Saving Grace, Te Whakarauora Tangata

Ebony Society

D: Tammy Davis

New Zealand 2011, 13 min, English subtitles

Vinnie and Jonah are up to no good, roaming the streets of Auckland at Christmas. While breaking into a house, the two young men are confronted by an unexpected situation that requires tender handling.

Saving Grace, Te Whakarauora Tangata

D: Merata Mita

New Zealand 2011, 86 min, English subtitles

In Saving Grace, Te Whakarauora Tangata, director Merata Mita asks Maori men to front up to some grim realities by talking openly and honestly about the violence and abuse that has plagued their communities for many years. The film is a personal response to this violence, with Mita making a case for a return to an older model of Maori manhood, when men were the ones who sweetly sang the children to sleep. Sadly, Mita was not able to see the film finished - she died suddenly in 2010 at the age of 68. She was one of Indigenous cinema’s foremost figures, her entire body of work enwrought with her passionate belief in Maori rights and culture.