Māoriland Charitable Trust

Māoriland Charitable Trust operate the Māoriland Film Festival out of the Māoriland Hub in Ōtaki.

Wellington

The Māoriland Charitable Trust is a Māori led independent trust based in Ōtaki.

Our purpose is to improve the social, economic and educational opportunities to Māori youth and the wider community of Otaki by means of screening indigenous films and organizing NZ wide activities such as filmmaking workshops.

We operate an annual Indigenous International film festival in Otaki New Zealand named Maoriland Film Festival that is both a commercial and critical success. Over the past five year, it has grown to be an internationally and nationally known film festival.

In October 2017 Māoriland Charitable Trust established the Māoriland Hub, a multi-purpose cinema and arts hub with workshop spaces and a community garden and outdoor event space. Both the Māoriland Hub and The Māoriland Film Festival promote education, collaboration and social cohesion. Youth are a key focus as is the up-skilling of a large volunteer group in areas as diverse as event management and guest hosting. These skills open up national and international opportunities including employment and social entrepreneurship.

More about us

Māoriland believes in a world where Māori and Indigenous storytelling is celebrated, empowered and central to cultural, social, and economic wellbeing.

Our mission is to support and uplift Māori and Indigenous creative expression through film, arts, and technology - creating opportunities for young people, artists, and communities to connect, grow, and thrive locally and globally.

Māoriland Charitable Trust operates from the Māoriland Hub in Ōtaki, a centre of Excellence in Māori and Indigenous Screen and Creative Arts.

Māoriland is a Māori-led organisation grounded in a holistic, kaupapa Māori worldview. We believe in the power of the arts to uplift, connect, and transform lives.

We deliver a year-round ecosystem of events and programmes that support artists to thrive, share their stories, and grow their practice. Our marquee event, the Māoriland Film Festival is the world's largest celebration of Indigenous cinema.

Through these activities, we contribute to a vibrant global Indigenous creative sector and a future where communities thrive socially, culturally, and economically.

Māoriland is nurturing a generation of confident, connected storytellers - strengthening cultural identity, improving wellbeing, and building a more inclusive Aotearoa.

Our social investment through the Māoriland Film Festival alone delivered $23 million into the local community (2014-2024).

Our activities are guided by the pou, the ridgepoles that underpin all our activities; koakoa, ohooho, manaakitanga & kōtahitanga.