The New Zealand Embassy and the Smithsonian’s Recovering Voices Initiative proudly presents WARU with one of the film’s eight directors, Paula Jones.
A fascinating glimpse into New Zealand’s contemporary Maori community, Waru brings a sense of dramatic, urgent realism to a story that plays out like a suspenseful mystery. Produced by eight women directors from New Zealand each direct one chapter, centered around the funeral of a Maori child we never see, who has apparently died from parental neglect and possibly abuse. (In Maori, waru means eight.) There are passels of non-intersecting characters to follow, and the stories go off in unexpected directions, but they all boil down to the same basic question: What social circumstances are behind the tragedy?
English | 88 minutes | Violence, offensive language, sex scenes and content that may disturb
The Mother Tongue Film Festival is a public program of the Smithsonian Recovering Voices Initiative, which is a collaboration between National Museum of National History, National Museum of the American Indian and the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage.
The four-day film festival opens on the United Nations Mother Language Day, Wednesday, Feb 21. The 3rd Mother Tongue Film Festival presents films from around the world in a variety of styles – drama to experimental – which brings to light the value of language use and revitalization in today’s increasingly globalized world.
Programme
Gwen ‘ bii yern/It will be yours (Natalia Grube dir. 1.37, 2017) Features Norfolk language
El origen del sol y la luna (1.05, 2017 ) Features the Tohono O’odam language from Mexico
Waru (Chelsea Cohen | Ainsley Gardiner | Casey Kaa | Renae Maihi| Paula Jones | Katie Wolfe| Briar Grace-Smith| Awanui Simich-Pene, 88 min, 2017) Features the Maori language