Little Fish, Run

Kia ora! We are so honoured to be a part of the E Tu Toi Match funding. Thank you for being part of this journey. Your support truly means everything in helping us tell this story!

Little Fish, Run is the debut short film from Tumeke Films, marking the company's launch into the film industry.

Inspired by the legend of the seven fish of Matariki - a story passed from mother to daughter, carrying the echoes of generations of women. Blending intimate realism with dreamlike myth, the film follows Anne, a young girl who runs away from home with her pet fish in a ziplock bag, determined to release them into the ocean so Tāne can carry them to the sky as stars.

The film explores the stories we inherit, the ways love and protection can shape us, and the quiet histories that ripple through families over time. Your support will help bring this deeply personal and culturally rooted story to life, honouring both myth and memory on screen.

Tumeke Films is a new Māori film production company. 

Alex Tunui | Writer, Director, Co-Producer

Alex Tunui (Māori: Ngāti Pikiao, Ngāti Whakaue, Ngāti Awa, Tainui, Tūhoe, Samoan, Pākeha) is the Writer and Director. An experienced screenwriter (Head High, Shortland Street), Alex’s recent two year position as Directors’ Assistant to Jared Hess on Warner Bros A Minecraft Movie, has naturally led to her own film directing debut.

Little Fish, Run will serve as a proof of concept short to enable funding to direct her feature film Little Fish, Run, and once completed, will be submitted for National and International Film Festivals.

Meg Robinson | Producer 

Meg Robinson is a producer for screen and theatre. Meg's recent credits include her short films Yeah The Girls and Lest We Forget. For Auckland Pride this year, she produced the second season of The Clitoris Conundrum, which excelled with a successful run at Q Theatre.

Luke Stockman | DOP 

Luke is a cinematographer based out of Auckland, New Zealand. He specialises in Commercial, Tourism and short film work. He has been obsessed with the craft of Film Making for some time now,  Now working on commercial lifestyle projects with NZ icons, travelling around the globe shooting Commercial projects, shooting Documentaries locally and internationally.

Cast:
Staring Acushla-Tara Kupe (The Gone, Shortland Street), and debuting Te Awaroa Wikohika. 

Supporting Cast: Bella Kalolo, Ma'aloa Faasavala, Poppy Smith, Alex Tunui, Jordan Mooney, Ben Huria 

Crew: Underwater DOP: Rowena Simes, Gaffer: Julian Wagner, 1st AC: Katy Brownlee, 2nd AC: Ollie Madsen, LX: Krishna Mistry, Sound: Brynn Olsen, Editor: Simon Murtagh, Composer: Rachel Mair

To cover company registration, permits, insurance and public liability, equipment hire, costume and art department budget, unit fees, post-production costs - editorial, vfx, colouring, sound, film festival submission fees. 

Little Fish, Run

The spine of the film is the legend of the seven fish of Matariki, told through the tongue of a mother, lulling her daughter to sleep. The tale creates ripples through time, revealing a montage of the secrets of the women before them.

The Legend: 
The Seven Fish of Matariki

The great fish Matariki, protects her seven daughters fiercely. She controls where they roam in the sea to keep them safe. But when they sneak off and end up in the fisherman Tatariamaka’s net, the only one who can save them is Tāne, God of the forest and birds, who scoops them up and throws them into the sky, where they become stars.

The film blends intimate realism with dreamlike fantasy and myth, exploring inherited cycles and the meanings we take from the stories we’re told. 

With a ziplock bag of her pet fish, Anne runs away from home to release them to the ocean for Tanē to send them to the sky.

Little Fish, Run will support emerging Māori creatives by creating meaningful opportunities to gain hands-on experience and develop their craft within a professional film production. The project centres Māori voices both in front of and behind the camera, with a predominantly Māori and Sāmoan cast.

The film also champions the work of emerging Māori and Samoan filmmaker Alex Tunui, helping grow the next generation of Indigenous storytellers in Aotearoa’s screen industry. By backing this project, supporters will be helping elevate new Māori talent and enable authentic stories to be told by the communities they come from.

Guided by a mythical story of her female ancestors, Little Fish, Run explores themes of whakapapa, identity, and connection to the natural world through the journey of a young girl determined to free her dying fish back to the ocean. The film contributes to the growing presence of Māori storytelling on screen and celebrates intergenerational knowledge and imagination.

The result will be a culturally grounded short film that supports emerging talent, strengthens Māori creative representation, and provides audiences with a heartfelt story rooted in Indigenous perspective.