Ngāti Porou reo at heart of film

The cast and crew of Coco Reo Māori at the premiere last week. Pictures by Eruera Walker

The first Oscar-winning Pixar film to be re-versioned into te reo Māori — Coco Reo Māori — has been released and celebrates the magic of music and whānau, with a strong connection to Ngāti Porou.

Coco Reo Māori is a celebration of Te Reo o Te Tairāwhiti, drawing on the specific and unique mita (dialect) of Ngāti Porou to bring the story into te ao Māori (the Māori world).

Translations for the film were completed by the father and son duo, Tā Selwyn Parata, chair of Te Rūnanganui o Ngāti Porou and Te Matatini, and Ngarimu Parata (Ngāti Porou, Te Aitanga a Mate, Te Whānau a Tūwhakairiora, Ngāti Horowai, Ngāi Tahu).

Ngarimu was the main translator, assisted by his father and also supported by Greg Koia (Ngāti Porou, Te Whānau a Apanui) who has a Master of Arts and is an alumni of Te Panekiretanga o Te Reo: The Institute of Excellence in the Māori Language.

“It was through the connections that Ngāti Porou has to the Spanish tīpuna, Manuel Jose, or Jose Manuel, and his descendants being concentrated in the Waiapu Valley in Rangitukia, so they drew the connection between the Spanish used and its connection to Tairāwhiti,” Ngarimu said.

He was asked by Tweedie Waititi when both were presenting at the Ngāti Kahungunu Symposium.

“She asked if I was interested, if I had the time and was able to do it. I said yes and we got into it,” he said.

They worked in two stages. First was translating the script of Coco into te reo Māori. Then, after watching the film a couple of times, context was added. Tā Selwyn Parata helped with this part.

The second part was reviewing the translated script while watching the movie.

This was about making sure the sentences and words synced with the characters’ mouths which was where Greg Koia helped. This process took about six weeks.

“It has a distinctly Ngāti Porou connection,” Ngarimu said.

“The entire film is written with Ngāti Porou language reo at the heart. So throughout the film, you will hear a lot of Ngāti Porou colloquialisms and idioms, phrases, and sentence structures.

“One thing that could not be captured was the speed with which the language is delivered. This is just so people can follow along with it in the movie.”

Ngarimu has two hopes with the film being released.

“A primary driver of me agreeing to translate the film is so that my nieces and nephews can watch the same films everyone else is watching but through total immersion in the language their parents, grandparents, great-grandparents and tīpuna spoke.

“I hope people enjoy it. I hope Ngāti Porou whānau and everyone enjoy the film.”

“The second, is that this is a part of the direction of Matewa Media, where we are building a proof of concept that they can deliver Disney reo Māori movies and that people are watching them. What we are doing is getting some runs on the board and hopefully in the future tell our own stories in our own language in our own way,” Ngarimu said.

It was produced locally in Aotearoa by Matewa Media, producer/director Tweedie Waititi (Te Whānau a Apanui, Rongowhakaata), Chelsea Winstanley and Mia Henry-Teirney (producers), Rob Ruha (Te Whānau a Apanui, Ngāti Porou) and Pere Wihongi (music directors), who wanted to bring the reo Māori adaptation to the big screen in time for Matariki.

Along with the translations, many Tairāwhiti-connected tāngata voice characters in the film.

Composer and kōhanga reo stalwart, Kuini Moehau Reedy (Te Aitanga a Mate, Te Aowera, Te Whānau a Rākairoa, Te Wahine Iti, Ngāti Porou) plays Miguel’s grandmother, Abuelita. Roimata Fox (Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Rongomaiwahine, Ngāti Kahungunu) steps in to voice Mexican icon Frida Kahlo, while theatre actor Rūtene Spooner (Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngaruahine, Te Aitanga-a-Māhaki) returns to voice multiple roles including Miguel’s late great-grandfather, Papá Julio. Cilla Ruha (Ngāti Porou, Te Whānau-a-Apanui) plays Miguel’s loving Māmā.

Arihia Cassidy (Ngāti Porou, Te Whānau a Apanui, Ngāti Whātua ki Kaipara), who voiced Nala in The Lion King Reo Māori, returns to voice Miguel’s late aunt Tía Rosita.

Coco Reo Māori is the first Pixar film re-versioned into te reo Māori to be developed and produced by Matewa Media in association with Pixar Animation Studios. The previous three Disney films were Moana, The Lion King and Frozen.

Coco Reo Māori is now screening in cinemas across Aotearoa New Zealand.

Coco the original

The Disney Pixar animated movie Coco was released in 2017.

It tells the story of 12-year-old Miguel who is accidentally transported to the Land of the Dead, where he seeks the help of his deceased musical great-great-grandfather to return him to his family among the living, and to reverse his family’s ban on music.

The film was praised for its animation, voice acting, music, visuals, emotional story and respect for Mexican culture.

It won two Oscars at the 90th Academy Awards, for Best Animated Feature and Best Original Song.