Maori films lush, passionate

Page R2

One of the highlights of the 1994 Dreamspeaker Film Festival was a four-film series of contemporary Maori dramas. The Nga Puna Maori films brought to Canadian viewers slices of Aboriginal life in New Zealand, from a story about a Maori radio station to a warm portrayal for the love between an old man and his granddaughter.

Karen Sidney, who wrote one of the series' outstanding programs Kahu an Maia, attended the Alberta festival to network with other Aboriginal film makers in hopes of establishing collaborative projects.

Her submission was a modern interpretation of a Maori creation story. The films tells the tale of the carver Kahu who falls in love with the married Maia, then plots to destroy her marriage. Updated to modern New Zealand, Kahu and Maia is a sensual love story that takes the view on a 60 minute roller coaster of passion, temptation, and betrayal.

And the film took Dreamspeaker judges by the heart. Sidney was awarded the Olanis Obomsawin award for outstanding achievement in the Aboriginal film industry.

The New Zealand-born Maori writer and director explained how frustrating it can be work on high quality projects like the Nga Puna services, and then to be denied a chance to share them with the public.

"You spend so much time on projects, and then realize that the only time they will be shown is at 10 a.m. on a Sunday morning, if you're even lucky enough to get it on TV at all," she explained.

Such poor exposure traps many Indigenous film makers in a vicious cycle where they can't show their work. Then they are denied funding because their work will not be seen by enough people.

"We were really lucky to even get these films made at all. Getting them shown is an entirely different struggle," said Sidney.

What was particularly unique was the films in the series were made with an all-Maori cast and crew. Sidney explained there is a huge pool of film talent in the Maori community, including writers, directors and technical staff.

No matter how trendy it may become for Hollywood to explore Native issues,

they will never be able to capture the unique passion an Indigenous crew can bring to a project, she said.

"The crew really puts their heart and soul into it - they give it their all and I think that shows through."

The New Zealand film and television community is in fact so large, there is a directory of Maori and Polynesian film, video and television workers called the Brown Pages.

One way of ensuring the films receive a wider audience, and of generating work for Maori cast and crew, is to become more involved in international collaborations with other Indigenous film makers, Sidney believes.

"The potential for these collaborate projects is enormous," she said.

New Zealand, like Alberta, has watched its government systematically cut back funding for the arts, including film and television projects. And many of the government cutbacks in Alberta are based on the programs of New Zealand, a fact that bewilders and amuses Sidney.

"You'd think they'd have learned from what it did to our economy. Instead they're forging right ahead."