The Te Kooti Trail

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The Te Kooti Trail is a 1927 New Zealand film. It premiered at the , Auckland on 17 November 1927 and was billed as New Zealand's "greatest production".

Adapted from a newspaper serial written by , The Te Kooti Trail was based on the account of the sacking of Mill Farm at related in volume 2 of James Cowan’s The New Zealand Wars. Rudall Hayward was fascinated by what he called "our rough-hewn story" and believed that material from the period 1840 to 1870 would make films equally fascinating as any from the American West.

With a budget of £900, the film was shot on location in seven weeks from early September 1927. The entirely amateur cast was recruited locally. Lead roles were decided by the player's physical resemblance to the character to be portrayed while smaller roles were given to the films shareholders - . Hayward made much of the fact that the film was taken from the official accounts and went to great lengths to ensure its accuracy.

The Te Kooti Trail has received undue notoriety for causing New Zealand's first homegrown censorship controversy. The film's release was delayed by the censor W A Tanner (at the request of Māui Pōmare, then acting Minister of Internal Affairs) for a special screening to Maori MPs and elders of the Ringatu Church to ensure it did not offend Maori sensibilities. As a result, two intertitles were changed.

Restoration[]

Memo instructing the censorship of 'The Te Kooti Trail'

A nitrate print of The Te Kooti Trail was part of the Film Library's archive collection transferred to the Film Archive in 1984. At that time decomposing sections of nitrate were removed and transferred to safety film. Subsequent preservation work was carried out as need and finance dictated. With support from UNESCO, the last of the nitrate was transferred in 1994 and the preservation process was completed. In 2000 the Film Archive won the Haghefilm Award and the full restoration was achieved. This restored, tinted print of The Te Kooti Trail premiered at Le Giornate del Cinema Muto, Italy in 2001.

References[]

• The New Zealand film Archive - The Te Kooti Trail

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