PATU! [THEATRICAL RELEASE]

Rights Information
Year
1983
Reference
F3794
Media type
Moving image
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Rights Information
Year
1983
Reference
F3794
Media type
Moving image
Place of production
New Zealand/Aotearoa
Categories
Feature
Duration
1:53:00
Production company
Awatea Films
Taonga Māori Collection
Yes
Credits
Director: Merata Mita
Producer: Merata Mita
Co-Ordinators: Gaylene Preston
Co-Ordinators: Gerd Pohlmann
Co-Ordinators: Martyn Sanderson
Camera: Barry Habert
Camera: Warrick Attewell (aka Waka)
Camera: Chris Barrett
Camera: James Bartle
Camera: Alun Bollinger
Camera: Paul Carvell
Camera: Roger Donaldson
Camera: Euan Frizzell
Camera: Chris Ghent
Camera: Allen Guilford
Camera: Leon Narbey
Camera: Rod Prosser
Camera: Mike Single
Editor: Annie Collins
Assistant Editor: Cindy Bowles
Assistant Editor: Shereen Maloney
Sound: Gerd Pohlmann
Sound: B Allen
Sound: H Bollinger
Sound: R Brittenden
Sound: Russell Campbell
Sound: T Johnson
Sound: O Goodman
Sound: D Keene
Sound: Guy Phillips
Sound: D Newton
Sound: B Thomas
Sound: T Wollams
Sound: S Upston
Soundmix: Brian Shennan
Original Theme Music: Diatribe
Original Theme Music: Tia Kingi
Additional Theme Music: Syd Melbourne Haruru Mai
Free Facilities: Derek Morton
Free Facilities: Geoff Murphy
Free Facilities: Cinematic Sounds
Camera: Alister Barry
Funded By: New Zealand Film Commission
Camera: Richard Long

“A documentary about the anti-Apartheid protests that took place in New Zealand during the 1981 South African [Springbok] rugby tour.” - New Zealand Film Commission; www.nzfilm.co.nz/film/patu; retrieved 29/01/2014.

In 2012 PATU! was inscribed on the UNESCO Memory of the World register.

“The most controversial, and the most contested, event in recent New Zealand history was the 1981 South African rugby tour. Half the country was opposed to the tour, the establishment was determined the tour would go ahead, and the result was a country divided against itself almost to the point of civil war. This incredible documentary shows what happened. The actual filming was both dangerous and difficult and attempts were made to have the negatives confiscated ... [Merata Mita’s] achievement is as impressive technically as it is effective emotionally. A major documentary of our time.” - London Film Festival.

“Many people gave their time, money and equipment to see PATU! completed, and it could never have been done otherwise. I was asked repeatedly if I thought I was the right person to make the film, or why I was making it. The reason I was asked the question was that some people told me they feared that the film would not be accurate because it would have a Maori perspective! The Pākeha bias in all things recorded in Aotearoa was never questioned. The other reason they gave was that my politics extended no further than the Maori and the marae, and was I sure I understood the international ramifications of the tour. Yes, PATU! has a Maori perspective but it does not override the mass mobilisation of New Zealand’s white middle class, neither does it take credit from those who rightly deserve it, everyone who put themselves on the line. My perspective encourages people to look at themselves and examine the ground they stand on, while fighting racial injustice thousands of miles across the sea.” - Merata Mita.