Maori Leaders Reveal All – On Maori Television

PUBLICITY RELEASE
TUESDAY JUNE 30 2009

Maori Leaders Reveal All – On Maori Television

Maori Party President Professor Whatarangi Winiata was so sick as a three-year-old child that his father brought him home to die.

Instead, decades later he is still here to tell his story in the second series of E TU KAHIKATEA, which screens on Maori Television from Wednesday July 15 at 9.30 PM.

Professor Winiata is one of six inspirational Maori leaders who share their lives in the latest season of the highly acclaimed series.

Nominated in last year’s Qantas Film and Television Awards, E TU KAHIKATEA provides a staggering insight into the movers and shakers of the Maori world told from the heart by those who lived it.

In this series, Arnold Wilson, Minnie Westrupp, Ranginui Walker, Ben Tawhiti and Whetu Tirikatene Sullivan complete the line up, speaking freely about their stories of love, loss, leadership and determination.

“Their candour drove our approach,” says director Ngahuia Wade of Te Noni Productions.

“If a particular story was on public record it wasn’t a story for E TU KAHIKATEA. Their honesty about what was really happening behind the scenes was far more riveting than the polished version.”

The leaders took great delight in pushing the perception of kaumatua on screen. Ranginui Walker shows off his state of the art long drop with pride, while Whetu Tirikatene Sullivan reveals that her renowned dress sense actually hid her pregnancies at the height of her political career.

Musician Ben Tawhiti confesses the very personal trauma of being abandoned as a child.

Their level of reo and their fascinating stories wipe out the need for a presenter or narration. Instead, the six leaders tell their own stories in their own way during each of the half-hour episodes.

Producer Maramena Roderick says it took many long hours of work to do their stories justice.

“But imagine sitting with icons, hearing stories they have never told, dining with best friends and whanau an then laughing and crying all night,” she says. “That is the reward of E TU KAHIKATEA.”

Episode One: The first Maori graduate of Elam School of Fine Arts Arnold Wilson admits being thrown in the river by an aunty offended by his work.

In later episodes, Maori campaigner Minnie Westrupp reveals the loneliness of battling men, politicians and her own people to secure the rights of her iwi, Rongmaiwahine; and historian and author Ranginui Walker, discloses he received death threats, before showing viewers one of his proudest achievements.

Join these special people as they share their inspiring journeys – E TU KAHITAKEA – screens on Maori Television from Wednesday July 15 at 9.30 PM.

ENDS

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION FOR E TU KAHIKATEA
Year: 2008
Censor: General Exhibition (G)
Duration: 6 x 30 minute documentary film
Language: Maori with English subtitles

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