Got two shorts playing at Wairoa Māori Film Festival!
Fantastically stacked programme this year!
Well overdue to attend again but the last time I was there I also had two films playing, Kaitiaki Rodger’s Matua, and Space Invader starring James Jennings. That was way back in 2021.
Much love to the casts and crews of Raupā and Flagfall.
Ngā mihi nui @caravancarparkfilms@kingstonproductions@stella_maris_productions
#wairoamāorifilmfestival #nzfilm #aotearoa #shortfilm
To celebrate Caravan Carpark Films 7th birthday I rewatched Ahi and the Stars. One of my absolute favourite projects.
Spoilers for Ahi and the Stars✨(2024).
If you know the legend of Maui’s attempt to defeat
Hine-nui-te-pō and bring immortality to all, then you’ll know the pīwakawaka were inadvertently responsible for his failure and demise. They are many things. Carriers of knowledge, messengers, guardians, and guides, to name a few.
It’s a long series of stories over many years, but I have tremendous love and am forever indebted to pīwakawaka. They have saved me, guided me, shown me things, and calmed the streams in me when I’ve needed them most. So I always stand up and listen when they make themselves known.
I was sitting in the lounge reading the script for the first time, completely unaware of the heartbreaking twist. As I reached that moment, literally the last line before the reveal, a pīwakawaka appeared outside the window. Naturally, I stopped reading and went onto the deck to converse with my guest. Once they left, I picked up the script and Hine-nui-te-pō appeared with that tragic revelation. Instant tears. The first time I’ve cried reading a script.
Hard to spot, but pīwakawaka are present in Ahi and the Stars. Small silhouettes of them appear on the graffiti wall of the carpark when we first meet Ahi, and again in the flashback. Not as heralds of death but as guides and carriers of the knowledge Ahi is yet to discover. Regardless of them being consciously read, their energy is present in the stream of the project. And of course they were present irl at the caravan park set in Tāmaki Makaurau and then the real caravan park in Ūawa, which had only begun to recover from the devastation of Cyclone Gabrielle.
Ahi and the Stars, like most projects I’m privileged to be a part of, changed me. But this one was foundational, personally and professionally. It may be the hardest work I’ve ever done, but it clarified my purpose for being in this industry. It helped form the lens through which I experience all other projects.
Much love to Angela Cudd and Orlando Stewart🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽
Hari huritau @caravancarparkfilms
Premieres tonight @maorilandfilm
Raupā
Written and Directed by Moehau Hodges-Tai
Produced by Angela Cudd and Sandra Kailahi
@caravancarparkfilms@ngaahowhakaari
#nzfilm #aotearoa #māorilandfilmfestival #shortfilm
Throwback to last year.
Kupu X
Directed by Angela Cudd
Written by Andrea Kahukiwa
Produced by Nicola Smith
Streaming on MĀORI+
📸: @juliezhuphotography
#aotearoa #tereomāori #kupux
Waitangi this year was epic.
I attended the Land Back discussion panel, and got to see many of my heroes (and a few villains) in action. As manuhiri (guests) of a kura kaupapa we were extremely privileged to be asked to be kaihoe (paddlers) in the waka ceremony landing at Te Tii Beach.
Once we left the awa, passing under the bridge and entering the bay we were surrounded. Surrounded on the wai, in the waka, on the whenua, past, present, and future. My heart was expanding, surging, lifting my ribcage like it was separating from my body. I felt like my chest was disintegrating, particles of flesh, bone, and wairua being swept back into the currents from which I came, am, and will be. A level of connection and presence unlike anything I’d ever experienced before. Honoured, altered, and so very grateful.
Toitū Te Tiriti✊🏽
#waitangiday #toitūtetiriti #waka #whānau
Year In Review part 3: 16:9
Last one and back to a more comfortable aspect ratio.
Had a great year as production designer, I had three short films in Show Me Shorts Film Festival and two TV shows on air.
Every production I’m a part of, changes me, adds to me. And to that end, it’s a selfish endeavour. Awe, gratitude, and love to all casts and crews I’ve been lucky enough to jam with this year. I am relentlessly aware of how lucky I am that I get to do what I do, live how I live, and love who I love🙏🏽 HNY y’all🤙🏽
#eоy2025 #tāmakimakaurau #nzfilm #aotearoa #productiondesign
