Barry Barclay: A Tribute
Barry Barclay: A Tribute
February 27th, 2008
PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – Tuesday 26th February 2008
“Kua hinga te Totara o te wao nui a Tane”
In the forests of the mighty a totara has fallen
‘Work out which battles you can win’.
For me this is the most meaningful thing Barry Barkley said. He definitely said more meaningful things but the timimg of that statement with the calm assured delivery of a general, stayed in my mind. Thinking back there was perhaps touch of the irony of his own mis adventures. I realise now, What a patient man he was.
I didn’t know much about him really. As far as I know he was the first Maori Man to Direct a Film or Television programme. Ramai Hayward being the first Maori.
I met him after seeing his film, The neglected Miracle at the Civic in 1985.
Taorimina Film Festival in Italy acknowledged this film and also his vision.
What did they see?
A visionary who reminded them to value the secrets of the village, the heritage of extended families in rural communities, close to the land, protectors of the seed and the uniqueness of their environment.
He had returned to New Zealand from overseas to an environment where he was unemployed and unemployable. An award winning International Documentary Film Maker.
At this time independed Maori programmes were rejected for television screening and it was normal for Maori film and television programmes to be made by people who weren’t Maori.
Maori Writers, Producers, Directors and Technicians were ‘undervalued’.
With nothing more than a sense that the time was right, he set out to change this.
Barry Barkley devoted his passion not only to his own creative genius but also to the dismantling of invisible barriers to Maori participation in the Film and Television industry.
His pathway to making the first Maori feature film was one he was determined not to travel alone.
He was able to unify a broad range of people, Artists, Artisans, Writers, Photographers and would be film makers.
You met people at his meetings.
He wrote idea’s that were discussed at meetings in Auckland and Wellington for a decade, he then wrote papers and a book to make sure we didn’t forget and that others didn’t marginalise us for articulating such thoughts.
He organised meetings and provided a stream of well though out strategies presented to Film Commission and Government Broadcasting as a clear Maori voice that followed the Settlement from The Privy Council ruling that associated broadcasting with the retention of language.
This became a national collective, named ‘Te Manu Aute’, as a poetical reference to Maori heritage and what we aspired to maintain through new mediums.
I only realise looking back what a fighter he was, unrelenting, biblical in his ability , to survive and to say things a different way, with a different medium if need be but always back to film, his greatest language. Survival and the retention of culture and history, his constant theme.
Te Manu Aute endured as a voluntary organisation for more than ten years before becoming a professional association, ‘Nga Aho Whakaari’, responsible for building bridges across all components of the Broadcasting and Film making Industries.
As Dr. Ruth Harley of The New Zealand Film Commission has stated.
“Barry was very clear about his goals for Maori cinema and his challenges to the system were important in provoking movements which benefited indigenous voices, ‘Te Paepae Ataata’, is a new initiative for Maori filmmakers, he was instrumental in getting off the ground.’
Barry camped on a traffic Island outside the Film Commission Offices as one of his many strategies to be heard.
Articulating a pathway for change from a time when Maori were seen only as actors or presenters in programmes people of another culture made about us.
Barry was a man who I regard as the father of Maori Film. If he didn’t do all the marking out, he certainly dug a significant part of the foundations for what is Nga Aho Whakaari, representing Maori in Film and Television.
A glowing example of how unlocking Maori economic potential can benefit the entire Film and Broadcasting community.
I have recently been appointed Executive Officer for Nga Aho Whakaari after an absence from the film industry of ten years. My first thought was to touch base with a man who has been a consistant mentor to so many and a touch stone to the concience of Maori Film and Television.
It was with great sadness that I learnt he had passed away on my first day at work.
Moemai moemai e te rangatira, you will not be forgotten.
Pita Turei. Executive Officer Nga Aho Whakaari.
