War Party / Taua
New Zealand , 2007

Directed by: Tearepa Kahi
Script: Tearepa Kahi
Producer: Quinton Hita
Production company: Kura Productions
Cinematography: Rhys Duncan
Editing: Tearepa Kahi
Cast: Reweti Te Mete, Graham Hohapata, Antonio Te Maioha, Vaughn Ahchee Ti Tore, Te Kotuiti Tuarua

Format: boja, color, 35mm
Running time: 15'

Synopsis
A war party has abducted an enemy leader and bound him to the bow of their war canoe. The canoe is being towed through the forest, driven by a merciless chief in a bid to escape pursuers and return home safely with their trophy. Two young boys sit at the stern. They serve as bailers of the water to the men. On the desperate and gruelling journey, every man is in need of water, even the unknown prisoner.

Awards
2007 ImagineNATIVE Film & Media Arts Festival - Honourable Mention 2007 National Geographic All Roads Film Festival - Best Short Film 2007 Telecom New Zealand International Film Festival - Best Short Film

Directors Biography
Tearepa Kahi is of Ngati Paoa and Waikato descent. Tearepa was born and raised in Christchurch. After graduating from Burnside High School he joined a Maori theatre company and toured as an actor for two years around New Zealand schools, polytechs and prisons. He then attended the University of Auckland and graduated with a degree in History and Maori. Student life called for extra work and Tearepa entered television as a production assistant on a children’s TV production. By the end of the production, he was directing it. His first, second and third documentaries were each nominated for TV Guide Awards and he has since amassed considerable experience across all genres of television and now responsible for over twenty documentaries. Tearepa wrote and directed his first short film in 2006, ‘The Speaker’. The short film won praise and accolades and its success has seen him awarded funding for his second short film, ‘Taua’ in 2007.

Location and screening schedule:
premiere: SC Cinema, Thursday, October 23rd at 14.00
reprisal: EUROPA Cinema, Thursday, October 23rd at 21.30