Journal article

This article draws on the textual analysis of films that produced three distinctive collective resistances across New Zealand film history. Hāhi Ringatū leaders protested to the Chief Censor about the portrayal of their beloved prophet Te Kooti in the Te Kooti Trail. The director was forced to make changes, and delayed the release. Later, after decades of support, Te Arawa were collectively absent from film production for nearly 40 years after director Alexander Markey insulted their manaakitanga with a series of misdemeanours during the production of Under the Southern Cross.

This paper outlines key categories and elements of Kia Manawanui: Kaupapa Māori Film Theoretical Framework, developed to interrogate film texts and shed light on the processes of Māori film production and environments within which filmmakers operate. Kia Manawanui film theory is informed by diverse expressions of Kaupapa Māori , Indigenous and critical media studies, discussions with Māori  filmmakers, theorists and film texts, particularly Ngati (1987), Mauri (1988) and Te Tangata Whai Rawa o Wēniti—The Māori  Merchant of Venice (2002).

Kua hau ngä rongo o te hangarau i te mata o te whenua, me uaua ka kitea he tangata kāore i te whakamahi i tētahi momo hangarau—te pouaka whakaata, te waea pūkoro, te rorohiko, me te ipurangi. Katoa ēnei nei mea he uri nō te wāhiaotanga, ā, he whakangāwari i te horapa o ngā mea katoa ki ngā hau e whā o te ao. Ko te ito o tēnei tuhinga roa he titiro ki ngā mata e rua o te hangarau, arā, te mata i tāmi i te iwi Māori, me te mata i whakawhanake i te iwi Māori.

Ko Parihaka tētehi papa kāinga ki te rohe o Taranaki Iwi, e tū takawaenga nei i te takutai moana me te tapa ngahere o te mounga, waihoki, e tū toro ana ki te uru rawa o te kūreitanga o Taranaki. Nā ngā rangatira, a Tohu Kākahi rāua ko Te Whiti-ō-rongomai i whakaara hei kāinga whai tikanga hou i te Hānuere o te tau 1866. I roto i ngā tau whai muri ka piki te tini tāngata i noho ki Parihaka ki te ono mano neke atu tōna rahi. I whakatūria a Parihaka i runga i ngā tikanga o te Ririkore, o te mahi tahi me te rangatiratanga o te iwi Māori.