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November 27, 2024
Ruamata TV film celebrates Māori sporting spirit
Atereano Mateariki
Posted On November 27, 2024
Download Audio“Ruamata: It’s More Than Hockey”, a groundbreaking te reo Māori documentary, was awarded at the NZTVA Awards in Auckland.
Last weekend, this entire te reo Māori film won Best Sports Programme, showcasing Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Ruamata’s rise to compete in the prestigious Rankin Cup last year.
Director and reo Māori journalist Kereama Wright says the documentary isn’t really about sports but a whānau mission by the school to normalise te reo Māori in a non-reo Māori space.
As a former tauira, he says the kura never had enough sports players to form a rugby team, so they chose hockey instead.
“In Rotorua hockey was quite big, but there’s no te reo Māori being spoken in those forums in that context. So they decided, okay, well, we’re going to put our kids into hockey, and because we’re doing it all te reo Māori, this is going to be a first, and this is going to be part of our contribution to the normalization of the language. It was about, you know, the fight for the revitalization and the normalization of the language,” says Wright.
Kereama Wright says his goal was to highlight the beauty of a Māori world for a mainstream audience.
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