City Gallery

Past event

Film Screening: Protest Movement Documentary Double Feature

10 June 2017

Introduced by Sharon Hawke, daughter of Bastion Point occupation leader Joe Hawke.

Te Matakite o Aotearoa: The Māori Land March
1975, Dir. Geoff Steven, 1hr

This powerful documentary tracks the 1975 hīkoi led by Dame Whina Cooper, protesting the ongoing alienation of Māori land. The march began on 13 September from Kapo Wairua and from Te Hapua Marae, New Zealand's northern-most marae, and concluded at Parliament Buildings in Wellington one month later.

Bastion Point: Day 507 
1980, Dir. Merata Mita, Leon Narbey and Gerd Pohlmann, 27min

This film documents the occupation of Bastion Point/Takaparawhā in the struggle for Māori land rights. The protest began in 1977 when the government proposed to subdivide Māori land. Ngāti Whātua people occupied the land, built living areas and planted crops. The film concentrates on the 507th day of the occupation, when protesters were forcibly evicted by police and armed forces, and features interviews with occupation leader Joe Hawke. No other film crew was permitted in the occupied area.

Screening takes place at Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision, corner of Ghuznee and Taranaki Streets. 

Part of a film programme exploring New Zealand race relations in the 1960s and 1970s. A joint project with Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision in association with Colin McCahon: On Going Out with the Tide.