Nau mai, haere mai – welcome to Mātaki Mai, Ōtautahi’s inaugural Māori Film Festival, presented by Kōrero ki Ōtautahi.

Two brothers attempt to storm the world of thrash metal with the Māori language, despite the fact they’re both still teenagers.

Director Kent Belcher began filming Alien Weaponry six years ago, when Henry and Lewis De Jong were teenagers, including footage filmed by their ever-supportive parents, Niel and Jette, from their first performances at Smokefree Rockquest, to European metal festivals, through to their international headlining concerts, jam-packed with metalheads.

What is most impressive about them is their commitment to keeping te reo Māori and Māori culture alive. Their music is written and performed in te reo Māori and tells the stories of tangata whenua (people of the land), the band members’ ancestors, and denounces colonisation.

Everything Henry, Lewis and their most recent member, Tūranga, do champions te ao Māori in the most genuine and honest way. As they age throughout the filming, the tāne start to physically embrace their culture – never removing the taonga (treasure) around their necks and getting tāmoko on their legs and faces (traditional Māori tattoos).

“One of the best things about Alien Weaponry: Kua Tupu Te Ara is that even though it hits the usual marks of a music documentary (touring, disputes, highs and lows), it doesn’t have an end. These young men are still rising, still growing a bigger and bigger audience, and still championing our indigenous culture to the world – and when you measure their audience, it’s clear that the world doesn’t want them to stop.”