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Let My Whakapapa Speak
Television (Full Length) – 2008
This documentary tells the 25-year history of Kōhanga Reo, through the influential figure of Iritana Tāwhiwhirangi (a finalist for 2014 New Zealander of the Year). Kōhanga Reo is a world-leading educational movement which revitalised Māori language, “by giving it back to the children”. Unafraid to touch on controversy, director Tainui Stephens journeys from a time when students were punished for speaking Māori, to a world where they can have ‘total immersion’ schooling in te reo. The Qantas Award-nominated documentary debuted on Māori Television, and was invited to Canadian indigenous festival ImagineNATIVE.
It [te reo] is the voice of the people … it expresses the intellectual flow of ideas, it expresses the psyche of a people.– Tāmiti Reedy
Key Cast & Crew
See all 7 credits
Acknowledgements
Made with funding from NZ On Air
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