Ngā Aho Whakaari Māori Screen Community Annual Conference

Ngā Aho Whakaari Annual Hui: Preparing for Rapid Changes in the Māori Screen Industry.

All welcome: Nau Mai, Haere MaI

The annual conference, Hui-A-Tau, of the Māori screen industry organisation Ngā Aho Whakaari on March 16 comes at a time of great change for the makers of film, television and internet content.

Ngā Aho Whakaari sees this as a crucial time to make plans for the future and urges all members, associates and interested people to attend.

NAW chair Hineani Melbourne says: “It’s a turbulent time to be working in the Māori screen industry. Changes in broadcasting, Radio NZ becomes a multi-media broadcaster, online programming is a reality, ondemand outstrips linear broadcast ratings, iwi radio stations experiment with multi-media platforms and then there’s still the traditional media with a twist of radio, television and film. Through this maze we want to seamlessly weave in te reo me ngā tīkanga Māori.

“The Māori Media Review, the Ministerial Advisory Group on Public Media, Māori Television new strategy, NZFC CEO Annabelle Sheehan’s Te Rautaki Māori Feature Film Initiative are creating uncertainty but also opportunities in the screen landscape.

“This one-day intensive focus on the Māori screen industry is essential if we are to survive and thrive.”

The Hui will present a dynamic mix of visionary guest speakers on topics of immediate and future concern:

Funding 2019 & beyond: Te Māngai Paho, NZ Film Commission, NZ On Air;
Te Puni Kōkiri’s Māori media sector review; Pitching into Film Markets
Writing Authentic Indigenous Scripts; Changing Gateways for News & Journalism; and the current urgent matter of the TVNZ/Getty Images archival material deal.

NZFC will announce the recipient(s)of the Te Aupounamu Screen Excellence Award - a $50,000 award to recognise and celebrate members of the Māori filmmaking community who have displayed a high-level contribution and/or achievement in filmmaking.

Aho Short Films: The ever-popular, tightly contested pitching session for production funds for short films funded by Ngā Aho Whakaari. Open to those who have registered and paid to attend the hui or paid-up members only.

Three Aho Short Films from 2018 will be screened at the hui: Yellow Roses by Paula Jones; Ani by Josephine Stewart Te Whiu and Rūaumoko by Awanui Simich Pene.

The special international guest is Anishinaabe filmmaker Michelle Derosier, who is a member of Migisi Sahgaigan First Nation in Northwestern Ontario, Canada. She is a community activist, artist and filmmaker whose work is firmly rooted in her Anishinaabek ways of life, her community and her family. Her new film, Angelique’s Isle, will screen at the Hui. Michelle also wrote and directed The Grandfather Drum, which was an official selection at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival.

Angelique’s Isle (2018) will screen at the Hui. Written by special guest Michelle Derosier of Thunderstone Pictures and co-directed by Derosier and Marie-Helene Cousineau. This is a story of strength and survival.

The movie is based on the true story of Angelique Mott, a 17-year-old Indigenous woman, who was abandoned along with her husband on Isle Royale, on Lake Superior, during the copper rush of 1845.

Admission free to Ngā Aho Whakaari members. Non-members $40
register at website or 9am on the day.

Contact: Ngā Aho Whakaari Executive Director Erina Tamepo admin@ngaahowhakaari.co.nz
Media inquiries: Sue May Kiriata Publicity, publicist Hui-A-Tau 2019 - suemay@xtra.co.nz or 0274 739318