Marae - The Piano Story

Greg Mayor was one of the only journalists in the world to visit the set of Jane Campion film The Piano. In this report, Mayor and a camera crew from Marae encounter Māori extras on location at Karekare Beach. Actor Pete Smith (The Quiet Earth) undergoes four hours of makeup, most of it getting his moko painstakingly applied; the film's Māori Advisor Waihoroi Shortland remarks that things are improving in terms of how Māori are treated in the film world, but argues that truly Māori stories are yet to be told; and ta moko artist Gordon Hatfield is among the waiting extras. 

..in no way could you interpret this as being the ultimate Māori movie. I think the kindest description might be that we brush Māoridom at the time very gently. We're backdrop against the main action of the movie.

– Waihoroi Shortland, Māori Advisor on The Piano

Key Cast & Crew

Greg Mayor

Director, Reporter

Pete Smith

Subject

Waihoroi Shortland

Subject

Derek Wooster

Producer

Tini Molyneux

Presenter

Tūngia Baker

Subject