Ngati
Barry Barclay (Director), Tama Poata (Writer of accompanying material), Rory O'Shea (Photographer), Tuta Ngarimu Tamati (Costume designer), Judy McIntosh (Costume designer), Dalvanius (Arranger), Pacific Films, New Zealand Film Commission
Ngati, a Maori word meaning tribe, is set in the tiny Maori community of Kapua on the East Cape in 1948. There is a twin focus of the threatened displacement of drovers by truckies and the impending closure of the freezing works, the community's main employer. There is also concern about 12 year-old Ropata whose illness neither Maori nor European medicine can cure. A newly arrived young Australian is caught up in the town's crisis. The film de-emphasises the personal in favour of a sense of communal inter-connection and explores the possible relationships between Maori and and pakeha ways. Written and directed by Maoris, Ngati has claims to be New Zealand's first ìndigenous' feature
DVD Video, English, 1987
Pacific Films in association with New Zealand Film Commission, New Zealand, 1987