May 20, 2022
Story time for Māori film festivals
The first of two Māori film festivals kicks off in Wairoa over Queen’s Birthday Weekend.
Director Leo Koziol says more than 50 films will be shown at Nuhaka Marae and the Gaiety Theatre in Wairoa, with the emphasis being on shorts.
The highlights will be curated into an indigenous programme for the New Zealand International Film Festival later in the year.
Mr Koziol says there’s room for two midwinter festivals, with the Māoriland Film Festival in Ōtaki starting at the end of June.
“Matariki is our time for reflection, our time for storytelling, our time to step back and say hey, this is who we are as Māori and these are the stories we have to tell,” he says.
The Wairoa Māori Film Festival will also host the presentation of the Women in Film & Television Mana Wāhine Award to producer Desray Armstrong,