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Merata Mita

Curated by NZ On Screen team 38 items
A collection celebrating Māori filmmaker Merata Mita.
38 items
The Collection /
Merata Mita
Merata Mita
Curated by NZ On Screen team

Overview

This collection is devoted to Māori filmmaker Merata Mita — a proud and clear voice for the rights of indigenous peoples to tell their own stories on screen. Watch interviews, legendary Springbok tour documentary Patu!, clips from movie Mauri, and much more. NZ On Screen is also immensely proud of the trio of writers who join us to explore both Merata's importance, and her ability to inspire and occasionally annoy: her son Heperi, who made a film about her, and screen taonga Ainsley Gardiner and Tainui Stephens.

Profiles

Profile picture of Merata Mita
Merata Mita
Director, Writer, Producer

Television

Close Up - Patu: Completing the Picture
Television 1983
Rangatira: Merata Mita - Making Waves
Television 1998
Koha - Mauri
Television 1987
Saving Grace - Te Whakarauora Tangata
Television 2011
Women - Māori Women in a Pākehā World - Nga Wahine Māori i Roto i te ao Pākehā
Television 1977
Kete Aronui - Merata Mita
Television 2007
Dread
Television 1996
Te Pahū
Television 1996
Marae - Aurere (Merata Mita)
Television 2010
Good Morning - Merata Mita Tribute
Television 2010
Loose Enz - The Protesters
Television 1982
Making Utu
Television 1982
Mercury Lane, Series One, Episode Seven
Television 2001
Koha - Nga Pikitia Māori
Television 1987
One of those Blighters
Television 1982
Witi Ihimaera
Television 1997
Frontseat - Series Two, Episode 10
Television 2006
Hautoa Mā! The Rise of Māori Cinema
Television 2016
From Spirit to Spirit: Tui Tuia - Gathering Thread (Episode One)
Television 1993
Kaleidoscope - NZ Cinema, the Past Decade
Television 1987
Solidarity
Television 1992

Collection Gallery

Rangatira_-_Merata_Mita.png
Merata Mita working on the second unit of Geoff Murphy's The Magnificent Seven (1998), the pilot for an American TV series of the same name.
Merata_and_son_hepi.jpeg
Merata Mita and her son Heperi. Heperi would later direct 2018 documentary Merata: How Mum Declonised the Screen.
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Merata Mita. Date unknown
Courtesy of OnFilm magazine
patu.jpg
The poster for Merata Mita's feature-length documentary Patu! (1983).  
koha_merata_mita.png
Merata Mita as Matu in Geoff Murphy's 1983 movie Utu.
merata_-_utu.png
Merata Mita as Matu in Geoff Murphy's 1983 movie Utu.
Brian_Shennan_1_Patu.jpg
The post-production phase of 1983 documentary Patu!. From left to right, director Merata Mita, editor Annie Collins and sound mixer Brian Shennan.
Supplied by Brian Shennan
koha_merata_mita_3.png
Merata Mita during a 1984 Koha interview. 
Screen grab
20720.KEY.jpg
Eva Rickard and a fellow castmember in Merata Mita’s first dramatic feature, Mauri (1988).
TePaepaeAtaata_.jpg
A hui to discuss Te Paepae Ataata with the NZ Film Commission, held at Auckland University's Tānenuiarangi Marae in 2007 or 2008. Left to right: Graeme Mason (NZFC), Ainsley Gardiner, Renee Mark, Tainui Stephens, Merata Mita, Kath Akuhata-Brown, & Hone Kouka.
Courtesy of Tainui Stephens
Graeme-Cowley-Gallery-3.jpg
Flying high: Graeme Cowley prepares to film part of the final sequence of Merata Mita’s first dramatic feature, Mauri (1988).
Kindly supplied by Graeme Cowley
Boy-Gallery-Image-10.jpg
A scene from Boy: Rocky (Te Aho Eketone-Whitu), Boy (James Rolleston) and Alamein (Taika Waititi) playing war on the beach.
Kindly provided by Trigger Marketing & Publicity
Close_Up_Patu.png
Director Merata Mita talks about Patu!, in a 1983 Close Up interview.
Screen grab