Young film maker giving back to Rāwene community

Media release: Young film maker giving back to Rāwene community

Studying at NorthTec has been a turning point for Rāwene-based film maker Murray Nathan.

Two years ago he enrolled as a student on a Flaxroots Documentary Making Course run by John McRae at NorthTec in Rāwene. John asked him to take on the editing role on the course with Murray then being asked to teach the overall course.

He then embarked on the first year diploma in te reo –Te Pōkaitahi Ngāpuhi-Nui-Tonu – an experience that has turned his life around. “That’s been of great benefit to my Flaxroots course and to my life in general. I’ve got to know myself and have found my path through my identification with my culture. It’s led to a real enlightenment for me. I started acting in a certain way and that made things happen for me in my life. If you do it right, it’s karmic.”

He is now a firm believer that good things happen to those who are prepared to give freely of themselves. Now, empowered with a new sense of self, Murray is passing his knowledge on to other budding documentary makers in his local community at the same time as his own career takes off.

Earlier this year Murray was asked to tour Australia with New Zealand band “1814” and to make a music video for the band. “That came about because I supported them a year or more ago, just to tautoko them.”

He is also now regularly called upon to speak at pōwhiri on the campus. “It’s humbling and an honour to be asked to welcome visitors by the kaumātua. It’s amazing that Uncle Horotai gives students the room to talk.”

In February he will again be touring Australia with “1814” and recording their performances, but not before the achieving his most cherished goal for the year, namely welcoming he and his partner Jessie McVeagh’s first child who is due this month.

“I feel like I’m going in the right direction. It’s an holistic thing. It’s about following my passion and finding my identity – my turangawaewae, my place to stand. I have faith in the way that my career’s going at the moment. This year I’ve been able to achieve the goals that I’ve set myself.”

Telling the stories of the Hokianga is very important to Murray. “I want to reflect Hokianga thoughts and processes and see them applied in the wider community. They’re valuable and people are interested in them.”

He believes that a film maker needs to research the culture and tikanga of the place where he or she is working. “There is a responsibility to integrate the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi, without banging people on the head with it. It’s an honour to have an insight into people’s worlds.”

For those who are keen to develop their own film making skills, Murray and his co-tutor Lavinia Kingi will be delivering a Flaxroots Documentary Making course at NorthTec’s Rāwene campus in January. “It’s an introductory course to documentary film making on a low budget. NorthTec provides access to a video suite. It’s a wonderful way to help people tell their stories and to archive the stories that are important to their whānau.”

They are also currently designing a fulltime film making course which they hope to have up and running in 2011.

Murray is very encouraging of anyone who wants to embark on a new learning journey and has nothing but praise for the supportive environment that NorthTec’s staff create on the Rāwene campus. “We have great mentors here. They provide whānau support in terms of learning and in the way that they support students.”

NorthTec is the Tai Tokerau (Northland) region's largest provider of tertiary education, with campuses and learning centres in Whangarei, Kerikeri, Rāwene, Dargaville, Kaikohe and Kaitaia. NorthTec also has over 60 community-based delivery points from Coatesville in rural Rodney to Ngataki in the Far North.

ENDS

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