Kōkā puts Māori storytelling, healing, and Matariki at the heart of its journey

RNZ News

15 hours ago

Kōkā, directed by Kath Akuhata-Brown (Ngāti Porou), follows the journey of two wāhine - a kuia named Hamo (Hinetu Dell) and a troubled young woman, Jo (Darneen Christian)- who form an 'unlikely' bond on a road trip across Aotearoa.
Photo:
Kirsty Griffin
A new feature film weaving together Māori storytelling, intergenerational healing, and the significance of Matariki has hit the big screens today, offering Aotearoa a moving experience grounded in te ao Māori.
Kōkā
, directed by Kath Akuhata-Brown (Ngāti Porou), follows the journey of two wāhine - a kuia named Hamo and a troubled young woman, Jo - who form an unlikely bond on a road trip across Aotearoa.
Described by Akuhata-Brown as "a road movie, but a journey that is both physical and metaphysical", the film platforms both mātauranga Māori and the Ngāti Porou dialect.
"I genuinely wanted to create something that showed the world how beautiful being Māori is to me," Akuhata-Brown said.
Akuhata-Brown first wrote
Kōkā
nearly 20 years ago but said now was the perfect time to share it.
"I wanted the world to understand that our existence is so deeply connected to our land and our tīpuna. This doesn't make us a people who live in the past, but a vibrant, connected nation."
The film's release coincides with Matariki, a season of remembrance, renewal, and wānanga. It's also a time that brought Akuhata-Brown closer to mātauranga Māori, she said.
"It wasn't until making the film that I started understanding Matariki's significance to me personally.
"My dad lived by Matariki principles... it was just his way of life. It was all he knew. Everything was alive: pounamu, the stars, the whenua, the awa - all of it was a living entity.
"That's why it became important to me. I started understanding that more during the process of making
Kōkā
."
Kath Akuhata-Brown (Ngāti Porou), wrote Kōkā nearly 20 years ago, but said now was the perfect time to share it.
Photo:
Supplied
Kōkā
stood in deliberate contrast to earlier portrayals of Māori in films like
Once Were Warriors
, Akuhata-Brown said.
Released in 1994 and directed by Lee Tamahori,
Once Were Warriors
follows an urban Māori whānau living in South Auckland and their problems with poverty, domestic violence, and alcoholism, caused by intergenerational trauma, racism, and systemic land loss.
"The intention was to bring elements of healing into the work, to ensure that when people come away from it, they're not traumatised. Because I am so sick of traumatising films," Akuhata-Brown said.
She said the current political climate made it more important than ever to share Māori stories.
"I think if you look through history, the greatest storytellers emerge in the darkest periods. Not just in te ao Māori, but across the world.
"Artists are the soul of the nation. And our souls need some help right now."
Hinetu Dell (Ngāti Porou), plays the lead character Hamo in Kōkā, she said it was "humbling" to be part of a kaupapa that uplifted her people.
Photo:
Kirsty Griffin
Hinetu Dell (Ngāti Porou), who plays the character Hamo, said it was "humbling" to be part of a kaupapa that uplifted her people.
"It's really important for those who live in isolated areas or isolated spaces to see their kind on the screen. It's something they can aspire to and achieve."
She said stepping into the role of Hamo, a kuia deeply rooted in tikanga and whakapapa, felt natural.
"A lot of the experiences that Hamo was going through, I had already experienced in my own life. I was very comfortable with the Māori protocols."
Kōkā
also explored intergenerational trauma and how the restoration of mauri begins through service, connection, and care.
"Hamo serves this girl by doing all the work, catching the kai that's important to young women. Hamo does karakia, and during that whole process, Jo, who has come into this place bruised and battered, is healed," Dell said.
Jo's character was inspired by a real person Akuhata-Brown once met, a young Māori man who had been institutionalised, released into the community, and left to "survive on his own".
"He lived under the Grafton Bridge and used to read the newspaper to see who had passed away, then turn up to their tangi," she said.
"He had no filters, it was quite full on. People were nervous around him. I thought to myself, he's not long for this world. Three years later, his body was found in a ditch."
Akuhata-Brown said she couldn't stop thinking about him.
"My Jo in the film is that Joe. It's to honour him and his life when no one else did."
She said the character served as a reminder of the realities some Māori still face.
"All I know is that someone's life has been given meaning...and that's the truth."
Darneen Christian (Tūhoe, Ngāti Kahungunu, Pitcairn Island), plays Jo, the disconnected and troubled kōtiro in Kōkā.
Photo:
Damien Nikora / graded and delivered by Kirsty Griffin
Darneen Christian (Tūhoe, Ngāti Kahungunu, Pitcairn Island), who plays Jo, said the production was both challenging and rewarding.
"I love that it's touching people who don't know their whakapapa and their culture. It's touching a lot of things people are starting to finally be passionate about and trying to work on."
Like her character, Christian said she had been distant from her Māori whakapapa. But being on set helped her reconnect.
"I teared up at one of our rehearsals and said I can't communicate with you in the language. Everyone was so supportive, I realised I wasn't going to be looked down on."
The film's alignment with Matariki made the experience more meaningful.
"It's a time to release and start again... to leave what has happened behind and welcome what's new."
Dell said the journey of understanding Matariki had also evolved for her.
"Matariki is a word that's very familiar to me in terms of haka and waiata," Dell said.
"Prior to that, we didn't really understand what Matariki really meant until today. The research in terms of Matariki has been instrumental in developing us as a people to go forward."
Actor Te Kohe Tuhaka (Ngāti Porou, Tūhoe), pictured on the right, plays Marcus in the film, a police officer who acts as a protector to Hamo.
Photo:
Supplied
Kōkā
was the first feature film to be shot predominantly in the Ngāti Porou dialect.
The dialogue was developed with local kaumātua, language experts, and Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Porou.
Akuhata-Brown said the language spanned generations, from modern-day reo to expressions once used by Māori Battalion soldiers.
"The language of women is different to the language of men and there's even a Ngāti Porou language of love," she said.
"It's a full range of te reo and it was incredibly important to the filmmaking team that the language create a tapestry of beauty and gorgeousness. I haven't dared touch it."
Actor Te Kohe Tuhaka (Ngāti Porou, Tūhoe), known widely in Aotearoa for his role in
The Dead Lands
, plays Marcus in the film, a police officer who acts as a protector to Hamo.
He said
Kōkā'
s use of reo is empowering but "normal."
"I grew up in a period where I just thought everybody spoke te reo Māori, and English was second, everybody's second language. Which is not the case. Case in point to the current government.
"Everything about te ao Māori is a very normalised thing in my life. That is not to say that I am an expert in any of it. I just know what I know, and I've grown how I've grown."
Tuhaka said an important part of the film is exploring the universal challenges Māori still face today.
"We touch on poverty, we touch on low socio-economic spaces, we touch on the role of the police in the community, we look at the journey of Māori returning back to their maunga, their awa, our versions of manaakitanga.
"The landscape is another massive character and touchstone for us in
Kōkā
."
He said all of these practices and kaupapa exist now.
"To be able to shine a bit of Matariki light, me Puanga, ki runga i ēnei tū āhuatanga, it feels fitting as we head towards our release in Matariki weekend."
Kōkā follows a healing journey of two wāhine - a kuia named Hamo and a troubled young woman, Jo - who form an 'unlikely' bond on a road trip across Aotearoa.
Photo:
Supplied / Kōkā trailer
Filming took place across Te Wai Pounamu, Te Whanganui-a-Tara, and the East Cape - but it was Akuhata-Brown's awa and maunga that anchored the story.
"It couldn't be told anywhere else," she said.
The title Kōkā is specific to Ngāti Porou and is a shortened form of Waiapu Kōkā Huhua, referring to the ancestral Waiapu River.
It can be translated to "matriarch" or "mother of us all".
"It reflects all those female aspects - not just one," Akuhata-Brown said.
"Along the Waiapu riverbanks are marae often led by chiefly women, nurturing all the people who live there."
"The river's flow mirrors the story structure, with all rivers joining the central character Hamo on her journey out to sea," she said.
Akuhata-Brown says the time is "now" for more Māori storytelling.
Photo:
Supplied
All of the film's actors offered words of encouragement to rangatahi, wāhine, and Māori wanting to enter the film industry.
Tuhaka said it was important for aspiring creatives to understand their purpose.
"You have to really know why. Why this industry? Why this craft?" he said.
"We're lucky here in Aotearoa that it's not foreign to dabble in a whole raft of things, in front of the camera, behind the camera. But it's about understanding the 'why' because you'll get more noes than yeses, and the why is what gets you through the no's and lets you really celebrate the yeses," Tuhaka said.
"Kia kaha, kia māia, kia manawanui.
"If this is something you want, go for it. Make mistakes, stand up, and carry on," Dell said.
Christian said the time was right for more Māori voices in film.
"This is the time. The pot's boiling for it...It's the right time to start jumping in."
Kōkā
premieres across Aotearoa this Matariki, Friday, 20 June.