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National | Auckland

Aucklanders invited to the city's first ever Māori Film Week

The Breaker Upperers. Source: Kia ora TV

Auckland's first Māori Film Week is set to launch this Saturday, featuring the best films from the Wairoa Māori Film Festival.

He Wiki Kiriata Māori comes following a demand for the award-winning films to be played in bigger cities, says Wairoa Māori Film Festival director Leo Koziol.

“Every year we’ve had people ask if some of the amazing films we screen in Wairoa can play in bigger cities and this year we’ve responded with the launch of Māori Film Week in Auckland,” he says.

“There will be an array of films by award-winning Māori and Pasifika filmmakers this year, with a retrospective of film works by Ainsley Gardiner, Renae Maihi and Sima Urale, who all took away major awards in Wairoa this year.”

Films screening at the festival by Gardiner will include The Breaker Upperers and short film Mokopuna.

Short films also featuring will be Butterfly and Mannahatta by Maihi and O Tamaiti, Still Life and Coffee and Allah by Urale.

He Wiki Kiriata Māori will take place from June 30 to July 8. The full programme is available here.

Brief programme:

  • MANA WAIROA SHORTS Ellen Melville Centre 4 pm Friday July 6 & 2 pm Saturday July 7
  • THE BREAKER UPPERERS Academy Cinema 6 pm Saturday July 7
  • MANA WAHINE SHORTS Ellen Melville Centre 12 pm Sunday July 8
  • WOMEN OF WARU SHORTS TSB Wallace Arts Centre 1 pm & 3 pm, Sunday July 1, Sunday July 8, Sunday July 15