Private Project

Matua

Manaaki Roberts is a 32-year old Māori teacher who learns that his mother has passed away and returns to his family estate to deal with his family home. Staying on after the tangi, he is approached by two separate strangers - an older Māori man, and a Māori teen - to provide Te Reo Māori lessons to them. Manaaki reluctantly accepts but is unaware that in doing so, he is about to uncover hidden family secrets.

  • Kaitiaki Rodger
    Director
  • Kaitiaki Rodger
    Writer
  • Cameron Broadhurst
    Producer
  • Ngahiriwa Rauhina
    Key Cast
    "Manaaki"
    Nga Manu Rooreka
  • Calvin Tuteao
    Key Cast
    "Jerry"
    Once Were Warriors, The Dead Lands, Shortland Street
  • Rama Marrow
    Key Cast
    "Kingi"
    Northspur
  • Aroha Rawson
    Key Cast
    "Marama"
    Mean Mums, Rurangi, Cousins
  • Shontelle Williams
    Key Cast
    "Aroha"
    Wake Up, The Anniversary
  • Daryl J. Wong
    Director of Photography
    AFK - The Webseries
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Runtime:
    19 minutes 30 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    March 5, 2021
  • Production Budget:
    15,000 NZD
  • Country of Origin:
    New Zealand
  • Country of Filming:
    New Zealand
  • Language:
    English, Maori
  • Shooting Format:
    ARRI Amira
  • Aspect Ratio:
    2.35:1
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    Yes - University of Auckland
  • Digital Cinema Package:
    Unavailable
Director Biography - Kaitiaki Rodger

Kaitiaki is an Auckland-based Māori filmmaker. He studied a Bachelor of Arts in Film, Media and Television and graduated in 2021 with a Masters degree in Screen Production, specializing in Directing at the University of Auckland. Through his passion for filmmaking and storytelling, Kaitiaki was the writer, producer, editor and director of Matua, a short film that he has worked on for the better half of two years. He has a deep and critical understanding of the theoretical frameworks around film as well as accumulating on-set experience through fulfilling various crew roles professionally. He is creative, articulate and works hard to achieve his aspirations of becoming a well-rounded filmmaker, he hopes that he can one day move on to direct feature films and further his career as a filmmaker.

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Director Statement

Matua is a deeply personal story about a Māori man coming to terms with his past and finding a way to reconcile with his culture and whānau. Our main protagonist Manaaki is caught between two worlds; the Pākeha world and the Māori world, which came from his own upbringing and life journey. Manaaki grew up in the streets of Māngere and was raised by his single mother Aroha, and it is here where he grew to loathe where he came from. But it was never the Māori culture he rejected, but rather, the South Auckland culture. As a person who is half-Pākeha/ half Māori myself, I often struggled with coming to terms with my own identity. There was always this underlying feeling of rejection that loomed within both the Pākeha and Māori worlds. As a boy that never knew his real father, I have written this story as a creative outlet to express my own personal struggle with identity and connection through culture and family. I hope to use this film to connect to those who are on similar life journeys to myself and that they too may reconcile with their pasts in order to move ahead to the future.