AUCKLAND (Pacific Media Watch): A new move by the television funding agencies will give a small boost to the underfunded Māori filmmaking industry, with two new web series set to be produced in the Māori language, Te Reo Maori.
Public funding bodies New Zealand on Air and Te Māngai Pāho (the Māori broadcasting funding agency) today announced a new fund worth NZ$500 000 for the creation of five Māori webseries, two of which must be made in Te Reo Maori.
The association for Māori creative professionals in the screen industry, Ngā Aho Whakaari said the new fund was a welcome opportunity to tell stories "by Māori and for Māori".
"We believe that these stories should be seen by audiences on all of our government funded and supported broadcasters but also embrace this opportunity to reach viewers through digital media as well. We are pleased to see both funding agencies working together to enable the production of Māori focussed content and looks forward to more funding collaborations in the future" Ngā Aho Whakaari's chairperson Kim Muriwai told Pacific Media Watch.
Māori media lecturer and filmmaker Dr Ella Henry said it was gratifying to see the public bodies working together on "building the capacity of an authentic Maori voice in screen production".
"In particular, this is an innovative and exciting new platform. We have a number of Maori who have made a significant contribution in the digital landscape, e.g. Ian Taylor, Rhonda Kite, Bradley Walker, and this initiative will grow the next generation of digital story-tellers" Henry said.
Māori filmmakers were sidelined and underfunded by the New Zealand government up until the 1990s and even today, there is no daily Māori drama series on New Zealand television.
According to indigenous media expert Valerie Alia, Māori filmmaker activists had to wage a "protracted struggle" to get the New Zealand government to set up Te Māngai Pāho to promote Māori language and culture in 1993. It took another 10 years for the government to agree to fund Māori Television.
Meanwhile, the Māoriland Film Festival of indigenous films from across the region has started today in Otaki, New Zealand.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 New Zealand Licence.
Anna Majavu
