Gisborne Herald, 31 May 2008
Taking Maori tales to world
Saturday, 31 May 2008
By Kristine Walsh
IDEAS can be universal but cultural differences create unique ways of telling stories, say film-makers Tearepa Kahi and Pita Turei.
“This is what makes these stories worth hearing and rehearing,” says Turei who, with Kahi, was in Gisborne to run a workshop for Maori with ambitions to make short films.
“Culture and experience shape our world view,” Kahi adds. “That is the difference between Maori storytelling and Pakeha storytelling.”
The pair discovered a wealth of stories among the nearly 20 budding scriptwriters who attended Friday’s workshop.
There was one about an apology between whanau members. One documenting a journey to the spirit world. And one where animated humans are turned into pigs.
“Many have already thought deeply about their stories and why they want to tell them, so they are already a long way down the track,” says Turei.
“They are as engaged and articulate as any of the film professionals we come across in the bigger cities.”
He and Kahi have already staged about 15 similar workshops around the country, talking not only about the creative side of film-making but also practical issues like funding and how to access it. They admit they have an ulterior motive.
Both are drivers behind Te Paepae Ataata, a new initiative designed to mentor and fund feature-length works by Maori film-makers.
As chairman of Nga Aho Whakaari: Maori in Film, Video and Television, Turei has committed the next three years to tracking down and supporting emerging film-makers.
Kahi plans to do the same, while maintaining his own film-making commitments and continuing to produce Iti Pounamu, the short film programme that screens weekly on Maori Television.
It can often take years to take a feature film from script stage to completion, but Te Paepae Ataata has the ambitious goal of guiding the production of a film every year.
And they are not only shooting for the domestic market. Whether the films are scripted in English or te reo Maori, they want them to be accessible to an international audience.
“There were too many years between the making of films like Ngati (1987) and Once Were Warriors (1994),” says Kahi.
“If we want to make this work we need to go hard, and now is the time to do it.”
Tearepa Kahi and Pita Turei will also run short film workshops at this weekend’s Wairoa Maori Film Festival, and next week in Ruatoria.
