Loading Docs 2014 - The Road to Whakarae

Web (Full Length) – 2014

Short film The Road to Whakarae is built around a special place, and a special song. Keen to celebrate home and the joyful aspects of the Tūhoe people, local filmmaker/artist Tim Worrall and cousin Aaron Smart (whose wife is from the area) crafted a love letter to the Waimana Valley, by expanding an old Tūhoe party song about “a windy, dusty road” and inviting various locals to sing a section each. Made for online viewing as part of the Loading Docs series, the film starts with local musician and kaumātua Beam Titoko on guitar — and ends with a kiss at the marae.

The road was an essential part of the identity and the mana of the place. There’s quite a lot of precedent in waiata Māori of reinterpretation or people taking a song and using it in a different way.
– Co-director Tim Worrall