23 October 2014

MEDIA RELEASE: Exciting Sunday session at MTG Hawke’s Bay

Film buffs have an opportunity to see the rarely screened 1974 feature film To Love a Maori on Sunday 2 November at MTG Century Theatre.

Directed and produced by Rudall and Ramai Hayward, To Love a Maori, tells the story of two young Maori men who travel from their country marae to Auckland. The film revealed some of the social problems of the time and aimed to highlight the complexities of Maori urban migration. It was also the first New Zealand feature film produced in colour.

This will be the first screening of the film since co-director Ramai Hayward passed away earlier this year. Ramai, of Ngāi Tahu and Ngāti Kahungunu descent, was an inspiration to many, not only for her groundbreaking work as the country’s first Maori film-maker, camera woman and script writer, but as an acclaimed photographer, singer and poet.

Rudall also had a fascinating backstory; his lifelong association with film beginning with him at age nine becoming a projection assistant, and ending when he died in 1974 while on the road promoting this film.

The one-off 3.30pm screening, courtesy of Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision - the New Zealand Archive of Film, Television and Sound, will be introduced by Diane Pivac from Ngā Taonga. Tickets cost $5.

The screening is just one of a range of activities offered at MTG Hawke’s Bay next Sunday.

Earlier in the day, at 2pm, MTG Kaitiaki Taonga Maori Tryphena Cracknell and contemporary artist and Māori art lecturer Chris Bryant-Toi will lead a floor talk and tour of the Whetu Tirikatene-Sullivan: Travel in Style exhibition, uncovering the stories and meanings of the motifs and patterns that adorn Whetu’s unique garments. The floor talk is included in the general admission price, or free with a Travel in Style programme ticket.

All day on Sunday visitors to MTG are welcome to have a go at designing and stitching their own tapestry panel, inspired by Travel in Style, with the materials and basic instructions provided free in the foyer.

Following the closure of Travel in Style in March next year the panels will be incorporated into a special korowai, or cloak, to go on display.

There is also a screen printing workshop on 16 November, which begins with an hour long tour of the exhibition before moving to Aroha & Friends in Ahuriri for the four hour long workshop. Registration closes on 3 November.

The other Travel in Style related event is November’s MTG Late, a 70s singalong led by the HB Ukelele Collective in the MTG Century Theatre foyer on 20 November.

For more information about MTG Sunday Sessions, to be held on the first Sunday of each month until Travel in Style closes, or MTG Late, visit www.mtghawkesbay.com

Other events hosted by MTG in November include F.A.W.C Food & Wine Classic masterclasses, performances by the Wellington Ukelele Orchestra and the UK based Piano Trio, and the thought-provoking production The Underarm.

ENDS

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