Framed by Aotearoa New Zealand’s indigenous history and cultural traditions, Tāhuhu | Stories of Ancestry is a kaupapa that finds and fosters new Tai Tamariki Māori storytellers from remote communities to reimagine their rich cultural history in cinematic form, while inspiring audiences to connect with the indigenous history of Aotearoa, New Zealand. 

Our focus is on the process that Tai Tamariki undertake to produce their first film, guided by mentors from within the screen industry and with our tautoko we aim to support Tai Tamariki to grow and develop their leadership skills.

Registrations open in May, followed by a series of marae-based wānanga calling on Tai Tamariki between the ages of 16 and 26 to submit their story idea to be considered for a week-long story development noho at Waitangi Treaty Grounds

The kaupapa will see eight (8) Tai Tamariki Māori selected to attend a story development noho on the treaty grounds at Waitangi, where they will be paired with a selection of screen industry mentors to refine their idea and produce a story ready for production. 

Tāhuhu is a Tai Huri Films kaupapa aimed at bringing together media and education with a focus on stories grounded in Aotearoa New Zealand history through the lens of Tai Tamariki Māori. 

Tāhuhu is a new initiative that was developed in 2021 to provide a platform for Tai Tamariki Māori to tell their stories. This kaupapa is designed to explore our history and align with the inclusion of this subject area in the New Zealand Curriculum from 2022.

As we facilitate our first Tāhuhu opportunity, we look to our community to help us reach Tai Tamariki Māori who might benefit from this kaupapa. 

Jason Taylor – Founder | Educator | CEO Tai Huri Films

JASON TAYLOR has whakapapa links to Waikato-Tainui and Ngāti Maniapoto. He is an educator, producer and is the founder of Tai Huri Films. In 2017, Jason moved away from working full time in mainstream education to focus on facilitating further education opportunities in media arts for Tai Tamariki Māori.

Jason has worked as a kaiako since 2013, holding leadership positions in a number of key areas including digital technology, environmental education, and governance – as a trustee on school boards. He was appointed Deputy Principal in his last teaching position. 

As a filmmaker, Jason is interested in stories that explore the rich cultural history of Te Ao Māori and in 2020 he was a recipient of the Screenrights Cultural Fund grant to support his work in bringing together media and education for Tai Tamariki Māori across the Northland region. 

Peter-Lucas Jones | CEO Te Hiku Media 

PETER-LUCAS JONES has tribal affiliations with Ngāti Kahu, Te Rārawa, Ngāi Takoto and Te Aupōuri. He has a practical application of tikanga Māori and is a highly proficient speaker of te reo Māori. He is CEO of Te Hiku Media, the award-winning iwi broadcasting organisation and iwi innovation hub based in Kaitaia. He has led Te Hiku Media to create a suite of natural language processing (NLP) tools which enable the creation of new digital products and services that leverage te reo Māori speech recognition, speech to text system (audio transcription), text-to-speech (TTS), and other language tools. 

Te Mātāwai, the Minister of Finance jointly appointed Peter-Lucas Jones as the Deputy Chair of the Maori Television service on May 07, 2018.

Moko Tepania | Far North District Councillor | Educator Kura Kaupapa Māori | Education Advisor

MOKO TEPANIA has whakapapa links to Ngāti Kahu ki Whangaroa and Te Rarawa. He is an educator at Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Kaikohe and councillor at the Far North District Council. Moko is an advocate for Tai Tamariki Māori development.

Moko is involved in the Tuia Rangatahi Māori Mentoring Programme and he has interests in the Far North Youth Council. He is a proficient speaker of Te Reo Māori and the chair of Te Reo o Te Tai Tokerau, an organisation representing reo Māori kaiako in Northland to advance kaupapa Māori. 

Jo Walsh | Production Advisor

JO WALSH was born in Kaikohe and can whakapapa across Ngāpuhi with grounding affiliations to Ngāti Whakaeke, Ngāti Rangi and Te Mahurehure. She recently returned to live in Paihia, Pēwhairangi after 18 years in London, where she was an Arts Producer & Artist.  In London Jo worked for Universal Music in international business development & for WPP plc, as the Marketing & Communications Manager for the Global Retail Team.  Jo is a founding member of the SaVAge K’lub (formed by Rosanna Raymond in 2010) & In*ter*is*land Collective (formed with Ahilapalapa Rands, Lyall Hakaraia and Jessica Palalangi in 2017). 

In 2019 she was a finalist for New Zealand Society (UK) New Zealander of the Year for her work in indigenising platforms of dialogue and connection for Tagata Moana / Tangata Whenua in contemporary art spaces and within imperial museums and institutions. Her life’s ambition is to transform relationships in the space (vā) of Te Tiriti of Waitangi and He Whakaputanga, increasing the recognition & volume of individual and collective voices of Tangata Whenua.

Tāhuhu is a Tai Huri Films kaupapa facilitated with support from Screenrights

Te Hiku Media – Media Partner

Ngāti Hine – Media Partner