It was a real pleasure to review this soulful short film by Ngā Aho Whakaari as part of the Maori Short Film Festival and not just because it’s so impressive to see filmmakers who can create something so beautiful, with such incredible production values, on a small budget.
Exploring important themes of land and belonging – environmental protection, the preservation of cultural identity and intergenerational familial relationships – we are introduced to 16-year-old Hiwa who returns home from boarding school to discover her beloved grandfather, the local ‘land legend’, is seriously ill and unable to tend to the forest he has spent his life protecting.
Whilst her younger brother Pōtiki, who has clearly inherited his grandfather’s deep affinity for the ‘whenua’ (land), is determined to follow in his Korua’s footsteps, Hiwa struggles to integrate her simple, traditional values with the ‘modern’ world she inhabits at school.
Both children wrestle with the shifting dynamics in their family, and the darkly green and lush scenery is a beautiful but ominous metaphor, reflecting both Hiwa and Pōtiki’s realisations of the importance of their new roles as the next generation of guardians for the land and their family.
This film was part warning, part love letter to land and culture. As someone who has a deep connection to land myself, it was an invitation to recognise the ways in which we are called to stand as protectors for that to which we ‘belong. ‘ It’s definitely one to watch.
To book tickets to the Maori Mini Film Festival, please visit https://www.bunjilplace.com.au/events/maoriland-film-festival
This review also appears on It’s On The House. Check out more reviews at Whats The Show to see what else is on in your town.
