Streaming Pacific Videos: New Zealand Film Commission

Link to Video (46 minutes)
"Profiles Ana Tia, a Maori woman who visits New Zealand prisons to teach Maori repeat offenders about their culture in an effort to reduce recidivism. Many of the young men were unable to speak their native language but learn to perform traditional dances and chants."

Link to Video (48 minutes)
"Examines the Maori Black power movement in New Zealand which represents the disenfranchised culture of defiant Maori youths."

Link to Video (46 minutes)
"Footage of the various Pacific Island groups gathered for the 6th Pacific Festival of Arts, Rarotonga, 1992. Features ceremonies commemorating the legendary migration of Polynesians from the Cook Islands to populate New Zealand. Includes speakers giving their views on the emergence of cultural awareness and self-determination among Pacific Islanders."

Link to Video (46 minutes)
"In a remote harbor in New Zealand a group of young Maori make a voyage in wakatehou (fishing canoes) to retrace the pathways of their ancestors."

Link to Video (23 minutes)
"A true story of a 13 year old New Zealand boy who travels to the remote Pacific island of Kiribas to learn the islanders' ways. Shipwrecked three years previously for 16 days with one of the island's men, the boy, with his host's son, now learns the island methods of sailing, fishing, snorkeling, survival techniques, and the traditional way to kill an octopus."

Link to Video (82 minutes)
"A look at the work of artist, Ralph Hotere ; includes interviews with Cilla McQueen, Marilyn Webb, Pat Hanly, Ngahuia Te Awekotuku, Rodney Kirk-Smith, Peter Ely, Albert Wendt, Brett Graham, Bill Moses."

Link to Video (49 minutes)
"Features a gathering of 22 war canoes (waka) with 1,000 paddlers on the occasion of the 150th anniversary (February 6, 1990) of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi to fulfill Princess Te Puea Herangi's dream of 1940."

Link to Video (52 minutes)
"Examines the impact of French nuclear testing in French Polynesia especially on the inhabitants of Mururoa Atoll who have experienced food and water contamination and stillbirths."

Link to Video (25 minutes)
"Biography of Tongan born dance band leader and steel guitar player Bill Sevesi, who first made a name for himself playing Hawaiian and Polynesian music in New Zealand during the 1940s. Features performances by entertainers who have been associated with Sevesi during his long career. Includes footage of a family whale hunting expedition in the early 1960s he produced to document this aspect of traditional Tongan lifestyle."

Link to Video (46 minutes)
"Discusses the works of Patricia Grace, a New Zealand writer, who draws on her experiences as a Maori to weave together the ancient myths and family anecdotes which portray the Maori way of life in her writings."

Link to Video (30 minutes. English and Maori with English subtitles)
"One hundred Maori paddlers participate in a grueling ten-hour journey covering seventy-five kilometers in the world's largest war canoe to celebrate their spiritual roots."

Link to Video (50 minutes)
"In 1990, 150 years after the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, a festival takes place in the central North Island of New Zealand and a new national Maori flag is unveiled. The flag represents the struggles of the Maori people against their Pakeha (White) colonizers. Describes a struggle to regain control over sacred burial ground in Raglan that had been confiscated by the government and was to be made into a golf course."