The Māoriland Film Festival 2017 programme includes multi-award winning features, documentaries and short films. Of the award winning feature films, there are eight New Zealand premieres. “Indigenous filmmakers are very keen to screen at Māoriland as they consider it to be the most important festival in the Southern hemisphere,” said Māoriland Charitable Trust chair Tainui Stephens.

This year there are some special events as well.

  • Māoriland Rangatahi Film Festival – curated by Ngā Pakiaka – a group of award-winning young filmmakers (aged 12 – 16). They have viewed films from around the world to put together a programme for their peers
  • Virtual Reality – INDIGI LAB will be at Māoriland to present their work in the Virtual Reality space alongside Lanita Ririnui-Ryan, creator of Poi 360 – a digital hub for the world of poi.
  • Hawaiian Street Artist Estria Miyashiro – In 2010, Estria co-founded ‘The Estria Foundation’, an organisation that creates art in public spaces locally and globally with artists, youth, educators and activists. Their aim is to raise awareness and inspire action to resolve human and environmental issues.
  • The NATIVE Slam II – an international collaboration where established international Indigenous filmmakers from Canada, Hawaii, Australia, Tahiti and Aotearoa are brought together and challenged to produce 5 short films in 72 hours.
  • The Māoriland Storytelling Tent – a relaxed forum for filmmakers and film fans to talk about the work and the ideas seen on screen.