Huaputarere (Documentary)

Huaputarere is a documentary which follows the heart wrenching stories of three individuals who share the confrontations with their innermost demons, life changing decisions and the long journey to emotional stability. Discussing mental illness can be a daunting task, sometimes it is a task that is never accomplished. This is our way of starting the conversation and hopefully, rectifying the narrative for many Māori. Huaputarere aims to address challenging subjects in such a way that encourages understanding, relatability and comfort in knowing that your feelings are valid and deserve proper care.  These are stories of searching for closure, reclaiming identity and survival.

Our Drive

Trends reports reveal Māori as one of New Zealand’s most vulnerable demographics when measuring mental illness. It is a universal sickness and our team stands in solidarity with all who are experiencing these internal struggles. However we would like to acknowledge that our documentary looks at mental health awareness from a Māori perspective. We want to contribute our skills to making something which questions health equity in Aotearoa and aims to improve health outcomes for our indigenous people.

Our Promise

This documentary is written and directed by Waiata-Rose Monga and produced by Brie Krissansen. We wear the ‘student film’ badge with pride, but want for Huaputarere to extend beyond the walls of AUT where we are completing our final year as television and screen production majors. With the guidance of our knowledgeable EP, the support of our wonderful crew and two years of honing our skills in filmmaking, we are confident in our abilities to bring a meaningful piece of work to life. We would like to leave you with the absolute reassurance that the amount of research and passion going into this film is abundant and we are firm on keeping ourselves informed and educated while dealing with the heavy topics which Huaputarere centralises.

Our team understands that the themes which we will be exploring throughout this process, come from a place of darkness and we want to acknowledge the courageous spokespeople who are willing to share these very personal recounts with us. The wellbeing of our team and our participants during this process are of utmost importance and we aim to be sensitive to the needs of each other as we embark on this journey which requires compassion above all else. 

Our Team

The team behind Huaputarere is composed of some hugely talented and passionate creatives. Each of whom bring their own unique flair and style of filmmaking to the table. With big visions and an even bigger heart for our project, we are thrilled to have Elizabeth Hoyle as our Executive Producer. With a great eye for detail and a knack for organisation, we have Juliet Mora as our brilliant cinematographer, and bringing forward some quality audio is our savvy sound technician, Ann Motuga. We will also be welcoming two other wonderful artists on board, each well-versed in their craft in music production and digital art. We look forward to exhibiting all these incredible talents in the final outcome.

Our Goal

Like any successful production, funding our film will be a collective effort and this is where your support comes in. All donations will assist in covering essential costs including travel, catering and film festival submissions.  Any donation, big or small is greatly appreciated and plays a huge part in helping us fulfil our goal of making Huaputarere a success. This is our way of sparking the conversation about Māori mental health and we’d love for you to join us.

He waka eke noa,

We are all in this together.

Ngā manaakitanga,

Waiata & Brie