Earth Whisperers - Papatūānuku

Film (Full Length) – 2009

This feature-length documentary is based on interviews with 10 individuals who use New Zealand's natural environment for good, whilst respecting the land and that of earth mother Papatūānuku. The interviewees, from all corners of the country, range from bird callers, conservationists and those who use the fruits of the forest for rongoā Māori — traditional Māori healing. They have a simple message: that we need to shift our consciousness to help our environment. Earth Whisperers - Papatūānuku premiered at Christchurch's Hollywood Cinema in 2009, and later played at many international film festivals.

People are crying out for us to go out there and teach them. And we are so willing to go out there and teach them. Because what we want to leave behind is a legacy for our younger generation ... to make sure that rongoā Māori will never die, because it did die. It died during my father's time, and they didn't want to go into herbal medicine and stuff like that. But we actually picked it up by the horns and carried it through because we want to make sure it will never die.
– Tūhoe Healer Rita Tupe on teaching rongoā Māori (traditional Māori healing), near the start of this documentary