Hon Dr Pita Sharples
Minister of Maori Affairs

31 May 2010 Media Release
Poroporoaki ki a Merata Mita

E te rangatira, Merata, kua kapohia koe e te ringa ohorere o aitua.
Kua pani o iwi, Ngati Pikiao, Ngai Te Rangi, ratou ko o karanga maha.
Kua waipuke te awa o Kaituna i nga roimata e maringi noa i te whenua, mai i Rotorua ki Maketu, ki te Moana a Toi.
Ka aue nga iwi huri noa, o tatou tuakana i Hawai’i, nga iwi taketake o te Moana Nui a Kiwa, o Amerika, otira nga kaimahi whakaata o te ao.
Kua haere koe, heoi ano ta matou, he tangi i te aroha ki to whanau pani.

Maori Affairs Minister Dr Pita Sharples joins the people of Ngati Pikiao and Ngai Te Rangi, Maori everywhere, filmmakers and indigenous peoples around the world, in mourning the sudden death this afternoon of Merata Mita.

“Merata was world-renowned as an actor, director and producer of films,” said Dr Sharples. “As a trained teacher, she used film to engage her students in education. Once she launched into a career as a film-maker, she broke nearly every barrier known to Maori women,” he said.

“After working as a guide on a documentary on the Treaty of Waitangi, Merata was ready to film the drama unfolding as the police and army removed Ngati Whatua and their supporters from ancestral land at Orakei in 1978.

“Her film ‘Bastion Point: Day 507’ was followed by the first feature-length documentary by a woman, ‘Patu!’, about the 1981 Springbok Tour protests. Her drama ‘Mauri’ was only the second feature directed by a Maori woman.

“Her topics, and her insights, reflect Merata’s passion for her causes. Justice, race relations, Maori history and workers’ rights, were revealed in drama, documentary and biography. Merata also pioneered Maori current affairs on television, she acted, lectured, produced, and mentored a rising generation.

“Her influence on New Zealand’s identity has been profound, and her personality and experience will be sorely missed,” said Dr Sharples

ENDS

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