Boost for Maori films

The Wairoa Maori Film Festival has become an international attraction with the addition of the United States-based National Geographic Society as one of its supporting partners. The festival is on Queen’s Birthday weekend in June. Festival director Leo Koziol said National Geographic’s All Roads Film Project provided a global platform for indigenous and minority culture film-makers from throughout the world. The society will sponsor the attendance of Maori film-maker Merata Mita, who lives in Hawaii.