Cannes award ‘dedicated to Ōtaki’

Cannes award ‘dedicated to Ōtaki’

An award at Cannes for the Māoriland Film Festival was an award for Ōtaki, says festival founder Libby Hakaraia.

Libby told Ōtaki Today from Toronto that she never expected the win, which was the prestigious Global Production Award for Social and Economic Impact. It was presented at the 2025 Global Production Awards on May 20.

“We were stunned by the win as we were up against some very impressive finalists,” she said. “I hadn’t prepared a speech, but there was a really great response in the room.

“As I walked towards the podium I saw the picture of Raukawa Marae and all of our kaimahi in front of our wharenui, and I knew I wanted to dedicate the award to Ōtaki.”

Libby said the judges were impressed by the community building and global reach of Māoriland, the film industry training programmes and the productions Māoriland had created.

“They were impressed with the economic benefit that Māoriland has created.”

She said the award brought even more attention to Māoriland – and not only to the Māoriland Film Festival.

“In Cannes we were pitching the projects we have in Māoriland Films. We had a lot of very positive meetings about our slate of feature films, which includes Taniwha and seven other feature films that have been developed with global Indigenous mentors in the Māoriland Indigenous Collab programme.”

With her at Cannes was Tainui Stephens, the producer of Taniwha and a lead mentor of the Collab programme, and Maddy Hakaraia de Young, Māoriland Film Festival director.

Maddy said at Cannes that the award was affirmation that “the world was not only excited to hear our stories – they’re energised by the way we work and communicate.

“We are here to do business, to grow the reach and impact of our stories, and to generate new opportunities for Māori and Indigenous creatives, our collaborators, whānau and community.”

In a statement, the Cannes Global Production Awards said the awards shone a spotlight on international leaders who were redefining the screen industry through innovation, sustainability, and meaningful impact.

Also receiving an award at Cannes – the Impact Leadership Award – was Craig Gainsborough of Greenlit. The company creates tools to help Aotearoa screen productions implement environmentally sustainable processes. Māoriland has supported Greenlit from its inception.

Libby and other members of the Māoriland team were in Toronto for the ImagineNATIVE Film Festival, along with the 15 Māori filmmakers involved in the collaborative programme.

Libby is tumu whakarae of Māoriland Charitable Trust, director of Taniwha and writer/director of one of the films in the Māoriland Indigenous Collab programme called Disco Kuini.