Pacific films

The Wairoa Māori Film Festival kicked off in Hawkes Bay and will feature a cohort of emerging Pacific film-makers. 

Director Leo Kolziol says Pacific film-makers are forging their own pathways and creating a big demand on the international film festival circuit.

"There's the Hawai'i International Film Festival and they are hungry for films made by Pasifika film-makers," he says.

The 22-year-old, Kate Percival, has an internship at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C. which begins in February for three months.

Ms Percival said she is expected to research and write descriptions of what's taking place in Pacific films.

"This Pacific film archiving is part of the larger project, which is about preserving and celebrating indigenous knowledge. They've been doing it for a lot of different geographical areas I guess, and the film medium of the Pacific is just a smaller part of that," said Kate Percival.