According to her son Hepi, the late filmmaker Merata Mita once said, “What you see when you look at an archival film are resurrections taking place.” She explained, “A past life lives again, and something from the heart and the spirit responds.”
Per the doc’s new trailer, that seems to be Hepi Mita’s goal for his mother’s story with “Merata: How Mum Decolonised the Screen.” Using footage from Merata’s films, interviews she gave, and her screen appearances, Hepi traces his mother’s work as an artist and an activist.
Born in 1942, Merata Mita used cinema to push for change, especially in regards to the treatment of women and indigenous peoples. “One of my primary goals is to decolonize the screen and to indigenize a lot of what we see up there,” the Maori director says via archival footage.
Mita strived to boost the on-screen representation of women and marginalized communities in the hopes of improving their daily lives. “I always have this desire to do things — not well — but as brilliantly as possible,” she explains. “Once the work shows that you’re capable of doing something, then all the other prejudices about race and sex, they perhaps fall away.”
The filmmaker chronicled anti-apartheid demonstrations in her native New Zealand in “Patu!” and delved into the life of artist Ralph Hotere in “Hotere.” Mita’s other directing credits include “Mauri,” “Mana Waka,” and “Te Whakarauora Tangata.” Features “Spooked” and “Utu” and TV movie “One of those Blighters” are among her acting jobs.
Merata Mita died in 2010 at the age of 67.
“Merata: How Mum Decolonised the Screen” will premiere August 2 at the New Zealand International Film Festival in Auckland, New Zealand. No other release information is available yet.
