Alien Weaponry are a thrash metal band which often sings in te reo Māori. This Vice documentary meets them as they prepare to tour Europe, and take the metal world by storm. The quiet lives of the members — Lewis de Jong and Ethan Trembath attend different high schools, while Henry de Jong is an apprentice mechanic — are contrasted with a high intensity performance (at the Auckland release show for the band's debut album Tū). The de Jong parents share stories about their two sons, and the band travel to Lake Rotoiti, to reconnect with their whakapapa. 

Māori Television hit the airwaves on 28 March 2004. This collection demonstrates how the network has staked its place as Aotearoa's indigenous broadcaster. The kete is overflowing with tasty morsels — from comedy, waiata, hunting and language learning, to award-winning coverage of Anzac Day. Māori Television HOD of Content Development Nevak Rogers backgrounds some MTS highlights here, while Tainui Stephens unravels the history of Māori on television here: choose from te reo and English versions of each backgrounder. 

This collection rounds up almost every music video for a number one hit by a Kiwi artist; everything from ballads to hip hop to glam rock. Press on the images below to find the hits for each decade  — plus try this backgrounder by Michael Higgins, whose high speed history of local hits touches on the sometimes questionable ways past charts were created.  

Jock Phillips begins his journey through our Waitangi collection by recalling an awkward encounter with a security guard at the treaty grounds. Wandering 50 years between the first film in this collection and the last, Phillips explores changing attitudes to the Treaty. Discover everything from Mike King on the treaty trail, to trench warfare, waka-building and epic drama.

This six-part Māori Television series documents the experiences of six teenagers from Māori language schools in Rotorua, on a three-week cultural field trip to Santiago, Chile. The students take their own cameras to record their experiences. They are hosted by the Montessori school Colegio Pucalan and local families, and take in the sites of the Chilean capital. The series is in Te Reo Māori, with English sub-titles. In this episode, the students tour Santiago, meet street entertainers, and find out about Chile’s main faith - Catholicism.

This six-part Māori Television series documents the experiences of six teenagers from Māori language schools in Rotorua, on a three-week cultural field trip to Santiago, Chile. The students take their own cameras to record their experiences. They are hosted by the Montessori school Colegio Pucalan and local families, and take in the sites of the Chilean capital. The series is in Te Reo Māori, with English sub-titles. In this episode, the students learn about Chilean sports, sample different cuisines, and visit the port of Valparaiso.

This six-part Māori Television series documents the experiences of six Māori language students from around the country, on a three-week cultural field trip to Beijing, China. The teenagers take their own cameras to record their experiences. They attend a local high school, live with Chinese families, and take in the local sites and sounds. The series is in Te Reo Māori, with English sub-titles. In this episode, the students learn how to get around Beijing using the local transport, they visit schools and find out about calligraphy, and they tour Beijing’s legendary Forbidden City.

This six-part Māori Television series documents the experiences of six Māori language students from around the country, on a three-week cultural field trip to Beijing, China. The teenagers take their own cameras to record their experiences. They attend a local high school, live with Chinese families, and take in the local sites and sounds. The series is in Te Reo Māori, with English sub-titles. In this episode, the students check out the food markets, learn about Chinese sports, and visit the Great Wall of China.

This short film is a re-enactment of events leading to Ngāti Toa leader Te Rauparaha’s ‘Ka Mate’ haka; he composed the chant after evading enemy capture by hiding in a kumara pit. (The haka would become famous after the All Blacks adopted it as a pre-game challenge.) Directed by pioneering filmmaker Barry Barclay in te reo, produced by John O’Shea and written by Tama Poata, the short was made in the lead-up to landmark Māori feature Ngati. Many of the crew were enlisted via a work scheme, aimed at redressing the lack of young Māori working in the screen industry.

Mataku was a bilingual series of half-hour dramatic narratives steeped in Māori mystique. Described as a Māori Twilight Zone, Mataku was produced by Māori writers, directors and actors, and was a strong international and domestic success. Each episode was introduced Rod Serling-style by actor Temuera Morrison. This excerpt from the first episode, which screened on TV3, portrays two young sisters (Nora and Naera) who are playing in the forest when events take a tragic turn; mysterious putapaiarehe (fairies) are implicated and haunt a troubled grown-up Nora.