March 20, 2019
Māoriland Festival aims to bring light in dark time
The director of the Māoriland Film Festival says coming together to honour storytelling and the creative spirit is a way to heal after the horrors of Christchurch.
Filmmakers and guests were welcomed to the festival this morning, and the next four days will be filled with screenings and workshops.
Tainui Stephens says while people talk about a loss of innocence after the mosque shootings, he believes the way New Zealand responds is what's important.
"For us at Māoriland one of the best ways we feel we can respond is continue our kaupapa of telling stories about ourselves, about the beauty the diversity, those things that are similar about all peoples of difference on the globe. Murder and hatred lurks in the dark. Stories bring light and that very much is what Māoriland is about," he says.
Tainui Stephens expects a highlight of the festival will be the New Zealand premiere of Vai, a film made in the manner of last year's Waru by nine Pacific Island woman filmmakers shot in seven countries.
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