Filmmaker Taika Waititi and Piki Films (“Jojo Rabbit,” “The Breaker Upperers”) have announced three projects with Maori writers from New Zealand – each will offer an indigenous eye on the effects of colonisation.
The first is expected to be a film adaptation of Tina Makereti’s novel “The Imaginary Lives of James Poneke” about a curious Maori teen who adventures to London in the 1840s to appear as a live exhibit amongst Maori artefacts. Initially, he enjoys the attention and hedonism of London but soon discovers he cannot get past being labelled as a savage.
The second is a film adaptation of Angella Dravid’s award-winning stand-up comedy show “Down the Rabbit Hole” which tells her story of running away to marry a man three times her age on the other side of the world, before landing in a female British prison, a place where she inadvertently and ironically, finds herself. Briar Grace-Smith will write and direct.
The third is Michael Bennett and Jane Holland’s television crime thriller “Better the Blood” which follows an obsessive Maori detective as she hunts down an indigenous serial killer revenging the wrongs of New Zealand’s colonisers.
The projects will be developed by producers Carthew Neal and Morgan Waru.
Source: Variety
