Wairoa Maori Film Festival

Little Town – Big Films

Wairoa Maori Film Festival
Matariki Queen’s Birthday Weekend
30 May – 2 June 2008

The tiny town of Wairoa (population around 4,000) on the East Coast of Aotearoa’s North Island opens its third Maori film festival with tributes to indigenous film pioneers, classic features, and a feast of international and local native films.

The festival features films by Maori film elders Barry Barclay and Don Selwyn, who died during the past year.

Opening night kicks off with the kiwi comedy classic Came a Hot Friday, starring Maori comic icon Billy T. James (1948-1991) and Don Selwyn (1936 – 2007) in an early acting role.

Audiences will see rare screenings of Barry Barclay’s feature documentary The Neglected Miracle, exploring indigenous genetic conservation initiatives around the world, and episodes from his landmark television series Tangata Whenua.

Recent dramatic features include Native American filmmaker Sterlin Harjo’s Four Sheets to the Wind, Taika Waititi’s Eagle vs Shark and Peter Burger’s The Tattooist, alongside older work such as Sam Pillsbury’s Crooked Earth and Gaylene Preston’s Ruby & Rata.

Closing night feature is Geoff Murphy’s classic Utu starring Anzac Wallace and the late great Wi Kuki Kaa.

Short film programs include Pollywood 08, a collection of shorts by Pacific Islander filmmakers, A Little Bit of Black Business from native Australia, Maori Short Films, and the Matariki Short Film Collection, an eclectic mix of seven indigenous shorts from Aotearoa, USA and Australia.

Wairoa Maori Film Festival goes on the road to Auckland, Wellington and Taumaranui later this year.