The indigenous drama "Cousins" from Māori filmmaking duo Ainsley Gardiner and Briar Grace-Smith made its U.S. debut in Hawaiʻi over the weekend ahead of its Netflix premiere on July 22.
The story centers on three Māori cousins whose lives diverge over the course of several decades after one of them is taken from her family and raised away from her culture and community.
The history of Māori children being taken away from their families doesn’t get a lot of attention in New Zealand, says Māori writer and actress Briar Grace-Smith. The co-director of "Cousins" says the film’s release has sparked conversations about this often-unspoken history.
"People started to stand up and talk about their grandmothers being taken and the repercussions that it had on them," says Grace-Smith. "But I hadn’t realized until the film came out how common that it was and how much it affected us."
"Cousins" explores this history through the eyes of three Māori cousins – Makareta, Missy, and Mata – whose lives take different paths after one cousin, Mata, is removed from her family.
"For me, it is the experience of growing up away from culture," says Māori filmmaker Ainsley Gardiner who co-directed the film. Gardiner says she drew on her own experience growing up in a middle-class, pākeha or white New Zealander family.
"Just having this yearning and longing for something that I didn't even understand, which over my years, I have realized is a yearning for the land and culture that lives in our bones," says Gardiner.
"Cousins" debuted at number one in New Zealand earlier this year, and has already become one of the country’s top 20 grossing films of all time.
Native Hawaiian filmmaker ʻĀina Paikai says the time is right for stories of historical injustice told through an indigenous lens.
"I feel like Hollywood and American storytelling has definitely opened its mind to more diverse stories. I think there’s a definite hunger," says Paikai. "And so them breaking ground and getting into the Netflix realm, I was very proud of all of them and hope to follow in their footsteps."
Hawaiʻi State Film Commissioner Donne Dawson says the #MeToo and Black Lives Matter movements helped create that hunger in the film industry for the voices of "other."
"Hollywood is paying attention. Studios are paying attention. They are wanting very much to take a hard look at themselves as to what they are doing to kind of elevate these voices."Donne Dawson, Hawaiʻi State Film Commissioner
Dawson says the success of "Cousins" on streaming platforms like Netflix could be a game-changer for not only Māori filmmakers but all indigenous filmmakers.
"With all of these streaming platforms taking hold and this insatiable demand largely created by the pandemic, this insatiable demand for digital content, it is a wide-open field right now," says Dawson.
HPR's The Conversation also interviewed the filmmaking duo Ainsley Gardiner and Briar Grace-Smith. Click here to listen to that interview.
