Merata: How Mum Decolonised the Screen (2019)
A documentary portrait of the pioneering indigenous filmmaker and activist Merata Mita, “Merata: How Mum Decolonised the Screen” is an intimate tribute from a son about his mother that delves into the life of the first woman from an Indigenous Nation to solely direct a film anywhere in the world. Known as the grandmother of Indigenous cinema, Merata’s independent political documentaries of the ‘70s and ‘80s highlighted injustices for Māori people, and often divided the country. Mita was fearless in her life, her activism and her art. Chronicling the director’s journey to decolonize the film and television screens of New Zealand and the world, the film documents her work, her early struggles with her family and her drive for social justice that often proved personally dangerous.
Genre: Documentary
Director: Heperi Mita
Actors: Alanis Obomsawin, Awatea Mita, C.M. Kaliko Baker, Eruera Mita, Heperi Mita, Jesse Wente, Merata Mita, Rafer Rautjoki, Rhys Rautjoki, Richard Rautjoki
