Gaylene Preston delivered the keynote address to a packed house at Wairoa’s reopened Gaiety Cinema as the Maori Film Awards were handed out on the weekend.
Tim Worrall’s short Tits on a Bull, featuring veteran NZ actor Roy Billing, was the stand-out winner. The film took three of the four prizes on offer for shorts, including the trip to Tahiti to present the film at the T-Tahiti festival.
Last year Worrall was one of the filmmakers selected for the inaugural Loading Docs, making The Road to Whakarae.
The event also saw the launch of Hawaiiki Hou, a congress of Maori film festivals.
The winners were:
Aotearoa Short Film – Best Actor (AUDIENCE Award)
Timoti Tiakiwai, Ow What? by Mike Jonathon
Aotearoa Short Film – Best Actress (AUDIENCE Award)
Maria Walker, Tits On A Bull by Tim Worrall
T-Tahiti Prize (RETURN Business Class Flight To Tahiti On Air Tahiti)
Tits On A Bull by Tim Worrall
Aotearoa Short Film – Best Short Film (AUDIENCE Award)
Tits On A Bull by Tim Worrall
WIFT Mana Wahine Award
Chelsea Winstanley
International Indigenous Prize
Black Panther Woman by Rachel Perkins
Mana Wairoa Award for Overall Best Entry & Advancement of Indigenous Rights
The Confessions Of Prisoner T – The Teina Pora Story by Michael Bennett