Taratoa Stappard’s feature film debut, Mārama, starts playing in theaters in the U.S. on Friday, April 17. Having had its world premiere at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival, it’s a Māori Gothic horror set in the mid-19th century, where a young Māori woman (Ariāna Gibson) travels to Yorkshire, England in search of information about her birth parents. However, when she uncovers a dark colonial history, she must take vengeance into her own hands.

Continue reading “‘Mārama’ Writer and Director on the Making of the Emotional Horror”