Documentary Hautoa Mā! The Rise of Māori Cinema reveals the remarkable impact Māori have made on New Zealand cinema.

Documentary Hautoa Mā! The Rise of Māori Cinema reveals the remarkable impact Māori have made on New Zealand cinema.

Hongi, a Maori chieftain’s teenage son, must avenge his father’s murder in order to bring peace and honour to the souls of his loved ones after his tribe is slaughtered through an act of treachery. Vastly outnumbered by a band of villains led by Wirepa, Hongi’s only hope is to pass through the feared and forbidden “Dead Lands” and forge an uneasy alliance with a mysterious warrior, a ruthless fighter who has ruled the area for years.

Upcoming Māori monster thriller.

In 1860s New Zealand, a young Irish woman desperately trying to find her son finds herself caught on both sides of the lines during the wars between Māori tribes and the British colonial army.

In Rain of the Children, Ward further explores the subject of his earlier film, In Spring One Plants Alone when, as a young film student he travelled to the Ureweras and documented the lives of an elderly Māori woman (Puhi) and her schizophrenic son (Niki).

Hone is the last of the old time gravediggers. He links the living with the dead. He is the keeper of their secrets. Tana is Hone’s apprentice who respects his uncle and doesn’t mind the physical work. However he finds the spiritual side of the job unnerving. Hone worries that Tana may not be able to pick up the role of the gravedigger and all that it entails. A series of incidents in the urupa (graveyard) lead them to both make final decisions.

A boy witnesses the seemingly magic powers of his Aunties and the continuation of tradition.

The story of Dame Whina Cooper, the beloved Māori matriarch who worked tirelessly to improve the rights of her people, especially women. Flawed yet resilient, Whina tells the story of a woman formed by tradition, compelled by innovation, and guided by an instinct for equality and justice whose legacy as the Te Whaea o te Motu (Mother of the Nation) was an inspiration to an entire country.

When young Brian discovers plans to close a convent of delightfully eccentric nuns, he sets off with them on a wild road trip across New Zealand to save their home.