This distinctly Māori Gothic horror, set in a haunted seaside manor, tells a terrifying tale of dark family secrets and one woman’s wrath in the face of colonial violence.

In 1859, Māori teacher Mary Stevens receives a mysterious letter summoning her from Aotearoa New Zealand to North Yorkshire, England, with the promise of revelations about her family history. Upon her arrival, lord of the local manor Nathaniel Cole offers Mary board and work as a governess for his niece. Nathaniel proudly shows off his collection of Māori artefacts and fluency in te reo Māori; he claims to have a deep affection for Mary’s culture and people. But the longer Mary stays in the windswept manor, the more she senses someone – or something – in the house is trying to communicate a grave warning.

Taratoa Stappard’s striking debut feature is a chilling ghost story reckoning with the violence of British colonialism, taking the tropes and visual language of classic Victorian Gothic horror and redeploying them through a uniquely Māori lens. Ariāna Osborne runs the gamut from grief to righteous fury in her ferocious performance as Mary, while the lavish costume and production design combine with the tale to elevate Mārama to the pantheon of great ghost stories.

“A phenomenal debut, a confident piece of work that takes a familiar genre and makes it feel perfect for the story it’s telling.” – RogerEbert.com

MA15+

MIFF: Mārama