Another Maori film in the pipeline
p. 47 · Read in the full issue
By Martin Tiffany
AFTER the success of his debut feature film Once Were Warriors, director Lee Tamahori is planning another fighting movie. Tamahori plans to seek funding offshore to make a NZ$lO million historical epic based on the life of Taranaki warrior, Titokowaru.
In the 1870 s Titokowaru, a chief, led his people in a war against the invading colonial army. Tamahori likens the warrior’s battling brilliance to that of
French general Napolean Bonaparte.
The international success of Once Were Warriors should make it fairly easy for Lee to find funding for his new film.
Once Were Warriors, based on the novel
by Alan Duff, was shot in south Auck lands over six weeks. It is a modern urban drama about the effects of alcohol, violence and abuse on a Maori family.
It won a number of awards at June’s New Zealand Film and Television Awards. It has sold widely, from the US to South Africa it opened a film festival in Durban in late June. □