The Te Kooti Trail

Last updated

The Te Kooti Trail
Directed by Rudall Hayward
Based onWork by Frank Bodle
Starring Te Pairi Tūterangi
Tina Hunt
Mary Kingi
Tom McDermott
CinematographyRudall Hayward
Edited by Hilda Hayward
Release date
  • 1927 (1927)
Running time
103 minutes
Country New Zealand
LanguagesSilent
English intertitles

The Te Kooti Trail is a 1927 New Zealand historic drama film about Te Kooti, [1] [2] based on a newspaper serial written by Frank Bodle. [3] This silent film is described as New Zealand's first docudrama and was created by husband and wife team Rudall and Hilda Hayward.

Contents

Synopsis

The film is a historical drama about the Māori leader Te Kooti, showing exploits from Te Kooti's War that was part of the New Zealand Wars of the late 19th century. [4]

About

Initial screening of the film was held up when the New Zealand censor stopped the film because of its "disturbing realism". [5] This fact was used in the film's promotional material. The film censor had arranged special screenings for key Māori to view it in advance of a general release to ensure it did not cause offence. After proof of historical accuracy, the film was released following changes to two intertitle cards. [2] [3]

The Māori cast were all from the Te Urewera region and Ngāti Tūhoe chief Te Pairi Tūterangi played Te Kooti. As a child he had known Te Kooti. [2] With the costuming for the film Tūterangi's resemblance to Te Kooti was said to be close, and because he had known Te Kooti he portrayed his mannerisms very well, particular in an early scene of Te Kooti preaching. [6]

The camera used to film The Te Kooti Trail Camera, motion picture (silent) (AM 1974.103.2-4).jpg
The camera used to film The Te Kooti Trail

One of the actors in the film, Tom McDermott, introduced a 1964 screening of film by the Upper Hutt Film Society. [4] [5] McDermott was critical to the survival of the film as the National Film Library discovered and preserved the only existing copy of the film that had been 'disintegrating in its metal container in his garage'. [5]

The Te Kooti Trail featured in New Zealand's contribution to the British Film Institute's Century of Cinema series, Cinema of Unease: A Personal Journey by Sam Neill (1995). [7]

The style of cinematography in The Te Kooti Trail is described as 'perfunctory and functional' with static shots of people in landscape and none of the dramatic lighting and more mobile camera style that became common by the end of the 1920s. [8] Some scenes were filmed on location in the same places as the historical events they were depicting in Whakatāne and Te Urewera. [5] The film was edited by Hilda Hayward, who was later praised by the film historian Sam Edwards for 'constructing the subtleties of the narrative'. Edwards also says that The Te Kooti Trail was 'New Zealand’s first significant docudrama' and acknowledges the quality storytelling and camera work of director and cinematographer Rudall Hayward. [9]

Cast

Awards

Preservation with transfer from nitrate was completed with UNESCO support in 1994. [3] In 2000 the New Zealand Film Archive won the Haghefilm Award. [3] [10] The restored print premiered at Le Giornate del Cinema Muto, Italy in 2001, celebrating Rudall Hayward's centenary. [3]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Te Kooti's War</span> One of the last battles of the New Zealand Wars

Te Kooti's War was among the last of the New Zealand Wars, the series of 19th-century conflicts in New Zealand between the Māori and the colonising European settlers. It was fought in the East Coast region and across the heavily forested central North Island and Bay of Plenty from 1868 to 1872, between government military forces and followers of spiritual leader Te Kooti Arikirangi Te Turuki.

Upper Hutt Posse (UHP) is a musical band in New Zealand. The progenitors of hip hop music in the South Pacific originally formed as a four-piece reggae group in 1985, the Posse emerged at the forefront of the local response to emerging rap culture. Their unique fusion of rap and reggae has been an inspirational injection into the national music scene, and a powerful vehicle for their revolutionary socio-political perspectives. Influenced primarily by socio-politically conscious reggae and rap music, from Bob Marley to Gil Scott-Heron to Public Enemy. The band name is derived from Upper Hutt, the part of Wellington in which they formed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ngāi Tūhoe</span> Māori iwi in New Zealand

Ngāi Tūhoe, often known simply as Tūhoe, is a Māori iwi of New Zealand. It takes its name from an ancestral figure, Tūhoe-pōtiki. Tūhoe is a Māori-language word meaning "steep" or "high noon". Tūhoe people also bear the sobriquet Nga Tamariki o te Kohu. Tūhoe traditional land is at Te Urewera in the eastern North Island, a steep, heavily forested area which includes Lake Waikaremoana. Tūhoe traditionally relied on the forest for their needs. The tribe had its main centres of population in the small mountain valleys of Ahikereru and Ruatāhuna, with Maungapohatu, the inner sanctum of the Urewera, as their sacred mountain. The Tūhoe country had a great reputation among the neighbouring tribes as a graveyard for invading forces.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Te Urewera</span>

Te Urewera is an area of mostly forested, sparsely populated rugged hill country in the North Island of New Zealand, a large part of which is within a protected area designated in 2014, that was formerly Te Urewera National Park.

Walter Alfred Tanner was New Zealand's second Chief Censor of Films from 1927 to 1938. He was born in Northampton, England, the son of William Tanner, Member of Parliament for the Heathcote and Avon electorates in Christchurch, and Emily E. Browett. He married Laura Matilda Maude Torckler in 1907. They had one son and one daughter. He died in Wellington aged 79.

Ngā Tamatoa was a Māori activist group that operated throughout the 1970s to promote Māori rights, fight racial discrimination, and confront injustices perpetrated by the New Zealand Government, particularly violations of the Treaty of Waitangi.

Cinema of Unease: A Personal Journey by Sam Neill is a documentary about the history of New Zealand cinema written by Sam Neill and co-directed by Neill and Judy Rymer. The film was released in 1995, and was New Zealand's contribution to the British Film Institute's Century of Cinema series. The title refers to the dark and brooding nature of many of New Zealand's most notable films, which Neill considers a reflection of the nation's struggle to find, or form, its own identity. The film screened in the 1995 Cannes Film Festival, and won Best Documentary in the 1996 TV Guide Film and Television Awards of New Zealand.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision</span> Film, television and sound archive in New Zealand

Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision is an archive that was launched on 31 July 2014, following the completion of a three-year process whereby the New Zealand Film Archive "absorbed" the collections and operations of the RNZ Sound Archives Ngā Taonga Kōrero in 2012 and the Television New Zealand Archive in 2014.

Dame Judith Mary Caroline Binney was a New Zealand historian, writer and Emerita Professor of History at the University of Auckland. Her work focussed on religion in New Zealand, especially the Māori Ringatū religion founded by Te Kooti Arikirangi Te Turuki and continued by Rua Kenana. She also wrote extensively on the history of Ngāi Tūhoe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rua Kenana Hepetipa</span> Māori prophet and activist (1869–1937)

Rua Kenana Hepetipa or Rua Kēnana Hepetipa was a Māori prophet, faith healer and land rights activist. He called himself Te Mihaia Hou, the New Messiah, and claimed to be Te Kooti Arikirangi's successor Hepetipa (Hephzibah) who would reclaim Tūhoe land that had been lost to Pākehā ownership. Rua's beliefs split the Ringatū Church, which Te Kooti had founded in around 1866/1868. In 1907 Rua formed a non-violent religious community at Maungapōhatu, the sacred mountain of Ngāi Tūhoe, in the Urewera. By 1900, Maungapōhatu was one of the few areas that had not been investigated by the Native Land Court. The community, also known as New Jerusalem, included a farming co-operative and a savings bank. Many Pākehā believed the community was subversive and saw Rua as a disruptive influence.

Rudall Charles Victor Hayward was a pioneer New Zealand filmmaker from the 1920s to the 1970s, who directed seven feature films and numerous others.

Hirini (Sid) Melbourne was a Māori composer, singer, university lecturer, poet and author who was notable for his contribution to the development of Māori music and the revival of Māori culture. He played traditional instruments and his waiata (songs) have preserved traditions and used Māori proverbs. He received the New Zealand Order of Merit in recognition of his services to Māori music. He was from Ngāi Tūhoe and Ngāti Kahungunu Māori tribes.

Te Pairi Tūterangi (?–1954) was a notable New Zealand tribal leader, tohunga, orator, carver and weaver. Of Māori descent, he identified with the Tuhoe iwi. He was born in Maungapohatu, Bay of Plenty, New Zealand. Some of his most well known carvings include the meeting houses at Te Maungaroa and Whakarae in the Waimana Valley, and at Ōmuriwaka.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gilbert Mair (soldier)</span> New Zealand surveyor, interpreter, soldier, public servant (1843–1923)

Captain Gilbert Mair was a New Zealand surveyor, interpreter, soldier and public servant. He was born in Whangarei, Northland, New Zealand on 10 January 1843, the son of an early trader, also named Gilbert Mair. His brother was Major William Gilbert Mair.

<i>My Lady of the Cave</i> 1922 film

My Lady of the Cave is a 1922 New Zealand silent film which was the first feature from Rudall Hayward. It was based on a popular story by H. T. Gibson, which was published serially in several newspapers.

To Love a Maori is a 1972 New Zealand film about an interracial romance. It was the seventh and last feature from Rudall Hayward.

Opepe was a settlement in New Zealand, a few miles southeast of Taupō. It was the scene of an attack on European militia by Maori on 7 June 1869, in which nine members of the militia were killed.

Ngā Kaihanga Uku is a New Zealand collective of Māori Clayworkers. They formed in 1986 during a Ngā Puna Waihanga gathering, under the leadership of Baye Riddell and Manos Nathan. Founding members also include Paerau Corneal, Colleen Waata Urlich and Wi Taepa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hilda Hayward</span> New Zealand filmmaker (1898–1970)

Hilda Maud Hayward was a pioneering New Zealand filmmaker. She is considered the country's first female camera operator.

Maungapohatu is a settlement in the Bay of Plenty Region of New Zealand's North Island. Located in a remote area of the Urewera bush country about 20 kilometres (12 mi) north of Lake Waikaremoana, it was founded by Rua Tapunui Kenana in 1907 and was substantially rebuilt twice during the next two decades. At its peak more than 500 people lived there but today it is once more a very sparsely populated place.

References

  1. Martin, Helen; Edwards, Sam (1997). "New Zealand film, 1912-1996". Trove . Auckland ; Melbourne ; Oxford :Oxford University Press . Retrieved 13 January 2023.
  2. 1 2 3 Martin, Helen (22 October 2014). Feature film - Pioneering days. Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand . Retrieved 17 January 2023.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 "The Te Kooti Trail". Wayback Machine. The New Zealand Film Archive. 30 May 2004. Archived from the original on 12 October 2007. Retrieved 18 January 2023.
  4. 1 2 "Original Actor Present At Upper Hutt Screening Of 37-Year-Old Film". Upper Hutt City Library. Vol. XXI, no. 35. Upper Hutt Leader. 23 September 1964. p. 6. Retrieved 18 January 2023.
  5. 1 2 3 4 McDermott, Tom (1964). "Audio recording of Tom McDermott introducing Rudall Hayward's film". Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision . Retrieved 18 January 2023.
  6. "Through the Lens: The New Zealand Wars". Ngā Taonga. Retrieved 20 January 2023.
  7. "Cinema of Unease". NZ On Screen . Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision . Retrieved 5 August 2014.
  8. Petrie, Duncan J. (2007). Shot in New Zealand : the art and craft of the Kiwi cinematographer. Auckland, N.Z.: Random House. ISBN   978-1-86941-791-8. OCLC   174083958.
  9. "Hilda Hayward | NZ On Screen". www.nzonscreen.com. Retrieved 20 January 2023.
  10. "Haghefilm Foundation Award". Haghefilm Foundation. 2000. Retrieved 18 January 2023.