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Monday 28th Sep 7:30pm

Doors open 7pm, Film 7:30pm. Followed by Q&A.

Filmmaker and Waiheke resident Paora Te Oti Takarangi Joseph invites audiences on a hīkoi wairua—a spiritual journey.

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A hybrid documentary-drama, Māui’s Hook follows five families—four Māori and one Pākehā—travelling by bus from Parihaka to Te Rerenga Wairua (Cape Reinga) to release and farewell loved ones lost to suicide.

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Alongside their real stories runs that of young Tama, a fictional surrogate for the generation most affected, who comes to understand too late that pain can pass, but death cannot.

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The film screened at the 2018 New Zealand International Film Festival, where reviewer Graeme Tuckett called it one of the festival’s standouts, awarding it five stars for its raw honesty and quiet compassion. It has also screened at the imagineNATIVE Film Festival in Canada and received a Best Director nomination at HIFF 2018.

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Following the screening, Paora will host a Q&A.

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On Wednesday 30 September, from 10.30am to 2.30pm, he will lead a suicide-awareness and prevention wānanga at Ostend Hall, Waiheke Island, supported by the People’s Health Alliance Waiheke (PHA). The wānanga will offer practical tools for whānau to identify, clear, and carry trauma with greater presence and aroha.

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Reservations: contact@waihekepha.nz

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Paora will also launch his new book, Earth Mirrors, at 2pm on Saturday 24 October at Waiheke Library. The book draws on both Māori wisdom and Dzogchen practice to address intergenerational trauma.

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