It's an exciting weekend for Māori moving image, with three exhibitions that celebrate Indigenous filmmaking running in tandem across Aotearoa.
CIRCUIT is delighted to see that all three shows and screenings include toi ataata originally commissioned by CIRCUIT. It's wonderful to see these works being seen and shared with new audiences around the motu.
Wairoa Māori Film Festival
This exciting festival takes place in Wairoa and at Kahungunu marae in Nukaha and celebrates Māori success in cinema and digital storytelling.
CIRCUIT has partnered with the Film Festival to show toi ataata at Kahungunu marae over the weekend, including works by Rangituhia Hollis, Suzanne Tamaki, Israel Tangaroa Birch, Mumu Moore, George Nuku, Grace Ndiritu, Christina Kotz Cornejo, and Bawaadan Collective.
Māori Moving Image ki Te Puna Waiwhetū
This exhibition opens on Saturday 4 June at Te Puna Waiwhetū in Ōtautahi and is another wāhanga in the series of Māori Moving Image exhibitions that started at the Dowse in 2019.
The show celebrates recent moving image art and also features several new commissions.
It's wonderful to see Kauri Wharewera's work Te Kahui o Matariki, CIRCUIT's Matariki Commission of 2021, in the show. Ka mau te wehi!
Tai Timu! Tai Pari! The Tide Ebbs, the Tide Flows
And, continuing in City Gallery Wellington's auditorium, is Tai Timu! Tai Pari! The Tide Ebbs, the Tide Flows, an exhibition of recent Māori moving image from artists Janet Lilo, Neihana Gordon–Stables, Jamie Berry, Natasha Matila-Smith, Layne Waerea, Ana Iti, Jeremy Leatinu’u, and Nova Paul.
Curated by Shannon Te Ao in collaboration with CIRCUIT, this selection of works respond to Indigenous histories in an array of filmic languages.
Tai Timu! Tai Pari! runs until Sunday 14 August.