MĀRAMA: Film Screening & Director Talanoa | Pasifika Fest UK 2026

🎬 Mārama: Film Screening & Director Talanoa 🎬
📍 Great Hall

Experience one of the most talked-about films to emerge from Aotearoa New Zealand in recent years.

Mārama, the acclaimed directorial debut of Taratoa Stappard, is a bold Māori Victorian gothic horror that explores a dark chapter in history, when Māori people, culture and taonga were collected, traded and exoticised as curiosities of the colonial world.

Visually striking, thought-provoking and deeply unsettling, Mārama challenges audiences to confront the legacies of colonisation through a uniquely Māori lens.

Following the screening, stay for an exclusive talanoa with Taratoa Stappard as he discusses the inspiration behind the film, the creative process, and the conversations it has sparked across Aotearoa and beyond.

🎥 Exclusive festival screening
🌿 A bold Māori perspective on history and identity
🗣️ Post-screening talanoa with director Taratoa Stappard
✨ One of Aotearoa's most exciting new cinematic voices

A powerful film. A vital conversation. An unmissable festival experience. 🌊🎬✨

Info: Join us as we open the festival with a traditional Māori powhiri ceremony. Layered with music, haka, speech and song, we’ll be guided by David Jones, a knowledge-holder of Te Ao Māori, who will guide us through what will be a moving experience.

Info: Throughout both days of the festival, come and check out our marketplace, Fale Pasifika, and meet some of our talented artists, makers, designers, creators, and businesses. It’s designed to be somewhere between a bustling town market, curated gallery, and village gathering space.

Info: ***FREE COMMUNITY WORKSHOP*** The poi, a ball attached to a woven chord, is one of the key components of Pacific performance, designed to be both visually spectacular, while providing rhythm and beat to performance, here you have a chance to weave your own and learn how to use it with Ngāti Rānana, the London Māori club.

Info: Join Tony-award winning musical star Keala Settle, whose powerhouse
vocals have provided the soundtrack for films including The Greatest Showman and Wicked, as well as Broadway and West End productions of Les Miserables, Waitress and Hands on a Hardboy. She’ll be here for a discussion about her life and work, and a special performance from Māori singers from West End's Hamilton.

Info: How can Pacific communities hold true to their identity and values, while making it big globally? Could it be the secret for business success? How do you go global while remaining connected to your island home and values? Join the Ambassador for Samoa to the EU and UK, Francella Strickland, in conversation with Sina Wendt ONZM (Pasifika leader and governance strategists) with more special guests to be announced.

Info: Ura Tabu is a leading Pacific dance collective, based in Aotearoa New Zealand. They specialise in siva, the spectacular dance that mimics the flows of nature. They’ve flown over especially for Pasifika Fest UK 2026, and they’ll lead a workshop to teach you how to do it. It’s not to be missed!

Info: ***FREE COMMUNITY WORKSHOP*** Learn the fundamentals of hula! Engage with Hawaiian movement and storytelling traditions with this community workshop. Designed for all levels of experience, come and give it a go!

Info: Mārama, described as Māori Victorian gothic horror, is the directorial debut of Taratoa Stappard, a bold film that interrogates an era of history where Māori culture and people were collected and traded as romantic curios. Join us for an exclusive screening of this film that’s taken New Zealand by storm, and then stay for a discussion with Taratoa Stappard.

Info: Blending the grandeur of an opera gala with a distinct Pacific flair, Classical Coconuts combines artistry, humour, storytelling and emotion in a playful and very special performance. Come and see classical music reshaped in a uniquely Pacific style.

Info: ***FREE COMMUNITY WORKSHOP*** Start your Sunday with a communal workshop that blends performance, learning and spirituality. We’ll learn the Māori waiata, “Wairua Tapu” – sacred spirit – paired with New Zealand sign language to open our second day.

Info: Throughout both days of the festival, come and check out our marketplace, Fale Pasifika, and meet some of our talented artists, makers, designers, creators, and businesses. It’s designed to be somewhere between a bustling town market, curated gallery, and village gathering space.

Info: ***FREE COMMUNITY WORKSHOP*** This one’s for the kids. Explore traditional Māori weaving with Kōhanga Reo o Rānana, a London-based Māori language nest for children. Immersive, fun, and practical, we’ll learn about weaving in Māori life, and be able to give it a go yourself.

Info: Mat Blak is a Māori chef who has well and truly made a name for himself in London, working at some of the city’s major restaurants for some of the biggest names, now carving his own path as he blends fine dining with his passion for Māori ingredients and food. Join Mat as he reflects on his identity, the importance of food for community, and his ongoing reclamation of identity.

Info: In Aotearoa, to greet someone, you would say “Kia ora.” In the Cook Islands, it’s “Kia Orana”, in Tahiti, “Ia Orana”. The languages of the Pacific are all deeply related. Join us to find out more about the languages, there’s something for everyone. Hosted by a special guest speaker.

Info: Haka is one of the most recognisable displays of Māori culture around the world. But what is its origin and meaning? How is it used beyond the rugby field, as a living practice that reaches from the past and into the present? David Jones will lead an immersive haka workshop, where he’ll explore storytelling, distinctions, expression, and its movement and rhythm. Not to be missed.

Info: Su'a Tyla Vaeau is a master tattooist, the first woman to be gifted the sacred ‘au from one of Samoa’s leading tattooing families, the Sa Su’a’s. Tyla will introduce Lisa Taouma’s award-winning film that explores the ancient traditions, cultural resurgence and powerful stories - one of which is Tyla’s own - of female tatau across the Pacific. She’ll then hold a discussion about tatau, identity, and the responsibility of carrying a family’s story on your skin.

Info: ***FREE COMMUNITY WORKSHOP***. Gafa is a London-based Samoan arts collective that works across theatre, opera, and cultural storytelling working to break down the walls between what’s considered cultural and contemporary. Join them as they share their talents in a uniquely Pacific workshop.

Info: The past year has been big for analyses of contemporary Māori Art. In 2025, Oscar-nominated producer and director, Chelsea Winstanley, released TOITŪ Visual Sovereignty, a homage to contemporary Indigenous art and a vital examination of its sovereignty. Ahead of the film’s UK premiere, Jamie Tahana, the co-author of a 2026 podcast series, Pūtātara: Revolutions in Māori Art, will present a spellbinding talk on contemporary art in the Pacific, and its intrinsic links with politics, protest, and the Māori renaissance that will include scintillating previews specially prepared by Winstanley.

Info: Wrap up Pasifika Fest UK 2026 with an incredible island-style party! Fiafia night will be a dazzling showcase of Pacific dance, music, performance, community and pride, with performances from UK based dance groups, as well as the internationally-acclaimed Ura Tabu.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Goodenough College, MEET AT LH RECEPTION, London House, London, United Kingdom

Concerts, fests, parties, meetups - all the happenings, one place.

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