Marae - Aurere (Merata Mita)

Television (Excerpts) – 2010

Merata Mita was a pioneering filmmaker, who helped pave the way for wahine Māori, and indigenous storytelling both in Aotearoa and abroad. In this Marae, episode, three of her friends and colleagues pay tribute, just a week after her June 2010 passing. Presenter Shane Taurima is joined in the studio by producer Hineani Melbourne, who recently attended Mita's tangi in Maketu. He also talks via video to Mt. Zion director Tearepa Kahi (chairman of Māori screen organisation Ngā Aho Whakaari) and Bird Runningwater (Sundance Institute director), who speak of Mita's role as a cherished mentor.

I can remember when I was forced to present Koha; forced by default of there being no presenters. And the criticism of Māori men about the fact that I was a woman on a marae, i.e. the marae that is Koha...
– Merata Mita recalls criticisms she faced in the early 1980s when she presented Māori TV show Koha