Te Whakawhitinga follows the journey of a young man who enlists in the army, leaving his home and family farm in the far north to begin his military training in Te Waipounamu. The film travels across time as well as location, from World War Two to the present, and narrates his discovery of further thresholds beyond the physical he needs to cross and overcome. 

Using 16mm footage for the first time, the landscape of Waitaha and Ka Tiritiri-o-te-Moana are both backdrop and characters in the film, as we learn of the challenges of finding one’s feet in a new place, surrounded by new people. With Jeremy Leatinu’u’s work, we are invited to slow down and listen to intimate stories that speak of encounter and change, stories that open up much bigger conversations about interrelationships, our histories and the futures we want to make.

Ka whai te kiriata o Te Whakawhitinga i te haerenga o tētahi taitama kua uru ki te ope tauā. Mahue mai ana tana kāinga me te pāmu o te whānau i Te Tai Tokerau e whakangungua ai ia ki ngā rākau riri i Te Waipounamu. Ka tarawhiti te kiriata nei i te wā me te wāhi, mai i Te Riri Tuarua o Te Ao taka rawa ki tēnei wā. Ka kōrerotia tana kite i ngā pae o waho i te ao tangata hei takahi māna.

I whakamahia te rīpene 16mm mō te wā tuatahi. Tū mai ana ngā tūtohu o Waitaha, o Ngā Tiritiri-o-te-moana hei horanuku, hei kiripuaki anō hoki i te kiriata nei. Ka kite haere tātou i ngā taumahatanga o te whai tūranga i tētahi whenua tauhou, i tētahi hunga tauhou. Mā te toi nei a Jeremy Leatinu’u me āta whakarongo, me āta wānanga tātou i ngā pūrākau o te tūtakitaki, o te whanake, o te whakawhanaunga, o te kōrero o nehe, o te wawata.

Cinematography: Ian Powell

Editors: Jeremy Leatinu’u, Ian Powell

Sound design: John Gray

Composer: Tim Prebble

Narration: Hunaara Kaa (Ngāti Porou), Alvie Poata McKree (Ngāpuhi, Ngati Kahu ki Whangaroa)

Translation: Jeremy Leatinu’u, Alvie Mckree