The Wairoa Māori Film Festival kicked off in Hawkes Bay and will feature a cohort of emerging Pacific film-makers.
Director Leo Kolziol says Pacific film-makers are forging their own pathways and creating a big demand on the international film festival circuit.
"There's the Hawai'i International Film Festival and they are hungry for films made by Pasifika film-makers," he says.
Kolziol says the industry is getting good traction in the Pacific with the Nuku'alofa Film Festival in Tonga, the Cook Islands Film Festival in Rarotonga and possibly a Samoan film festival.
"It's just so awesome to see that happening," he says
The weekend long festival will screen 50 short films and five feature movies at the Kahungunu Marae.
Source:
PRN