Image credit: Still from Waerea Mokotron, Stevei Houkāmau and Simon Ward.
‘In time, like te ao marama emerging out of te pō, mourning gives way to dreaming.’
- Moana Jackson
Mana Moana 2025 is returning with the rise of Puanga on the 7th of June every weekend through to Matariki weekend on the 22nd of June at Whairepo Lagoon in Te Whanganui a Tara.
The films this year have been curated by Israel Randell (Rarotonga, Tainui, Ngāti Kahungunu) and are guided by the wise words of Moana Jackson’s: ‘In time, like te ao marama emerging out of te pō, mourning gives way to dreaming.’ Randell says her curatorial direction has been informed by the 50th anniversary of the land march led by Whina Cooper and how that time is mirrored again with our recent largest hīkoi ever to parliament.
This sense of return to the past brings grief – as is tika at this time of remembrance. What Puanga ki Matariki also offers us is hope and the space to pause and dream our future into being.
Join us in the dream space of the water screen as the stories of Te Moana Nui a Kiwa wash in and reverberate into the city of political decision making, the city of change. Let them awaken the spirit of kōtahitanga, the call for unity and collective transformation. Gather with us as we honour the things we are grieving and make space for our collective dreaming.