DEGANZ Watch List: Māori Stories on the Big and Small Screen
This week’s DEGANZ Watch List features Māori stories on both the big and small screen.
While local drama web series Ahikāroa is heating up with its seventh season, new docuseries, Earth Oven with Temuera Morrison, digs deep to explore how indigenous cultures from around the globe have used thermal cooking. Meanwhile, if you missed the chance to see Chelsea Winstanley’s directorial debut, TOITŪ: Visual Sovereignty, at this year’s Whānau Mārama NZIFF, you can catch it in cinemas across the mōtu now.
Find out more about how DEGANZ members are involved below!
Ahikāroa
Bilingual Drama Web Series
Shadow Director: Te Waiarangi Ratana
Co-Editor: Jack Woon
Storyliners: Onehou Strickland and Te Waiarangi Ratana
Ahikāroa is back for its seventh season, picking up on all the drama from last season’s cliffhanger. Check out the latest episodes following the lives of urban-based rangatahi in Aotearoa.
Earth Oven with Temuera Morrison
Documentary Series
Editor: Ben Wildish
Director of Photography: Mike Jonathan
Temuera Morrison is hungry, and he’s using his favourite kai as a vehicle to head off on a globe-trotting adventure. Tem will visit indigenous communities from all around the world to uncover how earth ovens have shaped their cultures.
TOITŪ: Visual Sovereignty
Documentary Feature
Editors: Cushla Dillon, Brendon Chan, and Huhana Ruri-Panapa
Director of Photography: Mike Jonathan
TOITŪ: Visual Sovereignty, the debut directorial feature from Academy Award-nominated producer Chelsea Winstanley, goes behind the scenes of the largest Māori art exhibition in Aotearoa New Zealand’s history. Following curator Nigel Borell’s vision for Toi Tū Toi Ora: Contemporary Māori Art, the film captures both its record-breaking success and the behind-the-scenes conflicts that arise when Indigenous sovereignty challenges institutional power. Featuring rare access and the voices of celebrated artists such as Shane Cotton, Emily Karaka, Taika Waititi, Brett Graham, Ngahina Hohaia, the Mataaho Collective and Reuben Paterson, this is a powerful portrait of cultural resilience and authorship.
TOITŪ: Visual Sovereignty is out in local cinemas now! Find a screening near you here.
Last updated on 26 November 2025
