Recalling tūrangawaewae: Pōwhiri in New Zealand feature film

Abstract

Like a number of fundamental Mäori rituals and practices, pöwhiri have appeared in New Zealand fiction feature film since its beginnings in the silent era. Pöwhiri are multisensory, kinaesthetic experiences that, for most Mäori, recall one's türangawaewae-where he or she stands and belongs-because, in general, the predominant experience of pöwhiri is at home, amongst one's own community. This article critically analyses pöwhiri as it has been constructed in New Zealand feature film history. It first presents an historical overview of pöwhiri and then focuses on Tearepa Kahi's Mt. Zion (Hita, Milligan & Kahi, 2013). The analysis considers commonly portrayed elements of pöwhiri, and how the "real" influences the "reel", and perhaps vice versa. How might the ways pöwhiri have been imagined and presented in feature film be seen to reflect, and perhaps even shift, change or challenge ideas about what it means to belong as Mäori to Aotearoa now, in the 21st century?

Can an indigenous media model enrol wider non-Indigenous audiences in alternative perspectives to the ‘mainstream’

“…13Barclay (1990) encourages film and programmes makers to create metaphors that go beyond the corporeal. Wilson (2017) also considers commonly portrayed elements of pōwhiri in her analysis of Tearepa Kahi’s Mt Zion and how the ‘real’ influences the ‘reel’ (Wilson, 2017: 208). Indeed, Mercier (2007, 2010), writing about the metaphor of pōwhiri used by Māori film directors discusses how the ritual form of encounter embodied within pōwhiri can be elaborately used.…”