Film buffs have an opportunity to see the rarely screened 1972 feature film To Love a Maori next month at MTG Century Theatre.
Directed and produced by Rudall and Ramai Hayward, To Love a Maori tells the story of two young Maori men who travel from their country marae to Auckland. The film showed some of the social problems of the time and aimed to highlight the complexities of Maori urban migration. It was also the first New Zealand feature film produced in colour.
This will be the first screening of the film since co-director Ramai Hayward passed away earlier this year. Ramai, of Ngai Tahu and Ngati Kahungunu descent, was an inspiration to many, not only for her ground-breaking work as the country's first Maori film-maker, camera woman and script writer, but as an acclaimed photographer, singer and poet.
Rudall also had a fascinating backstory; his life-long association with film beginning with him at age 9 becoming a projection assistant, and ending when he died in 1974 while on the road promoting this film.
The one-off 3.30pm screening, courtesy of Nga Taonga Sound & Vision - the New Zealand Archive of Film, Television and Sound, will be introduced by Diane Pivac from Nga Taonga. Tickets cost $5.
The screening is just one of a range of activities offered at MTG Hawke's Bay next Sunday, November 2.
Earlier in the day, at 2pm, MTG Kaitiaki Taonga Maori Tryphena Cracknell and contemporary artist and Maori art lecturer Chris Bryant-Toi will lead a floor talk and tour of the Whetu Tirikatene-Sullivan: Travel in Style exhibition, uncovering the stories and meanings of the motifs and patterns that adorn Whetu's unique garments. The floor talk is included in the general admission price, or free with a Travel in Style programme ticket.
All day on Sunday, visitors to MTG are welcome to have a go at designing and stitching their own tapestry panel, inspired by Travel in Style, with the materials and basic instructions provided free in the foyer.
Following the closure of Travel in Style in March next year, the panels will be incorporated into a special korowai, or cloak, to go on display.
There is also a screen-printing workshop on November 16, which begins with an hour-long tour of the exhibition before moving to Aroha & Friends in Ahuriri for a four-hour workshop. Registration closes on November 3.
The other Travel in Style-related event is November's MTG Late, a 70s singalong led by the HB Ukelele Collective in the MTG Century Theatre foyer on November 20.
For more information about MTG Sunday Sessions, to be held on the first Sunday of each month until Travel in Style closes, or MTG Late, visit mtghawkesbay.com.