Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 4, Number 11, 1 November 1987 — 1987 Hawaii International Film Festival [ARTICLE]

1987 Hawaii International Film Festival

lsle Showings of Rare Maori Films Announced

As part of the 1987 Hawaii International Film Festival, Jonathan Dennis, founder and director of the New Zealand Film Archive, and Witarina Harris, a Maori Elder, will present pioneer New Zealand cameraman James McDonald's series of films on traditional Maon life and activities in Honolulu and on the neighbor islands. Hailed as significant exceptions to earlier films of the indigenous Maori people, McDonald's camera work covers expeditions to various parts of New Zealand between 1919 and 1923. These four films are the most extensive records of their kind. The show dates, whieh are free and open to the public, are:

Sunday, Nov. 29 — 5 p. m., at Arizona Memonal Visitor's Center. Monday, Nov. 30 — 11:30 a. m., at Hawaii Theater. December 7-12 — Hawaii, Kauai and Molokai. For screening dates, times and places on the neighbor islands, eail Debbie Shigehara, Hawaii, 9619558; Mayor Tony Kunimura's office, Kauai, 245-3385; Chino Awana, Molokai, 553-3844. Oahuans may eall the Hawaii International Film Festival at 944-7666 for full information.

The films run just under two hours and they are described as taonga, cultural treasures of extraordinary beauty and importance. They are also unique among the films made in New Zealand whieh were almost completely unknown until the New Zealand Film Archive beqan the work on their nreservation.

McDonald, who in 1904 was with the Dominion (now National) Museum, proposed in 1918 an expedition to the Hui Aroha (a hui is a gathering) to be held in Gisborne the following year. Purpose of this and the three subsequent expeditions was to collect and record information on the crafts, activities and tribal lore retained in the various areas. As well as the filming that took plaee, McDonald took many still photographs (most of whieh are held by the National Museum and some at the Bishop Museum) and made sound recordings.

The New Zealand Film Archive was established in 1981 and negatives of the McDonald films were in very poor condition and had begun to decompose badly in places. Thus began a specialized and laborious five-year process of preservation. An integral stage in the restoration was the involvement of Maori people. There was no single expert who

could provide answers to the many questions raised by the material, so many contributed information and supported the work.

While the McDonald films arerare, any ethnographic filmmaking at all in New Zealand has been scarce. There is little evidence to suggest the films were ever even shown publicly — they are only now being seen for the first time. Later, films such as "Maori Battalion Returns (1946)" are remarkable accidents. After 1923, there was almost no further serious attempt to film aspects of the culture until the Tangata Whenua Series, beginning with "The Spirits and the Times Will Teach," was made by Barry Barclay and Pacific Films in 1974.

Many films have shown how others have seen the Maori people, but only a recent few have shown them as they see themselves. This transparently monocultural distortion has only just begun to be acknowledged, if not yet fully addressed. However, 1987 has seen the release of the first dramatic feature from a Maori perspective — Barry Barclay's 'Ngati. No reira, tena koutou. Kia ora huihui mai tatou. Co-sponsoring this project in Hawaii with the Hawaii International Film Festival is KHET, Hawaii Public T ele-