Bookmarks with Chris Hipkins
It's time for Bookmarks where we invite interesting New Zealanders onto the show to discuss their cultural interests
Today Jesse is joined in the Auckland studio by Labour leader Chris Hipkins.
Photo:
RNZ / Angus Dreaver
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How Kōkā put a Matariki twist on the classic road movie
Alex Casey talks to Kōkā director Kath Akuhata-Brown about crafting an intergenerational road movie like no other. On a frantic search for a last minute location on the East Cape, Kath Akuhata-Brown (Ngāti Porou) was driving around aimlessly until a silhouette stopped her dead in their tracks – a single towering pōhutakawa tree atop a giant hill the middle of a field. 'We were standing on the road, and we looked at each other and said 'that's what we need'.' She knocked on the door of the nearest property, introduced herself, and started talking about the details of the film she was making. But, as it turns out, the guy who answered the door just had one big question for her. 'He looked at me and goes 'are you Harry's sister?' I said yes and he said 'OK, you can use it'.' As it turns out, Akuhata-Brown's brother had helped out on the farm years ago, and the man was happy to return the favour between whānau – by welcoming a film crew of over 100 people onto his farm with little notice. This is the kind of generosity that Akuhata-Brown loves to tell about the place she was raised. 'I've always wanted people to know how much I loved the land that I grew up on, how much I loved being Ngāti Porou,' she says. It was that instinct to tell the story of her land that sowed the seed for Kōkā over two decades ago. Following a kuia named Hamo (Hinetu Dell), who picks up a wayward 20-something Jo (Darneen Christian) on her journey up the country, the film is an intergenerational road trip that traverses everywhere from boarded-up small towns to lush green bush to dripping caves. Akuhata-Brown first had the idea at film school in Amsterdam in 2003, but says life and work got in the way. 'Kōkā was always on the back burner though, always waiting,' she laughs. Exploring the experience of different generations of wahine was always at the heart of Kōkā, Akuhata-Brown explains. 'We are very much a matrilineal community and society, so it just made sense.' She met Hinetu Dell on another film set, and knew immediately she was her Hamo (it also helped, in classic Aotearoa fashion, that Dell's mother had been Akuhata-Brown's childhood kapa haka teacher). Darneen Christian was a new mum when she was cast, and the production provided a 'korowai of support' in her own trailer and an onset nanny. It was also essential to Akuhata-Brown that Kōkā's story unfurls on the road, bringing to mind other New Zealand road movies like Goodbye Pork Pie and the upcoming Holy Days. 'I think the road movie genre shows a deeper connection to the land,' she says. 'I wanted the journey to tap into the collective desire we have in Aotearoa for finding those connections between each other, and protecting our land.' It also taps into another shared truth about New Zealanders: 'we are all travellers, for goodness sake – to go anywhere around here you have to fly for 20 hours.' Kōkā began filming in Pōneke, then travelled everywhere from Harihari to Blenheim, Picton to East Cape, to Lane Street studios in Upper Hutt. 'Moving an entire unit across the country was epic, but there was no room for anyone to forget their schedules,' says Akuhata-Brown. Being on location and in the elements also came with its fair share of challenges: 'on the second day of filming, it absolutely persisted down with rain. Everybody's cellphones got drenched and died, all the technology was in trouble because of all the water coming in.' Despite all the hurdles that have arisen over the two decades Kōkā has been taking shape, Akuhata-Brown says the timing has worked out perfectly – the film is released today around the country, right in time for Matariki. 'This is a cosmic journey as well as a physical journey. Our actors are moving across the landscape under the gaze of Matariki and let's just say Matariki has a very significant moment in the film.' Akuhata-Brown also hopes that Kōkā allows people to reflect on the current political environment in Aotearoa, and the importance of celebrating te ao Māori. 'We'll give value to our language and our rangatahi and our elders. I hope people who come to the film walk away having had an experience but also understanding the value of specificity and the value of being Māori,' she says. 'No one wants to be told anything anymore. But if you take people on an emotional journey, they might just come out the other side thinking differently.'
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Bookmarks with Chris Parker
books music about 1 hour ago It was almost 10 years ago that Chris Parker first came on 'Bookmarks'. Back then he'd just won Best Newcomer at the New Zealand International Comedy Festival. It's safe to say he's no longer a newcomer. Since then, he's rarely been off our screens. He's featured regularly on 7 Days, Taskmaster NZ, appeared in films like Baby Done and The Breaker Uppers, and won the prestigious Fred Award for his stand-up. He's just kicked off his latest tour, 'Stop Being So Dramatic!', which still has 8 more stops around the country.
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Heading Off: Cuba
This afternoon in 'Heading Off' Jesse jets to Cuba. It's a country known for its vibrant culture as well as its complex political history. But there's got to be more to it than vintage cars and cigars - what is it actually like to travel there? RNZ's Tony Stamp has first-hand experience, and he joins Jesse to share the ins and outs. Drivers in Cuba must pick up hitchhikers. Photo: Unsplash
