Mārama will represent New Zealand in the International Feature Film race at the 99th Oscars. The New Zealand Film Commission confirmed the choice in October, putting Taratoa Stappard’s debut feature forward as the country’s submission, not an Oscar nominee.
The film sends a young Māori woman from Aotearoa to North Yorkshire in 1859, looking for answers about her family. She becomes a governess in a wealthy whaler’s household, where stolen Māori treasures and disturbing discoveries turn the search for her past into a fight for survival.
Ariāna Osborne leads the cast alongside Toby Stephens and Umi Myers. The 89-minute feature is performed in English and te reo Māori, bringing the language of Aotearoa into the rooms of an English country house.
Stappard, who also wrote the film, describes it as a “Māori gothic love letter” to his land and ancestors, made to reclaim history through a Māori lens. His first feature had its world premiere in Toronto’s Discovery programme in 2025.
