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RAI FILM Festival takes place on 27-30 March 2025. Learn more.

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Ever The Land

Directed by Sarah Grohnert

2015 – 93'

Synopsis

This film explores the bond between people and their land through a landmark architectural undertaking by one of New Zealand’s most passionately independent Maori tribes, Ngāi Tūhoe. For the past 150 years, the relationship between the Tūhoe and the New Zealand government has been defined by longstanding grievances over severe colonisation experiences such as illegal land confiscations. The film captures a period of change: Tūhoe are negotiating an apology and settlement from the Crown, and constructing an architectural gem of a community centre using radically sustainable methods. Tradition and environmentalism are brought together, and the film gives us a stirring depiction of Indigenous pride.

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RAI FILM Festival 2025

The next RAI FILM Festival will take place in person from 27-30 March 2025 at the Watershed Cinema and the Arnolfini International Centre for Contemporary Arts in Bristol (UK) and online throughout the month of April 2025.