Dread

Television (Full Length) – 1996

In this Inside New Zealand documentary, writer/director Merata Mita visits East Coast Rastafarians The Dread, 10 years after their tumultuous conflict with police and locals in the East Coast community of Ruatōria. Fronted by veteran broadcaster Derek Fox (Ngāti Porou), the documentary reveals the staunch beliefs — a combination of Afro-Caribbean Rastafarianism and Ringatu, the faith of Māori prophet, Te Kooti — governing their daily lives. In 1996, just over 100 followers of The Dread were still in Ruatoria, committed to the Rastafari lifestyle and convinced it would lead them to tino rangatiratanga.

I aroha to them. It was not their fault that they had strayed because of the conditioning. Colonisation.
– Kaumatua Nanny Gaga on Dread members who have spent time in prison