By the 21st Century nearly 100,000 spectators and participants attended the popular annual schools showcase of Māori and Pacific Island dance. In 2016 Māori Television provided coverage of the Māori Stage. In 2017 there were 50 30-minute episodes, hosted by Sonny Ngatai (presenter of Hahana). They featured performances and interviews with rangatahi by Puawai Taiapa and social media names the Cougar Boys and Chardé Heremaia. The 2017 theme was 'Me Poipoi te Rangatiratanga i tona Ahurea – Nurturing Leadership Through Culture'.

He learnt kapa haka as a child. He learnt to smoulder on Shortland Street. He punched a country in the guts with Once Were Warriors. Temuera Morrison has starred in Māori westerns, adventure romps, and cannibal comedies. In the backgrounder to this special collection, NZ On Screen editor Ian Pryor traces Temuera Morrison's journey from haka to Hollywood.

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.

Polyfest, the annual secondary schools' Māori and Pacific Island cultural festival, attracts around 90,000 people and 9000 performers from 64 schools to Manukau Sports Bowl. The 2017 Māori Television coverage, hosted by Sonny Ngatai, showcased every kapa haka performance over 50 30 minute slots. This episode features former winners and 2016 runners-up Ngā Puna o Waiōrea (Western Springs College), who perform routines including poi and haka. Puawai Taiapa (Pūkana) and social media stars Cougar Boys and Chardé Heremaia (Memoirs of a Māori) interview rangatahi.

Young choreographer Parris Goebel features in the first episode from season four of Māori youth show I AM TV.  The series promoted te reo through interviews and music. Vince Harder performs "Say This With Me", Hawaiian reggae band Kolohe Kai hit Aotearoa, and a teen Parris Goebel heads to the United States to audition for TV's America's Best Dance Crew, with her award-winning hip hop group ReQuest Dance Crew. Plus new presenters Taupunakohe Tocker and Chey Milne are introduced by friends and family. I AM TV is the successor of Mai Time, which ran for 12 years. 

The line “where the bloody hell are you?” generated controversy when used in a 2006 Aussie tourism campaign; so who knows what 1980 audiences made of this promo’s exhortation to “Come on to New Zealand.” But as the narration assures: “It’s a safe country. You can walk without being molested.” Aimed at the US market, the film was made as long haul air travel was opening up NZ as a destination. Māori culture, sheep and pretty scenery are highlighted, alongside skinny dipping and weaving (!). Narrated by Bob Parker, the NFU promo marked an early gig for editor Annie Collins.

In 1973 Prime Minister Norman Kirk announced that the anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi would be a unifying national holiday called New Zealand Day. The inaugural 1974 day featured a royal entourage, was watched by 20,000 people and screened live for TV. Excerpts include the Aotearoa pageant (from giant moa to the Age of Aquarius, including kapa haka, settler cabaret, and Howard Morrison as Kupe), and Kirk’s iconic — and more enduring — speech. New Zealand Day was abolished by the next (National) Government, who renamed it Waitangi Day.

This Māori Television series merged old media and new: giving a group of young people iPhones and storytelling workshops, and empowering them to tell their own fun stories. In this fourth season episode, the slices of life include: swimming with whales off Tonga, a Te Tai Tokerau marae challenge, holidaying in Sydney and learning to surf in Bali, filming live rugby league at Mt Smart, basketball trials, farewelling a mate at the airport with a haka, and a stage-shaking kapa haka act. Press on the 'CC' symbol below the screen to find subtitles for (occasional) te reo.

"Pitch Perfect meets Modern Family set on a marae" was the tagline for this 2017 Māori Television comedy/drama, about a kapa haka group that fluke their way to the national championships. This first episode shows that with seven weeks to prepare, whānaungatanga (family) will be as much of a challenge as getting it together onstage. Hori Ahipene plays dual roles as worried coach Teepz and Aunty Mavis. Roimata Fox plays kapa princess Koakoa, and actor turned director Katie Wolfe is Nanny Fanny. Press the CC box below the screen to translate occasional te reo dialogue. 

In this documentary, Tā moko artist and kapa haka teacher Sacha Utupoto Keating rode the Whanganui River on a journey to discover his whakapapa. Director Howard Taylor followed Sacha's personal story and the wider histories of the awa, weaving reconstructions, archival footage and lush river images into a rich story of people and place. "Taylor's investigation of the mythical, historical, ecological and spiritual aspects of the Whanganui River is deeply moving." said Grant Smithies in the The Sunday Star-Times."You're left entertained, enlightened and politicised."