On Demand
A boy is dying from leukemia; a young Australian doctor uncovers his own Māori heritage; the industrial freezing works that provide employment for the local community are threatened to close down. Set in and around the fictional coastal town of Kapua in 1948, NGĀTI is the story of a Māori community, weaving together threads about friendship, love, and solidarity against the backdrop of the struggle for Indigenous sovereignty.
Acclaimed at Cannes in 1987, Barry Barclay’s first dramatic feature is also the first feature ever written and directed by a Māori filmmaker. A poignant celebration of Maori pride and heritage, NGĀTI calls for decolonization and the community’s re-appropriation of capitalist industries.
Stay tuned for upcoming screenings!
Barry Barclay — director of landmark TV series Tangata Whenua and feature film Ngati — was a longtime campaigner for the right of indigenous people to tell their own stories, to their own people. In 2004 he was made an Arts Foundation Laureate, and in 2007 a Member of the NZ Order of Merit. Barclay passed away on 19 February 2008, after publishing his acclaimed book Mana Tuturu.
(Biography courtesy of New Zealand On Screen.)
