Latest news with #RiverQueen
Scoop
04-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Scoop
Epic Tales From Aotearoa New Zealand's Bloody Past Explored Through Film
One of the bloodiest and most contested periods in Aotearoa New Zealand history is explored through film in a new exhibition at the Canterbury Museum Pop-Up. He Riri Awatea: Filming the New Zealand Wars stars a fiery blockbuster, a music video from Kiwi thrash metal band Alien Weaponry and battle scenes filmed across nearly a century. The exhibition offers a fresh take on how stories about Ngā Pakanga o Aotearoa (the New Zealand Wars) have been told on film. It includes clips from films, television and music videos telling stories from the war that raged from 1845 to 1872. Scenes from classic Kiwi films like Utu and River Queen play alongside clips from groundbreaking television shows like The Governor and music videos by artists like Ria Hall. Props, costumes and posters from New Zealand film history also star in the exhibition, including a carved pou and period costumes from River Queen and a film camera used by 1920s Kiwi filmmaker Rudall Hayward. The exhibition's title, He Riri Awatea, means a battle in the daylight. This refers to cinema's primary element – light – but also to how the exhibition casts fresh light on the New Zealand Wars. Co-curator Annabel Cooper said the film clips offer an insight into how Kiwis have reckoned with the conflict over generations. 'The films enable you to see shifts in understandings of those wars, and the dramatic changes in how we think about them, that unfolded from the 1920s to now. This history has been put on screen over the course of almost a century, changing ideas about the New Zealand Wars.' Co-curator Ariana Tikao (Kāi Tahu) said Māori were involved as actors, advisors and crew from the 1920s onwards and later directed and produced films. 'For the Maori involved it was quite a serious undertaking, and a lot of the descendants are very proud of that involvement. As more Māori became involved with different aspects of film making the stories became richer and different perspectives were explored.' The earliest film in the exhibition is The Te Kooti Trail from 1927, which was promoted with the strapline: 'Wild history from New Zealand's scarlet past'. Māori rangitira (leader) Te Kooti Arikirangi Te Turuki was played in the film by Ngāi Tūhoe rangatira Te Pairi Tūterangi who knew the real Te Kooti. 'He'd been with him right through the war,' Annabel says. 'He was very emphatic about certain aspects and details of his portrayal in the film. When people saw him in costume they were really shocked at how much he resembled Te Kooti. I believe it was a memorial act ensuring that he was protecting Te Kooti's reputation and making sure it was a faithful portrayal.' As New Zealand culture changed, so did the way the wars were portrayed on screen. The 1983 film Utu is influenced by contemporary Māori activism and the Springbok tour protests of 1981. 'In Utu, there is a reflection on New Zealand's colonial past. The racial politics of the time were in a process of extraordinary change. Most of the people that worked on the film had an activist background,' Annabel said. Ariana has a personal connection to one of the clips from the exhibition. At the 2017 APRA Silver Scroll Awards, she performed a version of thrash metal band Alien Weaponry's song Raupatu using taonga puoro (traditional Māori musical instruments). The music video for the song appears in the exhibition. 'It felt like a crazy task to be trying to do thrash metal with taonga puoro. But we decided to give an emotional response to that song. When we performed it, Alien Weaponry were sitting in the front row and they stood and performed a haka to us and then we were responding to them. It was powerful.' He Riri Awatea: Filming the New Zealand Wars opens on 9 May at the Canterbury Museum Pop-Up, 66 Gloucester Street. Free entry; donations appreciated. Toured by the New Zealand Portrait Gallery.
Forbes
12-04-2025
- General
- Forbes
Letting Your Rival Up Easy
Painting of The Peacemakers, showing Sherman, Grant, Lincoln, and Porter aboard the River Queen As the Civil War was concluding, Abraham Lincoln met with his top generals and staff aboard the River Queen in Williamsport, Virginia, in late March 1865. Part of this meeting is depicted in the famous painting The Peacemakers. When discussing how to treat the defeated South, Lincoln said that the Union must 'let them up easy.' 'It's a term from wrestling where the idea is once you've got your victory, both sides sort of know who won, who lost, and you stand up and you basically show grace to the defeated person,' historian and Lincoln biographer Michael Vorenberg told me in an interview about his book, Lincoln's Peace. 'You shake hands, you don't laud your victory, you don't rub it in.' This behavior was something Lincoln demonstrated 'as a young man on the frontier in Illinois [and how] he won his way into the hearts of the community, especially with the tough guys.' The tall and rangy Lincoln, strengthened by physical labor, was an expert wrestler who was not afraid of bullies. And when he bettered them, he would not "beat them up" but instead 'letting them up easy.' Sadly, Lincoln never saw it through because he was assassinated weeks later. However, the lesson of going easy on your adversary rings true today. When our culture is so riven with division, those who can find the strength to rise about the heat of the moment can do much to ensure future peace, even collaboration. That is, enforce and earn peace through kindness. So, taking Lincoln's words as inspiration for a lesson plan, here are some suggestions for finding ways to act upon 'the better angels' of our nature when we find ourselves at odds with those who hold views different from our own. Get the lay of the land. Determine the issues. Look for the root causes of problems and actions that have worked in the past. Ask questions. Understand what people want. Engage them in conversation. Spend more time listening than speaking. Listen to what people are not saying. So often, in intramural squabbles, people have their favorites. For this reason, many people will be reluctant to speak out. Therefore, do not expect straight answers. Look inside for how people react in your presence. Invite everyone to participate. Strive for win-win solutions. Yes, there will be winners, but find ways to make everyone feel welcome and give them a voice in shaping the future. One of my favorite quotes from Winston Churchill is: 'In War: Resolution. In Defeat: Defiance, In Victory: Magnanimity. In Peace: Good Will." When we are emotionally invested in our beliefs, it can be difficult to disentangle emotion from reason. It takes practice and discipline to quell how you feel inside and how you project yourself. In short, the struggle may be hard, but when you win, act with the spirit of grace and goodwill. Click here to watch the full interview with Michael Vorenberg.
Yahoo
12-03-2025
- Yahoo
AuSable River paddle boat sinks near Oscoda
LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) — An Au Sable River paddle boat known as the has sunk while docked outside Oscoba. Laurie Ferguson, part owner of the River Queen, says in a that the boat started sinking Monday afternoon and now rests on the bottom of the river. Ferguson says in the post that the Queen has been an important tourist attraction in the Oscoba and Au Sable area since 1966. 'COVID affected us because we lost all our bus groups. It's been an uphill struggle, especially because it is only a season business,' said Ferguson in the Facebook post. , a Michigan travel website, says the Queen is the only paddlewheel riverboat operating in northern Michigan. Furguson warns that the boat may roll over on its side because there is a sharp increase in river depth nearby. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
