Kete Aronui - Merata Mita

This episode of the Māori arts show follows Māori screen pioneer Merata Mita, who produced vital work anchored in culture and community. This extract looks at the day in May 1978 police arrested 200+ protesters at Bastion Point. Mita and protest leader Joe Hawke talk about the importance of documentary Bastion Point: Day 507, which Mita directed with Gerd Pohlmann and Leon Narbey. Alongside footage from the film, there's talk of Springbok tour doco Patu!, plus Mauri and Utu, and Mita runs a lab for indigenous filmmakers. The closing credits feature a beloved scene from Mauri.

This film is the total opposite of how a television documentary is made. It has a partisan viewpoint, is short on commentary and emphasises the overkill aspect of the combined police/military operation. It is a style of documentary that I have never deviated from because it best expresses a Māori approach to filmmaking.

– Merata Mita on being surprised that Bastion Point Day 507 screened on New Zealand television, in 1992 book Film in Aotearoa New Zealand, page 46

Key Cast & Crew

Kelly Kahukiwa

Composer

Chelsea Winstanley

Producer

Ngatapa Black

Narrator

Merata Mita

Subject

Gene Rivers

Composer

Jane Reeves

Director