Merata Mita
Merata Mita is a key figure in the story of Māori filmmaking. Through documentaries, interviews and her only dramatic feature Mauri, she was a passionate voice for Māori, and an advocate for social change. A passionate advocate for Māori creative control, director Merata Mita (1942 — 2010) chronicled landmark moments of protest and division in Aotearoa. Her work included Patu!, a documentary on the 1981 Springbok tour, and Mauri (1988), only the second feature to have a Māori woman as director. She features in documentaries Merata: How Mum Decolonised the Screen and Merata Mita – Making Waves.
(Biography courtesy of New Zealand On Screen.)
