MAORI CO-OPERATION IN MAKING FILM

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 309, 21 March 1928, Page 16

MAORI CO-OPERATION IN MAKING FILM

PICTORIAL RECORD OF ANCIENT CUSTOMS ( From Our Own Correspondent.) ROTORUA, To-day. A meeting which will play an important part in the making of the big Maori picture by Universal Pictures Corporation, was held in the Native Land Court chambers at Rotorua. Sir Apirana Ngata, the Rev. F. A. Bennett, Archdeacon Williams, Dr, E. P. Ellison, Mr. Tai Mitchell, Mr. Page Rowe; and Mr. Hamilton, representative of the Maori Ethnological and Arts and Crafts Boards, journeyed from their respective localities to meet Mr. Alexander Marky, who has come to New Zealand specially to make the picture. Mr. Marky spoke for an hour and a half, after which he withdrew, at his own suggestion, to allow the meeting to talk the prospect over. He was eventually called in and informed that the assembly was greatly impressed with the theme and object of his picture and that he could rely upon the utmost support from the entire Maori race. Mr. Marky was so moved by the kindness and generosity displayed that he has offered to present the Maori 'race with copies of the completed film to be kept as a permanent pictorial record of old Maori customs and a valuable reference for Maori generations of the future.