Ep 080: Mārama: Māori gothic horror and the trauma of colonialization and cultural theft

We had the pleasure of interviewing Writer-Director Taratoa Stappard about Mārama, his first feature film, which premiered at TIFF, where we first saw it. Mārama is a Māori gothic horror set in Victorian England in 1859, about a young Māori woman who is summoned from New Zealand to North Yorkshire, where she uncovers the horrific truth of her colonial heritage, and she must destroy the titled Englishman who has devastated her family.

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Today’s conversation dived into the inspiration for Mārama and how its themes of colonization, cultural theft, and reclaimation are told through a Māori lens. We also discussed how important it was to weave cultural safety through every part of the making of Mārama - from development through to daily on-set practice and how to preserve your mental health when working on films with sensitive subject matters.

CONTENT WARNING: trauma, death, suicide

And here is the final song of the film by Taratoa's mother, Hannah Tatana:

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Music: Deppisch
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ABOUT OUR GUEST

TARATOA STAPPARD / Director & Writer
Iwi (tribal) affiliations: Ngāti Toa, Ngāti Raukawa, Ngāti Tuwharetoa

Writer-Director Taratoa Stappard was born in Aotearoa New Zealand. His mother is Māori (Ngāti Toa, Ngāti Raukawa me Ngāti Tūwharetoa) and his father was English.

Taratoa recently completed his first feature, MĀRAMA, a Māori Gothic drama, set in Victorian England, 1859. MĀRAMA received initial development in the 2019 Edinburgh I.F.F. ‘Talent Lab.’ After a treatment funding award from the B.F.I., his story was selected for development in the year-long 2020 imagineNATIVE Indigenous Screenwriting Intensive program, supported by Netflix. MĀRAMA was chosen for further development in the 2021 Toronto I.F.F. ‘Writers’ Studio’, the inaugural 2021 ‘Black List New Zealand Project’, and the 2022 Zurich F.F. ‘Academy’. MĀRAMA was an Official Project in the 2023 Berlinale Co-Production Market.

In 2021, he directed his half-hour script, Taumanu (Reclaim), in Aotearoa for TVNZ's anthology of supernatural, indigenous stories, Beyond the Veil.

In 2020, Taratoa received a John Brabourne Award to write a feature version of Emkhatsini (Between), inspired by the world of his short film of the same name, which he made in the Kingdom of Eswatini, a.k.a. Swaziland. Emkhatsini is an alternate-afterlife road-trip movie that journeys from Eswatini to the wild coastline of Mozambique. It’s a joyous, surreal story about dying... and then surviving. Taratoa was awarded the ‘Final Draft’ Fellowship to participate with Emkhatsini in the 2022 Stowe Story Labs Writers’ Retreat in Cambria, California.

Taratoa’s short films have screened in festivals including Angers Premiers Plans, Aspen, Busan, BFI London, Edinburgh, Encounters, FIFO Tahiti, and Māoriland. They have all been acquired for broadcast (BBC2, BBC3, Film4, SVT, and Canal+).

He lives in London, works in Aotearoa, and speaks French and German.

ABOUT MARAMA:

When a young Māori woman is summoned from New Zealand to North Yorkshire, she uncovers her horrific colonial heritage and is compelled to confront and destroy the titled Englishman who devastated her family.

MĀRAMA was developed with support from the New Zealand Film Commission, imagineNATIVE, The Black List, Toronto I.F.F., Zurich I.F.F., and the Berlinale Co-Production Market.

The film was made with support from the New Zealand Film Commission, NZ On Air, Whakaata Māori, and Images & Sound.