Kaleidoscope - Ngāti

This item from arts show Kaleidoscope looks at pioneering Māori feature film Ngāti. There are interviews with director Barry Barclay, screenwriter Tama Poata, producer John O’Shea and actor Wi Kuki Kaa – who discuss the film’s kaupapa – and a visit to its premiere at Waipiro Bay Marae on the East Coast (where the film was shot). Barclay’s first dramatic feature, Ngāti also marked the first feature film to be written and directed by Māori. Many of the crew were enlisted via a scheme aimed at redressing the lack of young Māori working in the screen industry.

It was the vision of a 14-year-old boy, originally, and having to face up and understand the problems [war, epidemics, freezing works closing] of that time.

– Scriptwriter Tama Poata on the autobiographical aspects of Ngāti's script

Key Cast & Crew

Barry Barclay

Subject

John O'Shea

Subject

Tama Poata

Subject

Wi Kuki Kaa

Subject

Howard Taylor

Director

Denis Harvey

Producer