This year’s Wairoa Maori Film Festival has rolled out its full programme for its outing next month, and has also contributed titles to Hawai’i’s Aotearoa Film Festival.
Among the various shorts programmes is Ursula Grace Williams’ The King (pictured, top), which was also selected for this year’s Sydney Film Festival. Children’s sci-fi webseries Reset, which screened some teaser footage at last year’s NZ Web Fest, will have its world premiere at Wairoa.
The feature selection is largely a predictable one, with last year’s Born to Dance and this year’s Hunt for the Wilderpeople, Mahana and Three Wise Cousins all named.
Paolo Rotondo’s on-release Orphans & Kingdoms and Kim Webby’s The Price Of Peace are also in the feature mix. Shortly before Wairoa Webby’s doco will also play in Hawai’i as part of the Aotearoa New Zealand Film Showcase. Opening the showcase will be Sarah Grohnert’s Ever the Land, also named this week for the Venice Architecture Biennale.
Previously winners at Wairoa, shorts Ow What! (dir. Mike Jonathon) and Tits On A Bull (dir. Tim Worrall) will also head to Hawai’i. Returning to Hawai’i will be Richard Curtis’ 2014 Wairoa award winner Ahi Ka, which picked up an award late last year at the Hawaii IFF.
The festival’s full programme is now available. The Wairoa Maori Film Festival will run 3 – 6 June in Nuhaka and Wairoa.