Celebrating Te Māngai Pāho

As the celebration of Matariki puts a focus on te ao Māori, NZ On Screen is excited to launch a new collection that recognises 30 years of Māori broadcasting funding agency Te Māngai Pāho. Containing more than 40 curated titles and series, funded during the first three decades of the agency, the Te Māngai Pāho 30th Anniversary Collection showcases a wealth of te reo Māori and te ao Māori content that promotes Māori language and culture.  

The collection spans multiple genres — including news, music, podcasts, web series, kapa haka, documentaries, tamariki programming, television and film. Alongside the visual showcase, Larry Parr, Kaihautū (Chief Executive) at Te Māngai Pāho, contribues the written backgrounder to the collection. Parr expands on this collaboration with NZ On Screen, and the taonga held within the collection; “We are privileged to showcase just a small amount of our funded content from the past 30 years. Te Māngai Pāho is a Māori language agency first and foremost, and we’re proud to support content creators over the years to broadcast te reo Māori across all platforms.” 

There are plenty of viewing highlights from the Te Māngai Pāho 30th Anniversary Collection to add to your NZ On Screen watch list. 

Many long-running series are represented. Marae DIY brings a tangata whenua twist to the home renovation format, with six full-length episodes to view. Homegrown karaoke contest Homai Te Pakipaki features, as does another Whakaata Māori favourite, food and travel show Kai Time on the Road. New Zealand’s first television series dedicated to hunting, Hunting Aotearoa, is also included, while the debut episode of long-running bilingual series Ahikāroa takes you back to where all the hustle and drama began. 

No matter what age or stage, you’ll find plenty of content to sit alongside your te reo Māori journey. Documentary Kia Ora, Good Evening follows newsreader Mike McRoberts as he steps out of his comfort zone, learns te reo Māori and reconnects with his whakapapa. Kōrero Mai delivers a lesson in conversational te reo Māori. For tamariki, there’s Tākaro Tribe, Te Pāmu Kūmara, Pūkana and Pipi Mā to enjoy. For those fluent in te reo with an interest in mātauranga Māori and astronomy, web series Living by the Stars: Matariki is presented by Professor Rangi Matamua. Across 20 episodes, the award-winning scholar introduces us to the Matariki star cluster, and expands on the maramataka (the Māori lunar calendar). 

Kapa haka fans won’t be disappointed — the world’s largest kapa haka festival is captured on and off the stage. Road to Te Matatini and Haka Life capture the behind-the-scenes journey to the ‘Olympics of kapa haka’. A full kapa haka bracket from the 2023 Te Matatini festival, courtesy of winning rōpū Te Kapa Haka o Te Whānau a Apanui, takes pride of place within the collection. 

Key events and stories from te ao Māori are also represented. Episodes and excerpts from daily news bulletin Te Karere and multi-award winning television series Waka Huia join the collection. An episode of current affairs show The Hui introduces four Māori men who were victims of state abuse. The programme played a key role in encouraging the government to launch an official enquiry the following year. Three-part documentary series Ake, Ake, Ake follows the land occupation at Ihumātao, and goes behind the scenes of the campaign to protect these ancestral lands from commercial development. 

Acclaimed musicians share personal stories of their reo journey as they translate and record their hit songs in te reo Māori, in Waiata Anthems. We also rewind back to 2001, and two Top 20 hit singles from Māori pop stars Aaria. For a touch of tikanga, presenter Tāmati Rimene-Sproat walks us through marae protocol in an episode of Hongi to Hāngī. 

There is so much more to explore in the Te Māngai Pāho 30th Anniversary Collection. Find it on NZ On Screen here. 

NZ On Screen is Aotearoa New Zealand’s screen-culture showcase, with more than 4,500 free-to-view titles from the beginning of the screen industry to the present day. 

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