Kaea in Taiwan

In January 2020 Kaea Hakaraia-Hosking travelled to Taiwan as a facilitator for the Māoriland Film Festival Through Our Lens initiative.  Kaea was there to connect with the indigenous youth of Taiwan and guide them through the process of showcasing their own stories through film.

Kaea was part of a group of four Rangatahi from around Aotearoa, aged between 14 and 24, who were chosen to go to Taiwan.  A second group travelled to Finland and two further groups are currently preparing to head to Greenland and Canada. The idea behind Through Our Lens, which is a Māoriland Charitable Trust kaupapa, is connecting Indigenous Rangatahi globally, enabling them to create screen stories from their perspective as Indigenous young people for the world. The films made in Taiwan and Finland, which have already been showcased in the countries where they were made, will have their New Zealand premiere at the upcoming Māoriland Film Festival. 

Kaea ran two, three day workshops during her 11 days in Taiwan.  She said that there were a few hiccups along the way with the first workshop, but in the following workshop they were able to get to the heart of the process and really connect with the Taiwanese youth.  They assisted their new Taiwanese friends by helping them come up with ideas about what they wanted to film and then teaching them the filming techniques they needed to best capture their stories.  

She said that it was an amazing experience which gave her an understanding of both the similarities and the differences between the indigenous cultures of Taiwan and that of home.  Understanding the connections between the two was a great learning experience.

We look forward to Kaea putting her skills into action again here at College and running a workshop with a group of our students with the intent of producing a film to be entered in next year’s Māoriland Film Festival.