Tui Ruwhiu Archives – Page 2 of 2

Further Festival Success for Pūmanawa: The Gift at Wairoa

May 11, 2014January 17, 2017
by tauihumedia

Directed by Poata Eruera and produced by Tauihu Media’s Tui Ruwhiu and Eruera, Pūmanawa: The Gift is finding real traction in the world of indigenous film festivals with its selection for the Wairoa Māori Film Festival 2014.

The Wairoa Film Fest takes place in Nuhaka, with the event scheduled this year 29 May – 2 June 2014.

Wairoa Maori Film Festival

The Wairoa Māori Film Festival was founded in 2005 with the purpose of supporting, recognising and presenting the indigenous storyteller narrative.

Alongside the Māori programme, it screens indigenous film works from all around the world. Indigenous film makers have travelled to the festival from such diverse destinations as Canada, Australia, United States, Mexico, Taiwan, the Philippines and Samoa.

The festival is hosted in Kahungunu Marae, a traditional Māori meeting house in the historic Māori village of Nuhaka. Visitors to the festival are welcomed in a traditional Māori ceremony. Guests stay on the marae, or at the nearby Morere Hot Springs.

Learn more about the Wairoa Māori Film Festival here.

Pūmanawa: The Gift

Pūmanawa: The Gift was directed by Poata Eruera, written by Marie Thompson and Wayne Te Tai, and produced by Tui Ruwhiu and Poata Eruera. It it one of four films developed through Ngā Aho Whakaari’s short film initiative Aho Shorts.

The film tells the story of of a young woman who is serious about a Christian boyfriend. Her mother fears it will threaten a spiritual gift both women have inherited. She takes her daughter back to her own tragic past to show how loneliness, hope and faith can turn love into turmoil. Finally, the daughter must consider the meaning of love and the value of her precious gift.

Aho Shorts

Pūmanawa: The Gift stems from the Aho Shorts strategy to grow film story telling talent in the regions. This initiative was developed by the guild for Māori in film and television – Ngā Aho Whakaari – and funded through them by the New Zealand Film Commission. Over a two year period, writing workshops were held in the Hokianga, Waiariki and Waikaremoana. Pūmanawa:The Gift springboards from the Hokianga and is the first of the Aho Shorts to be completed. The original story comes from Hokianga writers Marie Thompson and Wayne Te Tai.

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News

Tauihu Shorts Films Find Festival Success

April 21, 2014January 15, 2017
by tauihumedia

Two short films EP’d through Tauihu Shorts have had recent festival success with Dylan Pharazyn’s The Keeper getting into the Valladolid International Film Festival, and Inorganic, directed by Maria Elena Doyle gaining entry to the Filmlets Badalona Film Festival.

Mathew Saville’s Dive, which was recently completed has started its festival rounds.

Our final film Premiere Shorts short film Ride, directed by Karyn Childs, is in the final stages of completion with delivery expected shortly.

The Keeper

A rugged, windswept bush-clad island in the Cook Strait, New Zealand, 1900. Joseph is a young lighthouse keeper struggling to wrench a life for his pregnant wife and young boy in the harsh environment. They have run out of conventional fuel for the light; they will lose their livelihood if the light fails. The family resorts to rendering fuel from bird fat, which requires slaughtering hundreds of the island’s birds, and boiling them up in an iron ‘digestor’. In the embers of the forest burn-off (to flush the birds out), his boy discovers a large mysterious egg.

Joseph’s wife has trouble with the baby and she and the boy are emergency evacuated to the mainland. Isolated and sleep deprived by his lighthouse keeping duty, Joseph keeps the light burning for their safe transport. He struggles to keep awake. Meanwhile the egg grows bigger and bigger. In a storm, a creature hatches. He is wary, but intoxicated by the exotic creature, Ava.

Hunched by the lantern, with no fuel left and at his wit’s end, Joseph is approached by Ava. She lulls him into using blood dripping from her cut palm as lantern fuel. Beguiled by the ensuing glow he falls — finally — into a deep sleep, and neglects the light. Darkness comes.

Inorganic

When Sam’s father dies on inorganic garbage collection day, Sam considers it an opportune time to clear out all the old stuff from his father’s house. The old stuff also includes dear old Dad. The only problem is that Dad is organic and the rubbish collector’s refusal to take him reveals the values of this near future consumerist-gone-mad society. When the garbage collectors discover there is money to be made in used body parts they decide to make an exception. In that moment Sam realises there is a more traditional and lucrative way to d ispose of the body. He plants an “Inorganic Vegetable Garden” which becomes a unique selling point for the estate.

DIVE

A year after the death of the love of his life, George has hit rock bottom. He’s disheveled, living in squalor and lacking hygiene. He can’t even hang himself properly. He’s in such a sorry state that this morning, in the bathroom, George discovers that his reflection has turned its back on him. Following a frustrating attempt to trick it into turning around, George angrily throws a cup at the mirror, which then smashes, revealing a portal to a mysterious dark water void.

Suited up in old diving gear, George enters the portal and traverses the abyss in search of himself. When he emerges back in the bathroom with his reflection in tow, a clumsy fight ensues between the two flabby men, coming to an abrupt end when George gives his reflection a swift swipe to the face with a dirty toilet brush. Face to face with what he has become, George’s reflection gives him just the push he needs to confront his wife’s death and begin to deal with his grief.

RIDE

‘Ride’ is a contemporary adventure with themes of loss, redemption and forgiveness.

When Ryan picks up Jade, who is stranded on the roadside on her way to a funeral with the coffin, it becomes apparent these two have a shared history. A dangerous incident occurs as they take a short cut road, compelling Ryan into action not only to save a life, but to potentially resolve the past.

Tauihu Shorts

Tauihu Shorts is a New Zealand Film Commission Executive Producer POD run by Tauihu Media under the high-end Premiere Shorts programme. It is contracted to select and oversee the production of four short films from 2010 – 2012. Each short has an allocated budget of NZ$90,000 The Tauihu Shorts executive producers are Poata Eruera, Brad Haami and Tui Ruwhiu.

You can learn more about the Valladolid International Film Festival here, and teh Filmets Badalona Film Festival here.

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News

Tauihu short film selected for world’s largest indigenous film…

October 1, 2013January 15, 2017
by tauihumedia

Tauihu Media’s latest short film, Pūmanawa: The Gift, will have its world premiere Sunday 20 October 2013 at the imagineNATIVE film + media arts festival in Toronto, Canada, where it has been officially selected in competition.

Produced by Tauihu Media’s Tui Ruwhiu and directed by Poata Eruera, the short deals thematically with religious intolerance. It is the story of a mother who shares her own tragic past to stop her daughter repeating the same mistake.

“We are pretty chuffed about selection at imagineNATIVE,” says Eruera. “It is a testament to the cast and crew to have their skills acknowledged by a film festival that gives voice to indigenous peoples from around the world. It is a very proud achievement for us.”

“Tui and I, the writers and a number of the cast and crew whakapapa to the Hokianga,” added Eruera. “To be involved in taking a Hokianga story to the world is especially rewarding.”

Pūmanawa: The Gift is also a part of a Maori focus that imagineNATIVE is running during the festival from 16 – 20 October. Two programmes of Maori shorts films and a small selection of Maori feature films have been programmed.

Submissions will continue with Pūmanawa with the hope of gaining official selection to more major film festivals internationally and domestically.

imagineNATIVE

imagineNATIVE is the world’s largest presenter of Indigenous screen content. The organisation is recognised locally, nationally, and internationally for excellence and innovation in programming and as the global centre for Indigenous media arts. imagineNATIVE (legal entity: The Centre for Aboriginal Media) is a registered charity committed to creating a greater understanding of Indigenous peoples and cultures through the presentation of contemporary Indigenous-made media art (film, video, audio and digital media).

imagineNATIVE an Indigenous-run organisation based in Toronto with a national and international reach. It presents the world’s largest Indigenous film festival, a national Tour focused on reconciliation, and numerous other activities throughout the year.

You can learn more about imagineNATIVE here.

Aho Shorts

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News

Tauihu Media Takes On Ngā Aho Whakaari Contract

February 13, 2013January 15, 2017
by tauihumedia

Tauihu Media producer Tui Ruwhiu and Tauihu Shorts executive producer Poata Eruera have a contract to produce the short film Weaving Texas Bread as the fulfillment of a year long effort by the guild for Māori in film and television Ngā Aho Whakaari to uncover and develop screenwriting talent in the regions.

Selected from four stories under consideration in this Aho Shorts initiative, Weaving Texas Bread by Hokianga writers Marie Thompson and Wayne Te Tai tells the story of the struggle a young woman faced as she was forced to choose between her heritage of traditional spiritualism and her love and his Christian beliefs.

The Tauihu producers worked with the writers to develop the final draft, which will go into production in March helmed by Eruera. The film is due for delivery in May.

Aho Shorts was funded through Ngā Aho Whakaari by the New Zealand Film Commission in an effort to lead Māori screenwriting talent to Te Papae Ataata, the Māori feature film script development body.

Aho Shorts

Aho Shorts is a strategy to grow film story telling talent in the regions. This initiative was developed by the guild for Māori in film and television – Ngā Aho Whakaari – and funded through them by the New Zealand Film Commission. Over a two year period, writing workshops were held in the Hokianga, Waiariki and Waikaremoana. Four films have been selected for production through Aho Shorts, with a separate contract for each one.

Ngā Aho Whakaari

Ngā Aho Whakaari was established in 1996, after a series of hui called by Māori film and television practitioners concerned that Māori should be accurately represented in the development of Māori broadcasting by Government.

Many of the originators of Ngā Aho Whakaari were earlier involved with Te Manu Aute, which was an informal collective of Māori filmmakers that actively lobbied for stronger Māori representation in Government decision-making about Māori film making and broadcasting in the 1980’s.

Ngā Aho Whakaari has over recent years been primarily occupied with developments in the television sector and the structure of the board has reflected this. Tui was brought in to help bolster film experience and knowledge as well as take advantage of his marketing and communications background.

Learn more about Ngā Aho Whakaari here.

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News

Tauihu Media Tropfest Short Film Entry ‘booger’ Completed

December 1, 2012January 15, 2017
by tauihumedia

Booger, Tauihu Media’s Tropfest NZ Film Festival entry, is completed and submitted.

Booger was written and directed by company principal Tui Ruwhiu and produced by Tauihu principal Brad Haami and Ruwhiu.

The star of booger is young Auckland actor George Beca, supported by well-known TV personality Orlando Stewart and actor Elisabeh Easther.

The 16 finalists for Tropfest NZ will be announced on 10 December 2012. The festival will be held at the Bowl of Brooklands in New Plymouth on 27 January 2013, Auckland Anniversary weekend, when a winner will be selected in front of a live audience.

Booger

Booger is a 3-minute comedic short film about Jason, a boy who kills time while waiting for his father by indulging in that all time boy’s favourite, making a booger ball. But then what? Jason let’s his imagination run wild before he has to dispose of the evidence for his pastime to remain undetected–an act that provides one final source for his personal amusement.

Tropfest

Tropfest is an annual short film competition that is open to anyone who wishes to enter – regardless of their background or experience. 16 Finalists are selected from an entry pool of hundreds of entries. Tropfest NZ films are unique in that they have all been made specifically for Tropfest NZ, will premiere at Tropfest NZ and include the Tropfest Signature Item (or TSI), which changes each year.
Tropfest is free to attend. The festival itself is an outdoor celebration complete with music and entertainment, public catering, red carpet arrivals and the highly anticipated film screenings followed by an awards ceremony.

Learn more about Tropfest here.

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Tag: <span>Tui Ruwhiu</span>

Further Festival Success for Pūmanawa: The Gift at Wairoa

Wairoa Maori Film Festival

Pūmanawa: The Gift

Aho Shorts

Tauihu Shorts Films Find Festival Success

The Keeper

Inorganic

DIVE

RIDE

Tauihu Shorts

Tauihu short film selected for world’s largest indigenous film…

imagineNATIVE

Aho Shorts

Tauihu Media Takes On Ngā Aho Whakaari Contract

Aho Shorts

Ngā Aho Whakaari

Tauihu Media Tropfest Short Film Entry ‘booger’ Completed

Booger

Tropfest