubator Programme. This work was recognised at the 2021 New Zealander of the Year awards where Maddy was a semi-finalist for Young New Zealander of the Year.
Jessica-Lee Berghan
Producer
Te Rarawa, Tūhourangi, Ngāti Whakaue
Jess started working at Māoriland in January 2021 as the Digital Media Coordinator, and through helping out on various Māoriland Productions film sets, she found a passion for the producer role.
In April 2022, she co-produced her first short film, ‘He Karu, He Taringa‘ and is currently a co-producer on the Ngā Pakiaka TikTok series ‘Te Pae Tata‘.
Oriwa Hakaraia
Filmmaker
Ngāti Raukawa, Ngāti Kapu
Oriwa is a filmmaker from Ōtaki who started out as a member of the Māoriland Rangatahi Leadership group, Ngā Pakiaka. She has written and directed two short films Bub (2019) and Ruarangi (2022). Both have screened in national and international film festivals.
Oriwa is currently developing Ruarangi into a feature film.
Maaka Gair Houia
Audio Engineer, VoiceQ
Ngāi Tai, Whakatōhea
Maaka Gair Houia is a graduate of the M.A.T.C.H – Māoriland Tech Creative Hub Animation Intensifier Programme. During this six week course, Maaka discovered a passion for audio. Following a three month internship, Maaka was employed at the Māoriland Hub full time as an in-house audio engineer and VoiceQ Technician.
Maaka is largely self-taught. He completed his first reversioning project – Island of Mystery in February 2021. He has since provided audio to a number of short films, as well as TV series “Taikura” (Whakaata Māori), while also training in live sound for major events.
Isaac Te Reina
Filmmaker
Ngāti Kapu
Isaac is a filmmaker, specializing in Directing photography & editing.