Te Po Uriuri (The Enveloping Night)

Awatea, a young warrior, is enraged when his lover Te Po, a high-born chief's daughter, enters an arranged marriage. Retribution is swift and brutal. Set in the late 16th century and based on a Shakespeare sonnet ("my love is as a fever, longing still"), the storytelling of Te Po Uriuri is visceral, and suitably mythic in style. Ruru hoot, bloody patu gleam, and bodies and the oily black of the night are vividly shot by Waka Attewell. Directed by Toby Mills and filmed in te reo, it was selected for the Hamburg International Film Festival.

Key Cast & Crew

Norman Elder

Producer

Toby Mills

Writer, Producer, Director

Wetini Mitai-Ngātai

As: Awatea

Wairemana Campbell

As: Te Po

Wi Kuki Kaa

As: Te Atakura

Waka Attewell

Cinematographer