September 10, 2014
Toronto success strengthens Maori influence
Maori screen production industry umbrella group Nga Aho Whakaari is welcoming the response to Maori films at the Toronto International Film Fesatival.
Toa Fraser’s te reo Maori action epic The Dead Lands premiered last week, and critics hailed it as dazzling, exhilarating and thunderingly brutal.
The Dark Horse and What We Do In The Shadows also have runs at the Canadian festival.
Nga Aho Whakaari chair Kim Muriwai says it’s wonderful to know te reo Maori is being heard all round the world, and the success of the films helps Maori filmmakers to win more control of the creative process.
"There’s just one of those films that has a Maori writer, director and producer. Our ultimate aim is to be able to create and be given the opportunity for fully Maori kaupapa films where the writer and the director and the producer are Maori and come with their perspectives," she says.
Kim Muriwai says as well as film and television work, Nga Aho Whakaari members are also grasping the challenges of producing content for new media platforms like phones and the Internet.
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