June 07, 2022
Wairoa Māori Film Festival down to V6 power
This year’s Wairoa Māori Film Festival has been declared a resounding success despite being knocked by Covid.
Numbers were down and the usual contingent of indigenous filmmakers from overseas was absent but the dozens of short films, documentaries and features show at Wairoa and Nuhaka over Queen’s Birthday Weekend were enthusiastically received.
There was also a symposium at Kahungunu Marae devoted to food sovereignty, and a Mana Wāhine High Tea in association with Women in Film & Television Aotearoa.
Event director Leo Koziol says it was good to see whānau young and old come together.
“We did get a lot of last minute cancellations because of Covid. We weren’t all engines roaring. It wasn’t like a V8, more a V6 or V7 but we definitely brought people into Wairoa and we had a wonderful buzz,” he says.