Parts of New Zealand will double for 18th-century Yorkshire in Taratoa Stappard’s feature debute Mārama, which has commenced production.
Māori actor Ariāna Osborne leads the cast of the gothic horror as a young Māori woman who fights to reclaim her identity and indigenous culture, appearing alongside British stars Toby Stephens (Black Sails) and Umi Myers (Bob Marley: One Love), and New Zealanders Erroll Shand (The Luminaries) and Jordan Mooney (Pike River). Filming will take place in Auckland and down south in the Otago region.
The New Zealand-born, UK-based creative wrote and is directing the feature, working alongside producers Sharlene George and Rouzie Hassanova, along with Māori language and culture producer Paraone Gloyne. Executive producing are Victoria Dabbs and Gal Greenspan for Sweetshop Entertainment, Jill Macnab and Phil Bremner for Vendetta Films, and Badie Ali, Hamza Ali, and Greg Newman for MPI Media.
Mārama was developed with support from the New Zealand Film Commission, imagineNATIVE, The Black List, Toronto I.F.F., Zurich I.F.F., and the Berlinale Co-Production Market.
The film is being made with support from the New Zealand Film Commission, NZ On Air, Whakaata Māori, and Images & Sound. MPI International will manage global sales, while Vendetta Films will distribute the film in Australia and New Zealand.
Stappard, whose lineage includes the Ngāti Toa, Ngāti Raukawa, and Ngāti Tuwharetoa Māori tribes, described the feature as “confronting, bloody, and entirely unique”.
“I’m excited to be forging a new genre – Māori Gothic Horror,” he said.
George, co-CEO and founding partner of The Sweetshop production company, said the film was “a cultural statement as well as a fusion of distinct story worlds that rarely intersect”.
“I couldn’t be happier that we are shooting and doing all our post-production here in Aotearoa to anchor the story on the whenua [land],” she said.