Māoriland festival to highlight Aotearoa's 'blossoming' film industry

A third of the films featured in the Māoriland film festival are from Aotearoa. Photo / Supplied

More than 120 indigenous films will be showcased at the Māoriland film festival in Ōtaki this week.

And with over a third of the films featured from Aotearoa, New Zealand's indigenous film industry has never been busier.

Although there were around 90 indigenous nations represented in the festival, programme manager Madeleine de Young said it was a great representation of New Zealand and indigenous film.

"For us at Māoriland, we've never had so many films from here," she said.

"And many of them are actually from rangatahi filmmakers or emerging filmmakers, so it might be their first or second film.

"It's celebrating everyone's unique perspective and stories, and really celebrating the ability to come together and watch some films together.

"We're really lucky in Aotearoa to be able to do that at all."

The festival runs Wednesday to Sunday, featuring art, emerging technology, industry workshops and kōrero alongside film.

The festival opens on Wednesday night with a keynote speech from celebrated New Zealand actress Rena Owen, best known for her role in "Once Were Warriors".

"Her career has been epic – she spent over 20 years in LA, and she's been in Star Wars and all sorts of epic movies," de Young said.

Celebrated Kiwi actress Rena Owen will be delivering the keynote speech. Photo / Supplied

"She'll be here with us for the whole festival week, we're really lucky to have her here."

Opening night would also feature the festival premier of the film Cousins, from three Māori filmmakers.

With so many films to choose from and tickets priced at only $7.50, de Young encouraged visitors to take a chance on a title they may not have heard of.

The Māoriland film festival runs from March 24 - 28. Photo / Supplied

"If you're curious about the festival and don't really know what to come and see, take a risk.

"All of the stories are powerful and beautiful – the sort of stories you'll want to go home and tell someone about."

She said it was a beautiful thing to watch New Zealand's film industry "growing and blossoming".

"Our film industry here in Aotearoa has never been busier, everyone is working on – whether it's a Netflix or an Amazon or our own projects."

Māoriland's opening night will be the festival premier of Cousins. Photo / Supplied

"I think the world knows that Māori stories are generally excellent and they're certainly really entertaining.

"So it is a great time to be a filmmaker in Aotearoa."

The festival closes runs until March 28, closing on Sunday with the Māoriland Red Carpet Party with Troy Kingi.