About Te Paepae Ataata
The idea of setting up a panel of senior Māori to serve as a council alongside the Film Commission board, a panel charged with welcoming in Māori feature film proposals, was first floated on the Coromandel in April 2003, Merata Mita, Barry Barclay and Tainui Stephens sitting excitedly around the table, old friends doing their darndest to nut something out. It was Tainui who did the hard yards after that, developing up a language all parties could buy into, encouraging the hesitant. The title “Te Paepae Ataata” is his also, and proposing it was a stroke of genius. It is one thing to front up to a board or panel for assistance, another again to be approaching a paepae.
A year after the Coromandel three-way talk-fest, there was a Film Commission public session in Auckland when NZFC approval for Te Paepae Ataata was announced to the industry at large, a milestone moment. More than three years later we now have a paepae, and Māori as an Indigenous People have an effective voice in encouraging Māori talent in this maverick business of getting crackerjack drama up on the big screen.
Te Paepae Ataata is New Zealand’s only national, Māori film development organisation. Based in Auckland, Te Paepae Ataata aims to identify and develop Māori writers for feature films that will eventually receive significant industry funding and be released to the public.
Te Paepae Ataata is a Māori cinema development initiative. A paepae (respected panel) of Māori practitioners and experts will use professional and cultural considerations to support the growth of Māori films (ataata).
The members of the Paepae will have the authority to develop scripts and feature film proposals - in a manner that they deem to be appropriate to the needs and capacities of iwi. Broadcaster and producer Tainui Stephens said the development is about bringing Māori methods of doing things to films - this means including karakia, hui and being aware of the spiritual issues.