With a packed programme and staunch kaupapa, Māoriland returns to the Kapiti Coast from March 26-30.

An empowering and enlightening celebration of indigenous excellence returns to the tiny North Island town of Ōtaki next month, with this year’s Māoriland Film Festival showcasing 130 films and digital works from 86 indigenous nations across the globe.

Now in its 12th year and drawing crowds from all across Aotearoa, the festival’s director Madeleine Hakaraia De Young said the secret to its success wasn’t just the diverse array of films on show, but the deep-rooted kaupapa that has stood the test of time.

“We all long to be part of something bigger than ourselves,” she said. “For me, and many who return to Māoriland, seeing stories of connection, identity and unique worldviews from other indigenous communities deepens our own sense of place.”

She describes the festival as a “global movement”. Whānau, whakapapa, wairua and whenua are themes that return year after year, and each year audiences gain a new experience or understanding of these values through discussions and collaboration.

“Our success comes from bringing people together,” De Young said.

“The most powerful moments for me are the kōrero – hearing from audiences after screenings, sometimes for months afterwards. People return to Māoriland year after year because it gives them a sense of belonging.”

It’s also the town’s long-term plan and support of te ao Māori that De Young attributes to the festival’s growth and sustainability.

“Here in Ōtaki, we are part of a visionary iwi strategy called Whakatupuranga Rua Mano, which looked ahead to the year 2000 and beyond,“ she said.

“As that milestone passed, one of its leaders, Whatarangi Winiata, challenged us to look even further: what does Aotearoa look like in the year 3000? Māoriland operates with that same long-term vision.”

This year’s festival theme is “Ko te mauri, he mea huna ki te Moana” - a whakataukī that centres on climate changes unfolding across the world and the impact on indigenous communities.

Many of this year’s headlining films reflect this, and paint stark depictions of it, but they also look to inspire positive change.

“Indigenous communities hold solutions, and what sets us apart is that we bring them forward with joy,” De Young said.

“We don’t just survive – we celebrate, we create, we share, and there’s room for everyone. We hope visitors to Māoriland leave this year’s festival feeling activated and inspired.”

Here’s a look at some of this year’s line-up but with 130 films and shorts in the festival, there’s plenty more to explore in the programme.

Kōkā

Dir. Kath Akuhata-Brown

A buddy film with an authentically indigenous twist, Kōkā explores the concept of generational friendship through its fly-on-the-wall perspective of the journey of Māori elder Hamo (Hinetu Dell) and local delinquent Jo (Darneen Christian).

Together in an old Ford Falcon, the pair undertake a spiritual sojourn full of healing and connection as they head towards Hamo’s whenua.

In the spirit of celebrating te reo Māori, it’s the first feature film to use the original dialect of East Cape iwi Ngāti Porou, an impressive feat by all film-makers involved.

Writer/director Kath Akuhata-Brown told the Gisborne Herald she “wanted to make a film that puts a Māori world view front and centre of the screen”.

Naturally, this is the perfect fit for a film festival that celebrates diverse indigenous perspectives while also showcasing the power of human connection and communication.

Te Puna Ora - The Source of Life

Dir. Virginie Tetoofa

If its hauntingly beautiful promotional image is anything to go by, Virginie Tetoofa’s stark depiction of French Polynesia being brutalised by the impacts of privatisation is sure to fix eyes to the screen.

Told through the eyes of three indigenous women – a community leader, a spearfisher and a teenage activist – the film intends to show viewers the power of grassroots activism through cultural change while linking to mythical and spiritual ideals.

The notion of going up against corporate giants for the greater good leads film-makers to describe the movie as a story of how a small community can give hope for global change.

“As native Tahitians we grow up immersed in nature. The ocean is our first ancestor and through our myths we learn our deepest lessons,” Tetoofa revealed in her director’s statement.

“Te Puna Ora not only serves to preserve this connection with the ocean, but also shows an undeformed indigenous reality.”

Shrek: Kātahi Te Korokē

Dir. Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson (produced by Māoriland Charitable Trust)

One of the crown jewels of the festival is an indigenous spin on a classic animated film, and it’s thanks to the hard mahi of the organisers and their collaboration with Dreamworks and local rangatahi that it came to fruition.

After the te reo Māori adaptation success of Disney films like Moana and The Lion King, Shrek (2001) is the latest animated hit to be reborn with Māori language at its front and centre.

Rangatahi in Ōtaki challenged festival organisers to have the film dubbed into te reo Māori, so producer Libby Hakaraia contacted DreamWorks' vice-president of international dubbing to try to make it happen.

She explained the town had been revitalising te reo since the mid-1970s and was now one of the strongest bilingual towns in Aotearoa.

The film, following the titular angry ogre who is commissioned to rescue a princess, has already been dubbed into more than 40 languages and broke box-office records when it was released.

Featuring an impressive voice cast, including Taringa podcast host Te Puaheiri Snowden as Donkey and Hawke’s Bay te reo Māori advocate Jeremy Tātere McLeod as Lord Farquaad, the dub will be a treat for tamariki and whānau wanting to explore the language together.

Hakaraia said the project “celebrates cultural diversity and the power of storytelling to connect people”, which fittingly resonates with the kaupapa of the festival.

Aberdeen

Dir. Ryan Cooper and Eva Thomas

Stories about climate refugees are rare in today’s saturated film landscape, so this film by Canadian directors Ryan Cooper and Eva Thomas will be a refreshing welcome and no doubt a wake-up call to many.

Forced from her home due to flooding, indigenous woman Aberdeen of the Peguis First Nation (Gail Maurice) navigates the trials and tribulations of adapting to big-city life while reflecting on the inter-generational cycle of trauma she has faced.

Without an ID and sleeping on public benches, she enters survival mode and vows to return to the place where she was valued and accepted.

Said to feature biting, dark comedy with a focus on realism, the film paints a stark picture of those forced to flee and highlights the ever-growing issues that climate change poses to indigenous communities.

“Though elements of this story have been told before, Cooper and Thomas make Aberdeen a rich character, not a caricature,” the Toronto International Film Festival organisers wrote in their programming notes.

“The film feels extremely personal and raw. Maurice’s performance, meanwhile, shows incredible emotional texture.”

The Haka Party Incident

Dir. Katie Wolfe

According to this film’s opening credit: “The last New Zealand war took place in 1979. It lasted three minutes.”

A film that made waves at the 2024 New Zealand International Film Festival, this raw documentary about a controversial mock haka by University of Auckland students approaches its subject from various viewpoints and angles.

Director Katie Wolfe (Kawa, 2010) takes the heightened emotion of the gripping tensions of her stage play based on the event and shows it through a real-life historical lens by interviewing those involved.

Headlines at the time described the event as a “gang rampage” and several of the activists were convicted of crimes during the heated protest, yet the haka was never performed again.

“For members of He Taua, many who became seasoned activists around protests including the Springbok Tour and Treaty of Waitangi claims, there’s gentle joviality as they recall they didn’t have much of a plan in place, and a quiet sense of pride for what they achieved,” Moerangi Vercoe of the Whānau Mārama: New Zealand International Film Festival observed.

“For the engineering students there’s an underlying nervousness as they defend their involvement in the haka party – a ‘fun’ tradition of which they had no knowledge of the offence that it caused."

Whether you’re versed in the event’s specifics or have no clue what it was about, the film is an informative and eye-opening look at cultural appropriation, kaupapa and the power of activism.

Full ticketing and programming information for the festival, which runs from March 26-30, can be found at mff.maorilandfilm.co.nz.

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