About
Variously praised as a major step forward in indigenous cinema, attacked for overambition, and little screened, Te Rua marked Barry Barclay’s impassioned follow-up to his acclaimed debut feature Ngāti. This story of stolen Māori carvings in a Berlin museum sees Barclay plunging into issues of control of indigenous culture which he would return to in book Mana Tuturu. A feisty activist (Peter Kaa) and an older lawyer (screen taonga Wi Kuki Kaa) favour different approaches to getting the carvings back home. Barclay and his longtime producer John O’Shea had their own differences over Te Rua’s final cut.
Key Cast & Crew
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Filming the arrest after the siege for Te Rua: from left to right, Hori Ahipene, Whetū Fala, unidentified actor (as policeman), Peter Kaa, and German actor Maria Fitzi (facing camera).
Photograph by Andrezj Nowakowzki. Kindly supplied by the Dominion Post.
Nanny Matai (Nissie Herewini - with stick) along with other cast and extras in a scene from Te Rua.
Kindly supplied by the Dominion Post.
A scene shot in Berlin, for Barry Barclay's feature Te Rua. From left, Peter Kaa as Peter Huaka, Whetū Fala, Fala (Merata) and Toby Mills (Tim).
Barry Barclay with actor Nissie Herewini, during the filming of Te Rua, 1990.
Photograph by Tyrone Kallmeier.
