Wairarapa trip key to Janet Moses film

Janet Moses (actor Kura Forrester), centre, surrounded by family in a scene from the docudrama Belief: The Possession of Janet Moses, playing tonight and tomorrow at Regent 3 Cinemas. PHOTO SUPPLIED

The journey of a Maori family to Wairarapa - to pacify demons and lift a curse - is a pivotal element in the New Zealand docudrama Belief: The Possession of Janet Moses, says director David Stubbs.

The 88-minute film, screening tonight at Regent 3 Cinemas in Masterton in the New Zealand International Film Festival, uses witness statements, interviews and re-enactments to throw light on the 2007 drowning death in a Wainuiomata home of mother-of-two Janet Moses.

Members of Ms Moses' family had forced water into her mouth and sucked at her eyes in an escalating three-day "circle of love" to lift what they believed was a curse, or makutu.

Nine members of her family appeared in court and pleaded not guilty to related charges of manslaughter. Five were convicted and received community-based sentences.

The motorcade trip to Wairarapa was related to an incident a fortnight before Ms Moses' death, when a concrete lion was stolen from Greytown Hotel, also known as the Top Pub.

Mr Stubbs said the family trip from Wainuiomata to Wairarapa was a significant plot shift in the production that involved filming the lion that was stolen, and returned, in what was a failed attempt to appease demons family members believed were possessing Ms Moses.

"After it all happened, the lions were returned and the owner locked them away. In the last year or so, they were brought back out again. They were blessed by a local iwi and the local Maori still give some significance to the lions," he said. "Some people still believe there is a spiritual connection there. We filmed not only at the pub but the trip the family took over the Rimutakas and to Greytown - that's quite a major part of the story."

The trip had involved at least one person from Wairarapa, he said, and he had heard several stories of what happened during it and was "not sure what to believe anymore".

"What happened in Wairarapa is something to investigate. I think there's more to it than anyone knows."

Mr Stubbs said the ceremony the family undertook had blended some traditional Maori belief and some Christian practice and, despite the dramatised elements of the film, which "are a bit unfashionable", he was ultimately satisfied with the film, especially the mostly unknown ensemble cast.

"You could say it was a hybrid of Christian and Maori belief and the family's own unique spiritual practice. The ceremony was certainly not common practice in Maoridom.

"But no-one wins. That's what the film settles on really. There's no winners in this story and the audience will hopefully get to understand how this could have happened and why this was possible, by experiencing a bit of what the family and Janet went through."

He said members of the family, including those charged in connection with the death of Ms Moses, had been given the opportunity to view the film before its premiere and some had taken up the offer.

Mr Stubbs said the docudrama was the first feature length film for his company, KHF Media.

"The film has been picked up by the New Zealand festival and a lot of other festivals and that's great. It's not like what you'd expect a docudrama to be. This is something quite different. It really does blur the lines between what is real and what's not real," he said. "Everyone says to me after they've seen it, they just can't forget it. It just stays with them."

Belief, The Possession of Janet Moses screens at Regent 3 Cinema in the NZ International Film Festival at 8pm tonight and 2.30pm tomorrow.