February 19, 2022

Araatika! Rise Up

“… a warming and compelling watch…” Luke Buckmaster

An intimate portrait of a man driven to share his culture with the world. In 2012, a group of Indigenous NRL players including Dean Widders, Preston Campbell, Timana Tahu and George Rose came together to develop a pre-game ceremony that would be a response to New Zealand’s much loved, universally recognised and hugely respected haka. Rather than simply taking an existing dance, the players came up with a series of movements that reflected cultural symbols – the clan, the warrior, the boomerang, the spear. They concluded their new dance with a moment of reflection to show that, in Indigenous culture, the silences are as important as the words. Now they want to take the performance to the world.