KŌKĀ is a powerful relationship drama following Maori elder Hamo (Hinetu Dell) and local delinquent Jo (Darneen Christian) who form an unlikely bond on a road trip in a Ford Falcon. Together they confront past traumas and each face their demons, their shared path becomes a journey of healing, community, and reconciliation.

Written by Kath Akuhata-Brown

Directed by: Kath Akuhata-Brown

Produced By: Verity Mackintosh, Libby Hakaraia

Prod Company: Krafty Productions, Awa Films.

A New Zealand short film by Kath Akuhata-Brown inspired by an ancient Māori story of the wind and the power of a child’s love.

AWARDS:

2024 City of Arts Film Festival - Honourable Mention. 2023 Best Director of Short Film BIMIFF. 2022 Reale Film Festival Best Poster, Wairoa Māori Film Festival – Winner Best Māori Director 2021: NZIFF - Best Short - Winner Best Director.

FESTIVAL OFFICIAL SELECTION:

2024: London Cinematic Horizions. City of Arts Film Festival (Award)

2023: Geneve Awards, Brazil International Independant Film Festival (Award) Kalakari Film Festival.

2022: RED Movie Awards (Finalist Best Short Film) Dumbo Film Festival (Semi-Finalist) Reale Film Festival (Award) Skābmagovat Indigenous Film Festival, Santa Fe International Film Festival, imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival, Cinéma des Antipodes Film Festival, Trujillo International Independent Film Festival, Asinabka Film & Media Arts Festival, Melbourne International Film Festival, Smithsonian Native Cinema Showcase, Boden International Film Festival. Short Circuit Pacific Rim Film Festival Canada, Māoriland Film Festival, Garifuna International Indigenous Film Festival, Trujillo International Independent Film Festival.

Logline: Maori elder Hamo must bear the burden of carrying the spirits of her ancestors to their sacred mountain.

Synopsis: New Zealand. Present Day. Maori elder Hamo, travels to her homeland to pay her respects to her people. When she arrives, the house is empty. She calls on the house to release the spirits of those who have passed on and then carries those spirits to her ancestral river. While there she is overwhelmed by memories of the past. Burdened by that past, she continues the journey to the top of her tribe’s sacred mountain. Amongst a circle of giant carved wooden ancestors she releases the spirits into the warmth of the rising sun. Hamo has finally come home.

1 x 6min Short film – Drama.

No Dialogue. Maori Karanga with English Subs.

Release 2020.

Written/Directed by Kath Akuhata- Brown

Produced by Verity Mackintosh, Julian and Becs Arahanga

OFFICIAL SELECTION:

2022: Short Circuit Pacific Rim Film Festival

2021: Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival, Wairoa Māori Film Festival

2020: Melbourne Women in Film Festival, NZIFF Whanau Marama, Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Market Catalogue.

When ambitious song-smith Melody joins the Ministry of Jingle, a Government team that creates public safety jingles, she begins to drown, quite literally, in rising floodwaters, and a tsunami of work and climate anxiety.

SHORT FILM

Writer/Director: Maddie Dai

Exc Prod: Carthew Neal

Producer: Verity Mackintosh