Wairoa Maori Film Festival 2006
As niche film festivals in this country continue to mutate, we do our best to keep tabs on the latest fixtures on the calendar. We however have let one festival slip through the cracks: the Wairoa Maori Film Festival, which concludes this Labour Weekend. The second festival outing for Wairoa, this year's programme gathers a contingent of local and internationally relevant films to mark the beginning of the long East Coast summer. Encore screenings of New Zealand International Film Festival selections Squeegee Bandit, The Last Resort, Ten Canoes, Ans Westra: Private Journeys/Public Signposts, and Time & Tide are amongst the offerings. Films more synonymous with Maori culture – namely, Whale Rider, River Queen, and The Maori Merchant of Venice – also reappear. Events run until Monday night. All is revealed at www.manawairoa.com.
Rain of the Children: All those years after In Spring One Plants Alone, Vincent Ward has a fine Tuhoe homecoming. The story of Puhi and her son Niki is sad and compelling. The director of River Queen artfully tells another important story. Problematic, but well worthy.
