"I like the idea of showing people, through film, the world, the truth," said Harvey. "Te reo Maori is a way for me to show people through my own eyes."
Harvey's film is a five-minute short about the endangered tuturuatu, also known as the shore plover or dotterel, its habitat and its future in New Zealand. There are 200 birds remaining, making it rarer than the kiwi.
Te Ao o te Tuturuatu tells the tale of the species' plight, but it's not all doom and gloom. The film ends with highlighting what is being done to bring the species back.
"Thank you Isaac," Harvey writes at the end, referring to The Isaac Conservation and Wildlife Trust, where she's volunteered, for allowing her to film live tuturuatu. The trust is working to reintroduce tuturuatu into areas that are free from non-native predators.
She refers to two specific birds she came in contact with: "Yellow and Scalpy were my inspiration."
The film was made for The Outlook for Someday, New Zealand's sustainability film challenge for young people, and it won the Whakatipuranga Award in 2014.
This week, Harvey travelled to Tokyo to accept her award this week with her mum and the director for The Outlook for Someday, David Jacobs.
"Tomairangi's film is a beautiful expression of Aotearoa New Zealand," said Jacobs. "It is a film with great soul. It speaks authentically of our people and our land and in the language that we are working to regrow."
Enter the 2015 Outlook for Someday Challenge here. Entries close September 11.
