Writer-director Taratoa Stappard is an artist who tells stories of his lineage, and his latest film, “Mārama,” is a tribute to the ancestral women who risked it all to do the same during a much more oppressive time.
In the Victorian-era horror-revenge film, now available on VOD via Dark Sky Films and Watermelon Pictures, Mārama (Ariāna Osborne) is a young Māori woman compelled to travel from New Zealand to England with the promise of information about her heritage. Mārama, who was separated early from her parents, jumps at the opportunity, but is soon given a strange offer by a British Māori enthusiast (Toby Stephens), who says the letter writer has died, but she might as well stay and be the governess for his daughter. Dark visions and secrets quickly come to light, as Mārama grapples with her heritage in the shadow of colonizers.
Stappard, born in New Zealand to a Māori mother and a British father, smiles warmly while telling stories about his great-grandmother and her identical twin sister, who were also born of an English father and a Māori mother. They were expelled from several schools by 1896 at just 16 years old, and followed their hearts to do traditional performances at a time when celebrating their people was frowned upon in society.
