Taupō Hau Rau: Voices of Our Kaumātua

Taupō Hau Rau: Voices of Our Kaumātua is a short film archival and cultural revitalisation project grounded in ancestral kōrero from Ngāti Tūwharetoa. It honours the wisdom of kaumātua Napa Otimi through storytelling that inspires current creative practice and future artistic endeavours in the central North Island. As both an archival and cultural revitalisation initiative, it preserves a deeply personal and place-based narrative while nurturing the growth of future Māori artistic practice.

Our creative practice is whānau and hapū-centred, following a kaupapa Māori approach. The team includes Māori filmmaker Corinna Hunziker, taonga pūoro whānau including artist James Webster, and other Tūwharetoa creatives dedicated to uplifting Tūwharetoatanga through the arts. 

Tūwharetoa maranga rā!

All funding will be allocated directly to:

• Our kaumātua as koha for their time and knowledge
• Our filmmaker
• Resources to support the filming process
• The editing phase
• A small koha to our soundscore whānau

Our project will take us to Taupō to interview and film our kaumātua, including our koro Napa Otimi and other kaumātua within our collective who are willing to share their mātauranga of Taupō. This wisdom is intended to inspire future contemporary artists and creative works across the central North Island. This kaupapa speaks to all creatives who hail from this rohe and is a humble contribution to that wider movement. 

This knowledge must be captured now to empower the next generation to stand strong in their Tūwharetoatanga and support other artists across Aotearoa who work from a cultural lens, ensuring a vibrant future for contemporary Māori arts in the central North Island and across the motu.