Mātaki Mai Māori Film Festival 14-21 September.

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

A testament to the radiant beauty and unbreakable resilience of Māori culture.

The film is an intimate, visually stunning testament to a land and a people who have survived removal, exploitation and colonization — and to the healing ways that are part of the Māori ancestral knowledge. It juxtaposes the enduring trauma of colonialism with the resilience offered through ancestral healing traditions.

Exploring intergenerational trauma and the loss of indigenous identity it also contrasts traditional healing practices, which provide a holistic approach to well-being, with Western therapeutic trauma-healing methods, disconnected from the indigenous worldviews and relationships.