The Vibrant Shimmer

Abstract

Interweaving strands from Gauguin's paintings created in Brittany (before he went to Tahiti), A E Housman's poems, Maori playwright Hone Kouka, Maori ancestors, and several decades of filmmaking experience, this paper looks at the making and unmaking of Maori documentary films. Tensions and misunderstanding between Maori filmmakers and Pakeha critics and funding agencies are examined. It is suggested that Maori projects and approaches are frequently undervalued because of different "gradients" in aesthetic sensibility and worldview.