New Rural Series Premieres: Ki Tai Ki Uta

Publicity Release
For Release Wednesday August 30 2006

New Rural Series Premieres: Ki Tai Ki Uta

Get your gumboots out – Maori Television’s new rural series KI TAI KI UTA is set to launch on Sunday September 17 at 5.00 PM.

The thirteen-part series focuses on a wide range of rural initiatives run by Maori including organic farming, a large beef and sheep farm, manuka honey production and trial hemp cultivation.

Director Carol Archie says the range of Maori rural enterprises in New Zealand is astounding.

“There’s everything like large trust farms and big businesses like Wakatu wine and seafood at the top of the South Island, through to smaller whanau initiatives like trialing hemp cultivation and organic farming. KI TAI KI UTA is also an opportunity to look at rural themes from a Maori perspective.”

The first episode (Sunday September 17 at 5.00 PM) heads to an indigenous forest inland from Omaio on the East Coast of the North Island. It is one of the first areas to come under Nga Whenua Rahui scheme. In the forest, Te Whanau a Apanui is helping to save the endangered kokako. Nga Whenua Rahui is designed especially for Maori people to preserve areas of spiritual and cultural significance, which is a broader brief than the environmental protection areas run by DOC.

The second episode (Sunday September 24 at 5.00 PM) looks at how flax, once the base of a major industry in colonial New Zealand, is being re-evaluated in the twenty-first century. In Te Kuiti, Rangitutahi Te Kanawa is investigating how flax fibre can be converted into a versatile continuous threat. Once that is done, it can be woven into all manner of fabrics and harakeke could once again become a major force in the textile industry.

Around the country, most Maori land owned by trusts and incorporations is managed by Pakeha farmers. In episode three (Sunday October 1 at 5.00 PM) KI TAI KI UTA visits the farm owned by Taringamotu Otakamahi Trust, one of the few in the country which has an all Maori staff, including the station manager, Barry Takawe.

Executive Producer Irene Gardiner says the level of innovation shown and the outstanding business success of many of the ventures makes KI TAI KI UTA a very positive and interesting series.

“It’s been a pleasure to work on for that reason, but also because rural New Zealand is very beautiful to photography, so the pictures look great.”

Tune in to the premiere of new rural series KI TAI KI UTA on Sunday September 17 at 5.00 PM.

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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION FOR KI TAI KI UTA

Year 2005
Censor General Exhibition (G)
Duration 13 x half hour series
Language Maori and English

ENDS

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