'I thought he was joking'

Camera-man follows Pūkeko-Man around to film the mahi he gets up to. This scene is from the first night shoot the production crew did. Picture supplied

Students of Rāngai, a Tairāwhiti-based media company and school, are rapt to have secured a commitment to broadcast their very own show, “Pūkeko-Man”, on Whakaata Māori. 

The show is the brainchild of Rāngai students Te Aruhe Fox, Te Aroha Pokai Harrison-Kaa and Kaj Tata. It follows the journey of Pūkeko-Man, who is trying to keep the streets of Tūranganui-a-Kiwa safe, in a Batman-like  vigilante  role. He is assisted by his sidekick, Camera-Man, who films his exploits.

Every Friday at Rāngai students are given the opportunity to work on personal projects and Pūkeko-Man is the result of that.

“Think of it like a mix of DC and Marvel combined with ‘What We Do In The Shadows’,” Kaj said.

The show will feature different aspects of te ao Māori and explore stories in a modern context.

“Pūkeko-Man” started as a project students  worked on for fun, but Rāngai founder and managing director Shannon Dowsing  recognised its potential when they showed it

to him.

Unknown to the crew he sent it through to Whakaata Māori (formerly Māori Television) to ask for any advice on how to sharpen it up and what needed to be done to apply for funding.

He didn’t hear back for about six weeks and assumed the project had gone unnoticed.

Then he got a phone call out of the blue and Whakaata Māori shared their excitement about the idea, Shannon said.

“They said it’s been sitting around on their board table and they love the idea and are excited about it because it’s a project coming from the regions.

“That’s when we found out we had received a commitment to broadcast,” he said.

Te Aroha said she was a bit confused. “I thought he was joking, but then I realised, ‘oh it’s serious’.

“I have spent a lot of time in Gisborne dreaming of doing things like this and not seeing any way to do it. But now we are, it’s just cool.”

Kaj said, “Now that we know Whakaata Māori are interested, we’ve started to take this thing more seriously.”

Between now and when filming starts early next year they are getting everything prepared.

They are looking at getting a cultural adviser, taking te reo Māori lessons, and Kaj and Te Aruhe have even started taking kick-boxing classes to improve their  fight scenes.

They don’t all speak te reo Māori, but know the basics and are keen to learn.

“We are all excited to learn our language and be able to communicate with our people in te reo Māori,” Kaj said.