Let My Whakapapa Speak

This documentary tells the 25-year history of Kohanga Reo via the influential figure of Iritana Tāwhiwhirangi (2014 New Zealander of the Year finalist). Kohanga Reo is a world-leading educational movement that revitalised Māori language, “by giving it back to the children”. Not eschewing controversy, director Tainui Stephens’ film journeys from a time when students were punished for speaking Māori to a present where they can have ‘total immersion’ schooling in te reo. The Qantas Award-nominated doco screened on Māori Television, and at indigenous festival ImagineNATIVE.

It [te reo] is the voice of the people … it expresses the intellectual flow of ideas, it expresses the psyche of a people.

– Tāmiti Reedy

Key Cast & Crew

Tainui Stephens

Director, Writer

Christina Milligan

Producer

Billy Kristian

Composer

Rīpeka Evans

Researcher

Roger Grant

Editor

Fred Renata

Camera