Ngati
Three dramas are woven into a single Picture of life In the small township of Kapua. Young Ropata is seriously ill. Iwi thinks that the Tohunga may do more good that Pakeha medicine. His illness is incurable. A young Australian, the somewhat smug and racist Greg Shaw arrives. He slowly becomes friendly with Jenny, the local doctor's daughter, who shows him around. He gradually loses his arrogance as he is drawn into community life.
Celluloid Dreams. A Century of Film in New Zealand
It's about being Maori - and that is political (...) political in the way it was made, a serious attempt to have Maori attitudes control the film. Political in having as many Maori as possible on it or being trained on it. Political in physically distributing the film or speaking about it and showing the film in our own way. Political in going in the face of a long tradition in the film industry here and abroad saying these simple things, without car chases or without a rape scene, actually have appeal... I think a lot of the political struggle is to get through to pakehas and Pakeha institutions that this is the way we think, therefore change your manners. This is the Maori world, take it or leave it...
Barry Barclay
Barry Barclay (1944-2008) was a New Zealand film-maker, and writer of Maori (Ngati Apa) and Pakeha (European) descent. His work is recognized at home and abroad for its political and social relevance. In the 1970s, his politically engaged documentaries included the critically acclaimed series, Tangata Whenua (1974), about Maori life and culture, and Indira Gandhi (1976). In the 1980s, Barclay began to write and direct feature films, such as the award-winning Ngati (1987), one of the first films to be directed by a Maori filmmaker and Te Rua (1991). Recently Barclay wrote and directed Feathers of Peace (2000), which examines the complex colonial history of the Maori people of Rekohu (Chatham Islands). Barclay has also written the creation of an indigenous cinema in Our Own Image, published in 1992.
Selected filmography:
1974 Tangata Whenua (dok./doc.)
1975 Indira Gandhi (dok./doc.)
1975 Hunting Horns (dok./doc.)
1977 Aku Mahi Whatu Maori (dok./doc.)
1987 Ngati
1991 Te Rua
2000 The Feathers of Peace (dok./doc.)
2003 The Kaipara Affair (dok./doc.)