INC'd
INC'd
Tohunga
Tohunga
Rising Dust
Rising Dust

Screened as part of NZIFF 2014

Ngā Whanaunga 2014 

Aotearoa

84 minutes

A collection of Māori and Pasifika short films curated by Leo Koziol (Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngāti Rakaipaaka), Director of the Wairoa Māori Film Festival, with guest curator Craig Fasi (Niue), Director of the Pollywood Film Festival. This year’s expression of ‘Ngā Whanaunga’, which means relatedness and connectedness between peoples, is once again realised with films from Aotearoa and the Pacific – stunning works made by big screen storytellers at the cutting edge. Curators’ comments on each film appear in italics.

In The Rubbish Tin 2014

Director

Producer

Catherine Fitzgerald
4 minutes

Abandoned on her birthday, Pippa escapes into an imaginary world with her best friend Chubby.
A well told story with a sharp pace enforces the significance of the epidemic of neglect. — Craig Fasi

Footsteps 2014

Director

Producer

Tiairani Drollet Le Caill

A father’s sacrifice, a young boy’s promise. The colours and hues of a Pacific Island shine through in this fable of fatherly love. — Leo Koziol

Pūmanawa: The Gift 2013

Director

Producer

Tui Ruwhiu
,
Poata Eruera

Festivals

imagineNATIVE 2013
,
Dreamspeakers 2014
,
Wairoa Māori Film Festival 2014

A mother shares her own tragic past to stop her daughter repeating the same mistake. A dramatic and haunting depiction of Māori spiritualism. — Craig Fasi

Tohunga 2013

Director

Producers

Rebecca Collins
,
Marie Thompson
8 minutes

When a young boy falls ill, a family turns to a tohunga for help. Unknowingly, a young girl bears witness to a world never meant for her. Meditative moments of painterly imagery disguise a serious message. — Leo Koziol

Ahi Kā 2014

Director

Producer

Jillian White

Awards

Best Actress (Audience Award)

Festivals

Wairoa Māori Film Festival 2014

Left alone with just her spiritual guides, a young girl upholds the prestige of the tribe in order to protect the land for generations to come. Due to her brave deeds she is immortalised. A meditative exploration of kaitiakitanga (protectiveness); as the people protect the land, so the land – and the birds upon it – are kaitiaki of the people. — Leo Koziol

Rising Dust 2014

Director

Producer

Julia Parnell

With

David Rawiri-Pene
,
Rawiri Paratene
,
Harlen Hoani-Thompson
In English
15 minutes

A hip-hop dance drama taken out of the city streets and into the historical, isolated, rural land of the Hokianga. With the help of his ancestors, a teenager on the cusp of adulthood stands up to his father and defends his place in his home. The Hokianga landscape shimmers as a dusty hip-hop epic explodes all around. — Leo Koziol 

INC'd 2014

Director

Producer

Darren Simmonds
,
Ian Bowmer

With

Rob Mokaraka

Awards

Audience Award, Best Actor (Audience Award)
,
Te Nati Prize

Festivals

Wairoa Māori Film Festival 2014
Aotearoa New Zealand In English and Te reo Māori with English subtitles
15 minutes

A Māori man enjoying the corporate life he has carved for himself in Sydney returns home for his father’s funeral. Amidst the mourning, a challenge is laid before him. Māori walk in many worlds, but must we compromise tradition to modern commerce? — Leo Koziol