Film festival keeps dreams alive
Born of Kiwi can-do attitude, Ma¯ oriland keeps growing
It’s not surprising that one of Aotearoa’s most unique and remarkable film festivals had its beginnings in a unique and remarkable way. In 2011, filmmaker Libby Hakaraia (Nga¯ti Kapu) made a short called The Lawnmower Men of Kapu. The film told the story of a boy bearing witness to the power and wisdom of his three aunties, played by relatives of Hakaraia. In the wake of the film’s success, Hakaraia and her partner, producer Tainui Stephens, felt that the experience of a film festival should be more widely accessible — not just for residents of the big cities where most festivals are held.
With true can-do Kiwi spirit, they set¯about making their own festival in Otaki with a population of around 3500 people. It was then that Hakaraia’s niece, Madeleine Hakaraia De Young (Nga¯ti Kapu), at the time just finishing up her studies at the University of Auckland, got a phone call from her auntie.
“They said ‘we’re doing a film festival down here. Get your ass down here and help’,” De Young says.
It was new territory for the whole wha¯ nau.
“We all work in the arts but we’d never done anything like this before. And we just put it together to see what happened,” De Young says.
The result was a sensation, transforming the tiny town into a hub of indigenous cinema, inspired by the
model of the mountain-set Sundance Festival in the United States.
Eleven years later, Maoriland Film Festival is Aotearoa’s leading indigenous film festival, and De Young is its director, making her one of the youngest festival directors in the world — and a nominee for Young New Zealander of the Year in 2021.
Rather than be daunted by the responsibility, though, it felt to De Young like a natural progression.
“It’s something I’d been training towards for 10 years. So saying yes initially wasn’t super scary. There’s a lot that I don’t know I don’t know yet, but I have huge support behind me. A great team. We just continue on.”
Those years of preparation are a natural offshoot of a whanau and community-focused festival, one whose humility and rurality are intrinsic to its success.
Maoriland is unlike any other festival in the world. Indigenous filmmakers from the world over gather in this little seaside location for a weekend of film, discussion and, most importantly, cultural exchange.
“Everyone knows each other, there’s a real familiarity and generosity in O¯ taki because manaakitanga binds everything,” De Young explains. “We’re at the end of the film festival circuit — filmmakers might start at Cannes or Sundance or Berlin, but by the time we come around, the big push of finishing a film in the major centres is over.
“They come to a small community where everyone is really excited to see them.
“It’s at the beach. And people watch the film together and ask questions and there’s a relaxedness about it.”
It’s all part of an effort to democratise this most democratic of art forms, to remove the stigma that great movies are only for the bougie crowd.
“We’ve worked really hard to keep out the hierarchy and noise of our industry that separates people from connecting with each other. We never want films and filmmaking to feel elite, because it’s about sharing our stories with each other.”
The concept of manaakitanga is reflected all the way down the programme this year, with indigenous cultures from an exceptionally varied set of locales featured — from the Tayal, a mountainous community in Taiwan, to Finland’s Sami nation, to the Limbo tribe of the Sierra Leone.
The opening night event is the world premiere screening of the second season of The Reciprocity Project, a selection of documentary shorts from indigenous cultures all around the world, examining the way indigenous community practices provide a key to solving the climate crisis.
“It’s what I think we need as a community, as a planet,” De Young explains. “Those films talk about how we act in reciprocity toward each other and dismantle stereotypes. They place indigeneity in a modern context. They’re not just National Geographic subjects any more.”
Elsewhere, a free whnau community screening will present local hit Red, White and Brass to what is sure to be a massive crowd, while Warwick Thornton’s Cate Blanchettstarring The New Boy and beloved Kiwi icon Rachel House’s debut film The Mountain will also be screening. Closing night film Fry Bread Face and Me, from Navajo, Hopi and Laguna Pueblo filmmaker Billy Luther will feature the filmmaker himself in attendance.
At the centre of Maoriland is the guiding principles of Whakatupuranga Rua Mano, an iwiled initiative led by Whataranga Winiata that aimed to revitalise te reo in Otaki at a time — the late 20th century — when very few young Ma¯ ori in the area spoke the language.
This led to the creation of Te Wananga O Raukawa in Otaki, the first Maori university, and guides the many different approaches to boosting indigenous cinema and making it accessible to this now-flourishing international community of creatives. MATCH, the Maoriland tech creative hub, aims to educate indigenous creatives in using new technologies to tell their stories.
“Our dream is no young person should have to aspire to leave their hometown just to get a job. You can travel and build relationships abroad but you can make a living at home.”
Elsewhere, Maoriland teams up with E Tu Whanau, going into Maori and other under-resourced communities to teach filmmaking in twoday workshops.
“After two days you’ll have made a film and be a filmmaker now, and part of our community.”