{"id":627541,"date":"2026-10-11T18:24:09","date_gmt":"2026-10-11T18:24:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/627541\/"},"modified":"2026-10-11T18:24:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-11T18:24:09","slug":"my-maori-gothic-love-letter-to-our-land-the-feature-film-representing-nz-at-the-oscars-te-ao-maori-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/627541\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018My M\u0101ori gothic love letter to our land\u2019: The feature film representing NZ at the Oscars \u2013 Te Ao M\u0101ori News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"c-paragraph\">I whakaputahia tuatahia t\u0113nei atikara e <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rnz.co.nz\/life\/screens\/my-maori-gothic-love-letter-to-our-land-the-feature-film-making-it-to-the-oscars\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.rnz.co.nz\/life\/screens\/my-maori-gothic-love-letter-to-our-land-the-feature-film-making-it-to-the-oscars\">RNZ<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">A debut feature described as a \u201cM\u0101ori gothic love letter\u201d to Aotearoa has been selected as New Zealand\u2019s official submission for Best International Feature Film at the 99th Oscars.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Writer-director Taratoa Stappard (Ng\u0101ti Toa, Ng\u0101ti Raukawa, Ng\u0101ti T\u016bwharetoa) says the film M\u0101rama is a love letter to \u201cour land, our ancestors and the stories that live in the shadows \u201c.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Set in Victorian-era Yorkshire, the story follows a young M\u0101ori woman who is summoned from Aotearoa New Zealand to England, where she uncovers the devastating truth of her colonial heritage.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cTo have it chosen to represent Aotearoa New Zealand is huge,\u201d Stappard says.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cI made this film to reclaim our history through a M\u0101ori lens: boldly, unapologetically and on our own terms. After seeing audiences around the world embrace M\u0101rama, I\u2019m incredibly proud that this distinctly M\u0101ori story now has the chance to stand on the world stage.\u201c<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Chief executive of the New Zealand Film Commission Annie Murray says the selection recognised the craft and ambition of Stappard\u2019s filmmaking.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cM\u0101rama is fearless filmmaking: culturally grounded, cinematically ambitious and unmistakably from Aotearoa. Taratoa has brought a powerful M\u0101ori perspective to the screen with confidence and originality.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cWe are immensely proud to select M\u0101rama as New Zealand\u2019s Official Submission for Best International Feature Film for the 99th Oscars.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">The Oscar submission is the latest milestone for a film that\u2019s been travelling internationally from its world premiere in the Discovery programme at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2025, then to the Zurich Film Festival, Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival, Chicago International Film Festival, AFI FEST and Palm Springs International Film Festival.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">The film has also received significant festival recognition, including the Official Competition Grand Jury Prize at the Seattle International Film Festival, the Dramatic Feature Award and Audience Choice Feature Award at imagineNATIVE, Best Fantastic Feature Film at the Imagine Film Festival in Amsterdam, and the Audience Award for Best Film at Abertoir International Horror Festival in Wales.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.maoriplus.co.nz\/movie\/marama\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.maoriplus.co.nz\/movie\/marama\">Watch M\u0101rama<\/a> on M\u0101ori+<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">N\u014d RNZ<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I whakaputahia tuatahia t\u0113nei atikara e RNZ A debut feature described as a \u201cM\u0101ori gothic love letter\u201d to&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":627542,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[593,23753,111,43,139,69],"class_list":["post-627541","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-film","tag-maori","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/627541","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=627541"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/627541\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/627542"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=627541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=627541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=627541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}