WIFTNZ member Kim Webby has a new film screening at DocEdge this month called Unlikely Kin.
The film will screen on Matariki holiday as part of Doc Edge Festival, July 10 at 2pm at Auckland's Capital Cinema, then a screening in Wellington on July 20 and in Christchurch on August 2nd.
Tickets available HERE.
Whales, trees, and kinship beyond species.
Filmed over five years, the film follows elder Hori Parata (Ngāti Wai) and his son Te Kaurinui as they lead the sacred practice of harvesting stranded whales—not for consumption, but to honour whakapapa and revive traditional medicine used to treat kauri dieback, a disease killing New Zealand’s ancient trees. Alongside this, the filmmakersfollow their conservation work protecting the kiore, the Polynesian rat that arrived in Aotearoa with the great Māori migration. Interweaving themes of kinship between species, cultural survival, and Māori-led conservation, the film offers rare access to a sacred world where whales, forests, and even rats are revered as living ancestors.
Made with the support of NZ On Air, RNZ, New Zealand Film Commission, Pacific Islander in Communication.