February 17, 2023
Māoriland and Wētā pitch Māori horror film
Māoriland Productions lead producer Libby Hakaraia has been given a chance to pitch New Zealand’s first authentic monster movie at the European Film Market starting today in Berlin.
She is one of 29 feature film producers worldwide selected for the market’s Fiction Toolbox Programme.
Taniwha, written Ngāti Porou screenwriter Ricardo Giraldo, is set 1000 years ago when the largest birds to ever exist filled Aotearoa’s forests and skies.
Hakaraia says the film centres on a young couple fleeing tribal warfare only to find themselves in the valley of a hidden, shapeshifting monster.
She says the prospect of joining forces with the internationally renowned Wētā Workshop to fashion the ancient world is an attractive drawcard for meetings at the film market.