The director of a Māori film festival says it is inspiring a "new generation of storytellers".
The Māoriland Film Festival starts next week in Ōtaki and runs for five days, showcasing films produced by indigenous film-makers from Aotearoa and around the globe.
The festival is in its second year and its director, Libby Hakaraia, said a big feature this year are movies made by Māori school students.
"We had 87 tamariki that were hand-picked from nine different kura from Porirua through to Tūwharetoa come and do film-making workshops in Ōtaki a couple of weeks ago with the film-makers", said Ms Hakaraia.
"And those films have come in and I have to say I'm really quite stunned at what they've been able to achieve in just a short time.
"So I think we've got a whole generation of storytellers that are excited about seeing their own films."
Some of the films will be shown during the E Tū Whānau Rangatahi Film Awards on Thursday next week.
Ms Hakaraia said the festival included indigenous movies from Australia, Canada, Hawaii, the United States, Peru, Siberia, and the Saami Nation from northern Scandinavia.
