Te Rerenga Wairua (1984)

Año 1851. Ada, que es muda desde niña, acaba de enviudar. Un matrimonio concertado la obliga a dejar su Escocia natal y viajar a Nueva Zelanda, acompañada de su hija y de su piano. Allí conoce a su futuro marido, un próspero granjero que se niega a llevar a casa el piano. Abandonado en la playa, el instrumento será rescatado por un vecino que establece un extraño pacto con Ada: él la dejará usar su piano a cambio de que ella se deje tocar.

En Nueva Zelanda, una familia descendiente de guerreros mahoríes vive, al igual que muchos otros, en los suburbios de una gran ciudad, en una situación de marginalidad respecto a las personas de raza blanca. La vida familiar del clan estará presidida por los problemas de alcoholismo, la delincuencia y los escasos medios económicos.

Es 1984 y Michael Jackson es el rey del pop- incluso en Waihau Bay, Nueva Zelanda. Aquí conocemos a Boy, un niño de 11 años que vive en una granja con su abuela, una cabra y sus hermano pequeño Rocky (que cree que tiene poderes). Poco después de que su abuela se vaya a un entierro durante una semana, el padre de Boy, Alamein, aparece de la nada. Habiendo imaginado una versión heróica de su padre, Boy descubre la realidad: un incompetente criminal de poca monta que sólo ha vuelto para recuperar el botín que enterró antes de entrar a la cárcel. Aquí es donde la cabra aparece...

Colonización inglesa de Nueva Zelanda, 1868. Durante la guerra entre británicos y nativos maoríes, la vida de una joven irlandesa (Samantha Morton) se ve desgarrada cuando su hijo es secuestrado por su abuelo maorí. La búsqueda del niño será para ella una auténtica odisea.

Five years have passed and Jake has turned his back on his family. He's still up to his usual tricks in McClutchy's Bar, unaware, as he downs his latest opponent, that his eldest son, Nig, has died in a gang fight. The uncomfortable family reunion at Nig's funeral sparks a confrontation with second son, Sonny, and sets Jake and Sonny on a downward spiral.

Tras presenciar cómo su familia es masacrada, Hongi, adolescente hijo de jefe tribal, acudirá a la Tierra Muerta, un área poblada supuestamente de espíritus malignos, para pedirle ayuda un guerrero que come carne fresca de guerreros según la leyenda, para llevar a cabo su venganza.

A principios del siglo XX, Un ex guerrillero boer en Nueva Zelanda debe capturar y custodiar a un maorí acusado falsamente de asesinar a un oficial británico. Cuando consigue capturarlo, surge una relación de amistad y respeto, pero entonces deberán hacer frente a un comando de soldados británicos empeñados en ahorcar al maorí.

Melodrama de época en el que dos hermanas están secretamente enamoradas del mismo hombre. Una estúpida confusión hace que William tenga que casarse en contra de su voluntad, con la que él no ama. Esto hará cambiar el destino de todos, causándoles amargas desdichas.

A documentary portrait of the pioneering indigenous filmmaker and activist Merata Mita and an intimate tribute from a son about his mother that delves into the life of the first woman from an Indigenous Nation to solely direct a film anywhere in the world. Known as the grandmother of Indigenous cinema, Merata’s independent political documentaries of the 1970s and 80s highlighted injustices for Māori people and often divided the country. Mita was fearless in her life, her activism and her art. Chronicling the director’s journey to decolonize the film and television screens of New Zealand and the world, the film documents her work, her early struggles with her family and her drive for social justice that often proved personally dangerous.

A hundred years after the theft from New Zealand of three irreplaceable tribal carvings, two Maori, Rewi and Peter, decide it's time for ancient grievances to be put right. Both men are in Berlin where the carvings are stored in a museum. Plans go awry when a group that Peter has assembled breaks into the museum. Rewi persuades the others to let him put his own, more daring plan into action. Tensions build and international media interest broadens when a sniper's bullet hits Peter.

This docudrama follows an imaginary news reporter who travels back in time to cover the days leading up to the Treaty of Waitangi’s 6 February 1840 signing. The production drops the usual solemnity surrounding Aotearoa’s founding document, and uses humour and asides to camera to evoke the chaos and motives behind its signing. Written by Gavin Strawhan, with Witi Ihimaera, What Really Happened screened on TVNZ for Waitangi Day 2011. Peter Burger won Best Director - Drama/Comedy at the 2011 Aotearoa TV Awards for his work. (from nzonscreen.com)

Nueva Zelanda /// Adaptación de una novela de Witi Ihimaera. Un empresario de éxito empieza a alejarse inexplicablemente de su mujer y sus hijos. La razón es que mantiene una relación amorosa con un joven actor. Sin embargo, su nuevo tipo de vida tropezará con las tradiciones familiares. El hecho de que su familia esté muy vinculada a la cultura maorí, que desaprueba la homosexualidad, llena su vida de obstáculos.

Nina desea convencer a su padre, Ivan, del amor de Eddie, aunque aquél pretende mantener las severas tradiciones familiares y no mezclar su sangre croata con la de los aborígenes neozelandeses. Nina accederá entonces a casarse por compromiso con un hombre chino rico que le ofrece una gran cantidad de dinero, con el que Nina y Eddie planean escapar de la violencia del padre y del hermano de Nina...

Will Bastion returns home from the army after an absence of 20 years to bury his father, the former chief of thee Maori tribe, Ngati Kaipuku. The eldest son, he is reluctant to inherit his fathers role, so it is taken more willingly by his younger brother, Kahu. Kahu is the leader of a band of drug dealers and trouble-makers who ride horses through the middle of town, wrecking peoples gardens. Under the guise of refusal of a land settlement, Kahu makes a large marijuana deal with some murdering city folk. Will must choose between loyalty for his brother and his father, Maori tradition, and contemporary financial issues.

Star-crossed lovers, Robert and Ariana, are caught up in the New Zealand wars of the 1860s. Ariana is claimed by the Maniapoto people as one of their own and, despite Robert's chivalrous defence, is taken by them and must help them prepare for war. Robert likewise must do his patriotic duty and enlists to fight on the other side. He volunteers to ride despatch, thinking it may give him an opportunity to see Ariana again, which it does, but their joy is short-lived; Maniapoto women fight beside their men, and furthermore she is a Rangitira (noble) and will not let her people down. The climax is the siege of Oraku Pa where 300 Maori hold off 2000 troops for three days. The Maniapoto are defeated, but Ariana, although wounded, survives to be reunited with Robert.

Dos intrépidos aventureros ingleses arriban a las costas neozelandesas en el siglo XIX. Capturados por los nativos maoríes, lograrán estrechar lazos con ellos, hasta el punto de que se encontrarán en medio de las disputas entre aborígenes y hombre blanco. (FILMAFFINITY)

Rewi Rapana returns to the small country town of Te Mata after his family has left the district. His arrival rekindles old tensions as well as renewing family ties. He is seeking an identity and a permanent place to call home yet desperately hiding a secret from his past. Oddly enough there is one person with whom he finds peace of mind. She is an old woman known as Kara. A special relationship develops between Rewi, Kara and Kara’s great granddaughter Awatea.

A Maori warrior comes upon the aftermath of a battle to find that the only survivor is a wounded enemy soldier. His wishes to avenge his fallen countrymen by finishing off this helpless enemy but the gods won't allow it (as conveyed to him through a spirit bird). Anguished that he must instead treat the soldier's wounds, he's further repelled by the soldier's incessant homosexual advances. Slowly and surprisingly, a change comes over the warrior to accept the soldier's advances, but the war all too soon intrudes upon them.

Three Maori youths, bored with Auckland, head south in a restored Mark II Zephyr in search of something different. One of them is on the run from drug dealers, whom he had crossed. Various mini-adventures occurs as they make their way down the North Island, but it all comes to a head while visiting a cousin. Finally, they, the drug dealers and the police all come together, with the expected fights and arrests.

Eight Māori female directors have each contributed a sequence to this powerful and challenging feature which unfolds around the tangi of a small boy who died at the hands of his caregiver.