New Plymouth gallery hosting Taranaki’s first indigenous film festival

A still from the 2008 film This Is Her, made by Katie Wolfe (Ngāti Tama, Ngāti Mutunga).

A New Plymouth gallery will host Taranaki’s first indigenous film festival over Waitangi weekend.

Govett-Brewster Art Gallery and the Len Lye Centre have partnered with the Wairoa Māori Film Festival to present the Kiriata Māori Cinema Showcase (kiriata means film or cinema).

It will present a selection of documentaries, short films and moving image artworks by Māori film-makers, with a programme curated by Wairoa Māori Film Festival director Leo Koziol (Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngāti Rakaipaaka) to respond to the gallery’s acclaimed exhibition Te Hau Whakatonu – A Series of Never-Ending Beginnings, which closes on February 11.

In an emailed press release, Leo said Kiriata Māori 2024 was a special programme for the Wairoa Māori Film Festival.

“The full festival was unable to go ahead last year because of the impacts of Cyclone Gabrielle on the East Coast. Many of the planned films will now be able to screen at the Kiriata Māori Showcase.”

The event comprised two feature documentaries, 35 short films and moving image artworks.

“These are all directed and/or written by Māori screen artists, to provide a ‘survey’ of the state of Māori cinema today.”

Partners to the event include Circuit Artist Moving Image Aotearoa, which has commissioned the Rematriation artwork programme curated by Tanya Te Miringa Te Rorarangi Ruka, Circuit’s Kaitiaki Kiriata for 2024, a new curatorial position which helps to present artist video in contexts framed by te ao Māori.

There is also a special programme of short films by film-makers who whakapapa to Taranaki, Me He Maunga Teitei, including films by Aroha Awarau, Katie Wolfe and Rachel House.

A focus work is Heather Randerson’s Te Whenua Tupu Ora, a film by the Hokianga-based Niniwa Collective in which kauri die-back images are projected onto the sand dunes of Hokianga.

In the press release, New Plymouth District Council’s ringatohu cultural experience, Dr Zara Stanhope, said being able to support the flood-hit community associated with the Wairoa Māori Film Festival and elevating and championing all forms of Toi Māori was important to the gallery.

“The alignment to Te Hau Whakatonu, which presents Toi Māori from the gallery’s collection, is critical and we look forward to these films extending kōrero around the collection and current practice of Taranaki Iwi artists, as well as inspiring the whole Taranaki community.”

The Details:

What: The Kiriata Māori Cinema Showcase

When: February 2-6.

Where: Len Lye Centre Cinema, New Plymouth

Other: For screening times and ticket purchases, visit www.govettbrewster.com or call the gallery store.