KIA MANAWANUI Kaupapa Mäori Film Theoretical Framework Angela Moewaka Barnes* Abstract This paper outlines key categories and elements of Kia Manawanui: Kaupapa Mäori Film Theoretical Framework, developed to interrogate film texts and shed light on the processes of Mäori film production and environments within which filmmakers operate. Kia Manawanui film theory is informed by diverse expressions of Kaupapa Mäori, Indigenous and critical media studies, discussions with Mäori filmmakers, theorists and film texts, particularly Ngati (1987), Mauri (1988) and Te Tangata Whai Rawa o Wëniti—The Mäori Merchant of Venice (2002). Six key thematic categories emerge: (1) Mäori voices, (2) Mäori worldviews and concepts, (3) col- lectivity and relationships, (4) responsibility and accountability, (5) challenge and resistance, and (6) transformation. The framework is not intended to provide a prescriptive or exhaustive list of categories and elements but is distilled from broader parameters to provide a Mäori-focused lens that can be applied to film texts and their production contexts. Keywords Kaupapa Mäori, Indigenous, film, media, representation Introduction predominantly Eurocentric field of film studies, Indigenous understandings are vital to elucidate As a Mäori media researcher, I constantly look and develop understandings about Indigenous to Indigenous theories to inform my work. In the media and representations of indigeneity more * Te Kapotai, Ngäpuhi- Nui- Tonu. Senior Researcher, SHORE & Whariki Research Centre, College of Health, Massey University, Auckland, New Zealand. Email: [email protected] DOI: 10.20507/MAIJournal.2018.7.1.1 4 A. M. BARNES generally. Kaupapa Mäori theory provides a Don Selwyn. The paper outlines key domains, foundation on which to build and legitimate with examples provided, to shed light on film- my work, “without genuflection to western aca- making environments, processes of filmmaking, demic disciplinary silos” (H. Moewaka Barnes, exhibition and film texts through a Mäori lens. 2008, p. 4). Kaupapa is loosely translated as Kia Manawanui was named by kaumätua Naida platform, foundation or general principles. Glavish and is both conceptual and practical. Kaupapa Mäori theory resonates with my Loosely translated, it refers to being alert and understandings of the world, allowing analyses listening to intuitions as they provide a steer that reflect who we are as Indigenous peoples that then engages with the intellect. and our hopes, experiences and aspirations. To theorise in this way is to make Mäori theo- retical frameworks, worldviews and aspirations The field of Kaupapa Mäori and film explicit and uncover unequal power relations. Kaupapa Mäori theory is not purported to be There is little written research grounded in neutral or objective; my work is profoundly Kaupapa Mäori theory that examines Mäori influenced by who I am and where I am from. film and filmmaking, and the majority is found Kaupapa Mäori is linked to notions of in theses; for example, Sam Cruickshank’s mas- critique, resistance, struggle and a utopian ter’s thesis explores Kaupapa Mäori and its vision of emancipation. Early articulations of application to film. Cruickshank identifies a Kaupapa Mäori as a theory within the academy number of principles and elements related to faced opposition in regard to its legitimacy. Kaupapa Mäori, utilising them in his analyti- Nonetheless, Kaupapa Mäori theorists deter- cal examination of cinematic representations minedly argued for its relevance and validity of Mäori men. Although Cruickshank provides (e.g., Leonie Pihama, Linda Tuhiwai Smith, areas for examination, his focus is on the rep- Graham Hingangaroa Smith, Kathie Irwin resentation of Mäori men rather than elements and Helen Moewaka Barnes), and over time, of Kaupapa Mäori more broadly (Cruickshank, Kaupapa Mäori theory gained national and 2002). Grounded in Kaupapa Mäori, Leonie international significance. Helen Moewaka Pihama (1994, 2013) has spoken extensively Barnes (2008) suggests that its transformative and written about representations of Mäori power resides in the ability to both challenge in film. To cite one example, her examination and create a space “within and outside the of feature film Boy, directed by Taika Waititi academy, in the face of unequal power relation- (2010), challenges the absence of references ships” (p. 5). She suggests that, used in this way, to the effects of colonisation and marginalisa- “Kaupapa Mäori can provide a space for us to tion alongside the perpetuation of dominant work within and fend off colonising theoretical stereotypes including children left alone and invasions” (p. 5). neglected. Textual readings informed by Mäori This paper discusses the development and worldviews are provided by Ocean Mercier, application of Kia Manawanui: Kaupapa Mäori for example, by employing Mäori concepts Film Theoretical Framework (Kia Manawanui), including pöwhiri, whanaungatanga and koha which originated from my doctoral thesis (A. to interrogate Boy (Mercier, 2007, 2010) and Moewaka Barnes, 2011); it is predominantly Taika Waititi’s two short films Two Cars, informed by three historical films, Ngati One Night (T. Waititi, 2003) and Tama Tu (Barclay, 1987), Mauri (Mita, 1988) and Te (T. Waititi, 2005). Tangata Whai Rawa o Wëniti—The Mäori Little research and writing has been Merchant of Venice (Selwyn, 2002), and the conducted on the conditions of Mäori film- filmmakers Barry Barclay, Merata Mita and making—the processes and environments—and MAI JOURNAL VOLUME 7, ISSUE 1, 2018 KIA MANAWANUI 5 how these may create barriers to or encourage Research aims and methods Mäori aspirations. Groundbreaking filmmak- ers Merata Mita and Barry Barclay wrote To conduct research on Mäori film, my intention about their work as filmmakers in Film in was to create a Kaupapa Mäori film theoretical Aotearoa New Zealand (Dennis & Bieringa, framework—a space to examine the path forged 1996). Barclay’s (1990/2006) seminal piece by Mäori filmmakers and their films and to Our Own Image is an important record of his elucidate and develop Mäori understandings as experiences as a Mäori filmmaker, providing a contribution to wider theoretical and media valuable insights and analyses of filmmaking debates about Indigenous representations and from a Mäori base. Documentary filmmaker creativity. This required an examination of the Kahurangi Waititi (2008) writes about her practical, political and theoretical aspects of practical application of Kaupapa Mäori in Mäori filmmaking, including the film texts. In filmmaking, challenging orthodox filmmaking conducting this work, I experienced challenges practices that promote an individual focus, to my application of Kaupapa Mäori to film as opposed to a collective worldview. This is and was questioned as to whether it fitted in extended and described in detail in her master’s the media studies discipline. thesis, Applying Kaupapa Mäori Processes to There is a struggling but growing movement Documentary Film (K. Waititi, 2007). in Mäori dramatic and documentary filmmak- Barclay’s notion of Fourth Cinema is also ing. Although Mäori filmmaking began in the known as Indigenous Cinema. Firmly situated late 1970s and 1980s and has accelerated over in Aotearoa New Zealand, and emerging from the past five years, relatively few dramatic fea- a Mäori context, Fourth Cinema is conceptu- ture films directed and driven by Mäori have ally and practically informed by tikanga and been made. Kia Manawanui was informed by the Mäori epistemologies, which have resonance work and thinking of a number of Mäori work- with global Indigenous communities. Premised ing in media production. Specifically, it emerged on the thinking that film has the potential to be from the author’s engagement with three his- transformative and uplifting (Barclay, 2003), torical groundbreaking films, Ngati, Mauri and Fourth Cinema aligns with Kaupapa Mäori Te Tangata Whai Rawa o Wëniti—The Mäori approaches to film theory in that it validates and Merchant of Venice, the first dramatic feature affirms Indigenous experiences and identities films respectively of Barry Barclay, Merata Mita in a cinematic context, involving both the film and Don Selwyn. Ngati is described as the first text and the filmmaking processes. However, dramatic feature film directed by an Indigenous Fourth Cinema is the strategic creation of an filmmaker. Mauri was the first, and remains Indigenous cinematic category where none the only, exhibited dramatic feature film solely previously existed, whereas Kia Manawanui directed and written by a Mäori woman, and provides a number of ways of interrogating Te Tangata Whai Rawa o Wëniti was the first film texts and environments that are grounded dramatic feature film entirely in te reo Mäori. in being Mäori. During an informal discussion, More recently, The Dead Lands (Fraser, 2014) Barclay (personal communication, 2007) saw a and Moana (Clements & Musker, 2017) were direct resonance between Fourth Cinema and released in te reo Mäori—neither was directed Kaupapa Mäori approaches to film theory, as by Mäori—and feature film Waru (Grace- Smith there is a shared language and understanding. et al., 2017) was also released; this was directed However, Fourth Cinema is an emerging cat- by eight Mäori women. egory; there is very little written material, and Barclay, Mita and Selwyn remain significant Barclay is the primary author. contributors to our cinematic history, delib- erately offering alternative representations of