Nau mai, haere mai – welcome to Mātaki Mai, Ōtautahi’s inaugural Māori Film Festival, presented by Kōrero ki Ōtautahi. Ko te reo Māori te take – the purpose of Mātaki Mai is to celebrate the indigenous language of Aotearoa and there’s no better time to do that than during te wiki o te reo Māori.
Ngā mihi maioha to our sponsors and supporters: HAPA, Locky Dock, Hayley Landreth, Te Taura Whiri o te reo Māori, Christchurch City Council and Alice Cinema, whom without, this would not have been possible.
Hei ākuanei – see you soon!
Mauri
A testament to the radiant beauty and unbreakable resilience of Māori culture.
The film is an intimate, visually stunning testament to a land and a people who have survived removal, exploitation and colonization — and to the healing ways that are part of the Māori ancestral knowledge. It juxtaposes the enduring trauma of colonialism with the resilience offered through ancestral healing traditions.
Exploring intergenerational trauma and the loss of indigenous identity it also contrasts traditional healing practices, which provide a holistic approach to well-being, with Western therapeutic trauma-healing methods, disconnected from the indigenous worldviews and relationships.
