Cousins

Pioneering Māori filmmaker Merata Mita spent years trying to turn Cousins into a movie before her death in 2010. The project was picked up by writer/director Briar Grace-Smith and director Ainsley Gardiner. The acclaimed feature is based on Patricia Grace's decade-spanning novel, following three Māori cousins in post-WWll Aotearoa — including Mata, whose removal from her whānau into state care profoundly affects each woman. Later, middle-aged Makareta Pairama (Briar Grace-Smith) recognises her lost cousin on a city street, and memories of their shared rural childhood come flooding back.