I’ve seen many movies over the last two years. Nothing I saw inspired me with enough words to express how I felt about what I was seeing… until I saw Taratoa Stappard’s Maori gothic horror film Mārama. A stunning feature film debut that examines female rage, ancestral bonds, and reclaimed indigeneity in post-colonial England.
Continue reading “‘Mārama’ is a Māori Horror Thriller That Will Chill You to the Bone”
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”