Wairoa Maori & Indigenous Film Festival 2008

Seeking Bimaadiziiwin is a community-based project made in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada. It focuses on the tough issues of racism, depression and suicide among First Nations Youth. It won Best Live Action Short Film at the American Indian Film Festival in San Francisco, California in 2007. Screening at the Wairoa Maori Film Festival 2008.

6th Pacific International Documentary Film Festival (FIFO Tahiti 2009)
ENTRIES

Dear friends, producers and filmmakers,

At the FIFO 2008, which took place in Tahiti from January 29 to February 3, “Horo’a,” directed by Jacques Navarro-Novira, won both the grand jury prize (With €4200).
Special awards went to “Sacred Ground,” directed by Kim Mavromatis of Australia, “Blowind Up Paradise” by Ben Lewis of Great Britain and “My Brother Vinnie” Steven McGregor of Australia. The three winners respectively received €2500 in prize money.

This highly successful fifth edition of the FIFO gave the public and participants the opportunity to discover the many faces, cultures, histories and rich stories of the people of the South Pacific. The range of subjects revealed not only the rich diversity and difference within our region but also that which unites us. The festival’s partnership with RFO, (France Television group), enabled wide broadcasting of the prize-winning films.

With the FIFO now entering its sixth year, Papeete has become an unrivalled venue for Pacific pictures, a meeting place for people from Polynesia, Micronesia, Melanesia and the West where the voices of the Pacific are heard.
The 6th Pacific International Documentary Film Festival will take place in Papeete, Tahiti, from 27 january to 1 february, 2009.

Entries have been open for some weeks now and will close on October 1st, 2008.

If you have produced or directed documentary films in the South Pacific region during these three last years, we would be delighted to consider them for our next festival and encourage you to submit them as soon as possible.

Below you will find the entry form and the festival’s rules and guidelines.
We hope you may help us make the next FIFO even better than the last.

With sun-filled greetings from Tahiti,

Pierre OLLIVIER
FIFO Director
BP 381498 Tamanu – 98718 Punaauia – Polynésie française
Email : organisation@filmfestivaloceanie.org

PRESS RELEASE: MAORI FILM FESTIVAL PAYS TRIBUTE TO FILM PIONEERS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Wairoa, Aotearoa New Zealand. Tuesday March 25th 2008

COMING UP THIS MATARIKI Queen’s Birthday Weekend May 30th to June 2nd is the Wairoa Maori Film Festival, a celebration of Maori and indigenous film achievement. Now in its third incarnation, the Wairoa Maori Film Festival will this year pay tribute to three of our early film pioneers, Witarina Harris, Don Selwyn and Barry Barclay.

Opening the festival will be the classic comedy feature CAME A HOT FRIDAY, starring Don Selwyn and Billy T. James. A Mexican-Maori themed celebration will take place, including a film-makers networking hui sponsored by Nga Aho Whakaari Maori in Film & Television. Other feature films featuring Don Selwyn will be screened, including RANGI’S CATCH and THE LOST TRIBE.

“Don Selwyn was one of the founding Patrons of our festival, and we were greatly saddened by his passing last year,” says Festival Chairperson Huia Koziol, who performed in Maori drama with Don Selwyn at Ardmore Teacher’s college in the 1950s. “Don’s early support helped make the festival a reality, and his legacy will live on both on the screen and in the continued success of the Wairoa Maori Film Festival.”

The festival will honour the memory of pioneer Maori actress Witarina Harris with a piano-accompanied screening of the silent classic UNDER THE SOUTHERN CROSS. This 1927 feature film will be the Centrepiece of this year’s festival. Witarina Harris passed away early in 2007, at age 101.

Also highlighted at the festival will be the works of Barry Barclay. “Barry Barclay was special guest at the 2006 festival,” says Mrs. Koziol. “The loss of Barry to the Maori film-making community this year leaves a huge gap in our knowledge and dreamscape.”

A special screening of Barry Barclay’s feature documentary THE NEGLECTED MIRACLE will be presented. The documentary explores the plight of indigenous genetic conservation initiatives around the world, with sequences shot in Peru, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, the Netherlands, Italy, France and Australia. Also to be screened will be episodes of the TANGATA WHENUA series, which Barry Barclay directed in collaboration with John O’Shea and Michael King.

“The legacy of these three leaders in the Maori film world will live on, on screen, and in our hearts and minds at this year’s Wairoa Maori Film Festival.”

* * * * *

Wairoa Maori Film Festival Dates:
MATARIKI QUEEN’S BIRTHDAY WEEKEND
Gaiety Cinema and Taihoa Marae, Wairoa
Friday 30th May to Monday June 2nd 2008

TRAVELLING MATARIKI FILM FESTIVAL SHOWCASE:
MIC Toi Rerehiko & Academy Cinema, Auckland, June 2008 (final dates TBC)
Paramount Cinema & NZ Film Archive Mediaplex, Wellington, June 2008 (final dates TBC)
Regent Cinema, Taumarunui, July 2008 (final dates TBC)

AUTHORISED BY: Te Roopu Whakaata Maori I Te Wairoa - Wairoa Maori Film Festival Society Inc.
C/- Box 85, Nuhaka, Wairoa District, Aotearoa New Zealand * Phone 06 837 8854 * Email: maorimovies@gmail.com

PRESS RELEASE: ENVIRONMENTAL THEME TO MAORI FILM FESTIVAL

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Wairoa, Aotearoa New Zealand. Tuesday March 25th 2008

COMING UP THIS MATARIKI Queen’s Birthday Weekend May 30th to June 2nd is the Wairoa Maori Film Festival, a celebration of Maori and indigenous film achievement. Now in its third incarnation, the Wairoa Maori Film Festival will this year have a special environmental theme and focus to the film works presented.

“The theme of this year’s festival is ‘Te Karanga O Papatuanuku, Te Waiata O Te Whenua’ ~ ‘The Land Sings, The Earth Cries Out”, says Festival Director Leo Koziol. “As we face a world imperiled by ecological decline and the uncertain impacts of climate change, we find it is our indigenous voices that are emerging as beacons of hope for the future of our planet.”

Highlights of this year’s environmental programme include:

RESTORING THE MAURI OF LAKE OMAPERE Locals speaks out about the pollution of Lake Omapere, once considered the great food basket of Nga Puhi.
THE NEGLECTED MIRACLE Barry Barclay’s classic documentary on the plight of stewards of the world’s plant genetic resources.
HERDSWOMAN Aina, Elisabeth and Lisa belong to different generations. Their stories reflect life in Sapmi (Lapland) and the transition from nomadic existence to modern society.
BLOWIN’ IN THE WIND An examination of the secret treaty that allowed the US military to train and test its weaponry on Australian soil, and its impact on indigenous communities “downwind”.
ATLANTIS APPROACHING The Tuvalu people face the impeding sea level rise caused by global climate change.
KAITIAKI SERIES Profiling environmental issues in the communities of Raglan, Whakatane and Maungatautari.
Directors and producers of the above film works have been invited to present their films at the Wairoa Maori Film Festival, with guests from as far away as Canada and Finland now making plans to attend.

Selections from the above programme will also be screened at the Wellington and Auckland Matariki Film Showcases.

* * * * *

Wairoa Maori Film Festival Dates:
MATARIKI QUEEN’S BIRTHDAY WEEKEND
Gaiety Cinema and Taihoa Marae, Wairoa
Friday 30th May to Monday June 2nd 2008

TRAVELLING MATARIKI FILM FESTIVAL SHOWCASE:
MIC Toi Rerehiko & Academy Cinema, Auckland, June 2008 (final dates TBC)
Paramount Cinema & NZ Film Archive Mediaplex, Wellington, June 2008 (final dates TBC)
Regent Cinema, Taumarunui, July 2008 (final dates TBC)

AUTHORISED BY: Te Roopu Whakaata Maori I Te Wairoa - Wairoa Maori Film Festival Society Inc., C/- Box 85, Nuhaka, Wairoa District, Aotearoa New Zealand * Phone 06 837 8854 * Email: maorimovies@gmail.com

LAUNCHING THE MATARIKI FILM FESTIVAL 2008

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Wairoa, Aotearoa New Zealand. Tuesday March 25th 2008

Te Roopu Whakaata Maori I Te Wairoa Inc. is proud to announce that in 2008 it will be launching the national MATARIKI FILM FESTIVAL. Commencing Queen’s Birthday weekend with the four-day Wairoa Maori Film Festival, a travelling Maori and indigenous film showcase will then be presented during the Matariki period to audiences in Auckland, Wellington and Taumarunui.

This year, Wairoa will be a “portal” for Maori and indigenous film-makers as, for the first time, a special selection of the programme from the festival will travel on to Auckland, Wellington and Taumarunui. Overseas guest film-makers will be invited to attend these special screenings. In Taumarunui, a special showcase of Don Selwyn’s will be presented to local audiences to celebrate the life of their home-town film maker.

The launch of the Matariki Film Festival will support various regional initatives as the Matariki momentum grows. Recent research by Tourism New Zealand has found that Matariki and the Pleiades resonate highly in indigenous cultures worldwide, and that there is the potential for a festival to celebrate arts and culture of indigenous people from New Zealand and around the world.

“The Wairoa Maori Film Festival is pushing boundaries to present a national showcase of film and media arts at the forefront of Maori and global indigenous cultures,” says Festival Chairperson Huia Koziol. “This year Wairoa will be bringing a national Matariki film showcase to the whole of New Zealand, with the potential for this travelling programme to expand both in content and locality each year.”

The Wairoa Maori Film Festival will be making special invitation to representatives of indigenous film festivals from around the world to participate in future festivals, including ImagineNative in Canada, the Sami Film Festival in Finland, the Nepal Indigenous Film Archive and the Rapa Nui Film Festival (Easter Island, Chile).

* * * * *

Wairoa Maori Film Festival Dates:
MATARIKI QUEEN’S BIRTHDAY WEEKEND
Gaiety Cinema and Taihoa Marae, Wairoa
Friday 30th May to Monday June 2nd 2008

TRAVELLING MATARIKI FILM FESTIVAL SHOWCASE:
MIC Toi Rerehiko & Academy Cinema, Auckland, June 2008 (final dates TBC)
Paramount Cinema & NZ Film Archive Mediaplex, Wellington, June 2008 (final dates TBC)
Regent Cinema, Taumarunui, July 2008 (final dates TBC)

AUTHORISED BY: Te Roopu Whakaata Maori I Te Wairoa - Wairoa Maori Film Festival Society Inc., C/- Box 85, Nuhaka, Wairoa District, Aotearoa New Zealand * Phone 06 837 8854 * Email: maorimovies@gmail.com

Maori film festival to go on the road
The Dominion Post | Thursday, 27 March 2008

The Maori Film Festival is going on the road for the first time, visiting Wellington, Auckland and Taumarunui after the main event in Wairoa.

For its third running, the main festival in Wairoa will be held during Queen’s Birthday weekend in June, tying in with the Matariki festival, which celebrates the Maori New Year and harvest.

Selections from the main festival will then be toured to the other centres, and overseas film-makers will be invited to those screenings.

“The theme of this year’s festival is ‘Te Karanga O Papatuanuku, Te Waiata O Te Whenua - The Land Sings, The Earth Cries Out’,” festival director Leo Koziol said yesterday.

“As we face a world imperilled by ecological decline and the uncertain impacts of climate change, we find it is our indigenous voices that are emerging as beacons of hope for the future of our planet.”

Films on this theme include Barry Barclay’s documentary The Neglected Miracle, about plant genetics; Herdswoman, set among the native people of Lapland; and Blowin’ in the Wind, about the effects of atomic testing on Australian Aborigines.

The festival will also honour the contributions of Maori film pioneers Witarina Harris, Don Selwyn and Barclay, who died in February.

It will open with the classic New Zealand comedy Came a Hot Friday, starring Selwyn and Billy T James. A Mexican-Maori themed celebration will accompany this screening.

In Taumarunui, a special showcase of Selwyn’s films will be presented to local audiences to celebrate the life of their hometown film-maker, who died last year.

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.

Screening at the Wairoa Maori Film Festival 2008.

Four Sheets to the Wind, the first feature of native film maker Sterlin Harjo. Coming to the Wairoa Maori Film Festival 2008.