He Ahunga Whakamua mo Te Paepae Ataata

Film is about telling a story that has been seen and retold through the eyes of the director. Anyone can tell a story about Maori, but only a Maori can tell a Maori story. It is an ordinary human right for there to be a way for Maori to have control over the camera. It may be lofty to consider filmmaking as a human right. But to suppress the voice of anyone in any arena of communication is a denial of rights. It is also true that any rights (human ones in particular) have to be earned and guarded from harm.

 

Te Paepae Ataata started as an idea nearly a decade ago. The vision was to find a way to make movies that were Maori in conception, production and (eventually) distribution. It took several years for the idea to take shape and it’s been a functioning entity for about three years now. From the outset we have concentrated on script development. It is the central activity in feature film production. A terrific script unlocks everything required to make a movie. Interest from actors, crew and funders in a script is the vital first step towards production.

 

We embarked upon the process of assessing the scripts that came before us. We had made a conscious move to consider only those scripts that had reached a first draft stage. This implied that a certain degree of experience was required of the people we were able to support. We want to tautoko those who have a demonstrable passion for film. It didn’t take us long to find out that there are not many really experienced Maori script writers, but there is some terrific talent amongst us. The late Merata Mita was invaluable at the time in driving our script development objectives. So too was the equally lamented Graeme Tetley. Their passing has required us to find alternative script mentors.

 

We have done that, and we are very pleased with the scripts that we have currently in advanced development.  We also have Himiona Grace’s debut feature script PA BOYS just about ready for turning into a full funding proposal.

 

Which leads us into the next phase: film production. It’s one thing to develop a script, it’s quite another thing to turn it into a movie. We do not have a lot of experienced Maori film producers and directors. There are a handful of them and they already tend to be ferociously busy people.

 

 

The Paepae has never wanted to be a film producer, nor a Maori version of the film commission. But we are fully committed to ensuring that the scripts we develop make it to the screen. We are very aware that we need to achieve a new way of making films. One that respects the sophisticated skill and craft of film, and which also operates in ways that reflect tikanga, old and perhaps new, but always relevant.

 

As Barry Barclay once wrote several years ago:

 

For such a radically new type of cinema to blossom, there would have to be some alternative base firmly set in the customs and laws of the community that conceived and manufactured the film. Such a base is not only possible but usual within Indigenous frameworks ... My very strong hunch is ― and it is an informed hunch ― that if we as Maori look closely enough and through the right pair of spectacles, we will find examples at every turn of how the old principles have been reworked to give vitality and richness to the way we conceive, develop, manufacture and present our films.

 

For the past three years we have applied a lot of proactive thinking to defining a new way to make Maori films. We have a broad plan in place, and we have made good progress in developing a core group of scripts. By the end of the next two years, we must have created some tangible film outputs. In other words we need to see Paepae films on the big screen.

 

We anticipate that PA BOYS will be our first feature. We also have a plan for a portmanteau feature of short films in te reo Maori, WAHAROA. This next period of our existence is crucial. It’s all very well for us to have a plan, but it needs to be brought to life.

 

To do this requires collaboration with Maori filmmakers, and those who aspire to work in this particular medium. The Paepae is now in a position to liaise with iwi and industry to make films. We have started to do so and find ourselves now poised to etch a Maori moko onto the images of flickering light that illumine up the big screen.

 

Nau mai koutou ki te kaupapa nei.

 

Hei kona mai me nga mihi aroha.

 

Tainui Stephens