Search for Hawaiki

Kia ora, awesome person! Thank you for taking the time to check out our Boosted campaign.

What's the film about?

After being released into the care of his younger brother, Fable discovers an old tide chart and embarks on a journey to find inner peace by searching for his ancestral home of Hawaiki.

Tell me more!

Search for Hawaiki is a powerful 13minute short film that aims to move you at your core. This rich and compelling New Zealand Drama takes the audience on a tour of emotions, whilst exploring topics of resilience, mental well-being, the power of culture, cultural and societal stigmas. All this is portrayed through the film’s central character and their whānau.

The film's unique perspective is the impact of traditional Māori cultural practices and ideologies as a form of healing and the importance of Whānau. We believe that this is an incredibly powerful notion that we the filmmakers would love to translate to screen.

Director Fredrick Pokai is committed to telling this story and tackling the subject of stereotypes and tropes whilst contributing towards more positive portrayals of Māori and their whānau. Here's what he had to say:

"When writing the script I really dug deep into personal experiences in order to create a compelling story and grounded characters that speak not only to the Maori community but to all communities."

It takes a village

Our goal is to raise $10,000 to bring this powerful story to life. With your donations and tautāwhi (support), we’ll be able to organise a 3-day shoot, pay for locations, secure filming permits, book equipment, cover the entry fees for several short film festivals, and of course, pay our talented crew competitive rates.

We hope that this film can encourage and inspire both indigenous and non-indigenous peoples to reevaluate their understanding of mental well-being and provide a better understanding of the types of support available to those in need.

Where is the production at? 

• The film is in the stages of preproduction now that the script's been finalised. Over the next few weeks, we'll be meeting with several fresh and talented wellington based Cinematographers to find the right person to capture and elevate Fred's vision.
• We've been fortunate enough to secure the main filming location in Titahi Bay pending payment.
• Fred and I are incredibly excited to start casting this film as it has several emotionally charged scenes that will let any performer flex their acting muscles. We aim to start officially casting in early/mid-August.

About the team

The Writer & Director - Fred (Ngāti Porou and Te Arawa), is a Wellington-based actor, writer, director, and amateur wrestler who has been involved in the wellington film scene for several years. Fred's passion for storytelling comes from his life experiences the need to express these thoughts with others through the medium of film. Fred has recently been involved in some outstanding short films including Isaac Lee's Cannes nominated short film, The Haka.

The Producer - Rich, is a Wellington-based filmmaker originally from Southampton, UK. Rich's love and commitment to filmmaking comes from his passion to share different perspectives and telling compelling stories. Rich is the founder of the online film community, The New Zealand Film-makers Collective (NZFMC) which helps connect filmmakers of all levels from all over Aotearoa. Rich has also won several awards for his short film, The Hunter, and was nominated for best short film at the Babel foreign language film festival.

Like and follow our page on Facebook and Instagram for some exclusive behind-the-scenes footage as we make this film.

Thank you for checking out our campaign and stay tuned for more info about our crowdfunding journey!

Ngā mihi maioha.

Rich & Fred