BATMAN IS A BIG RENA OWEN FAN AND MAORI CINEMA IN 3D – HOLLYWOOD – 10.31.10

I got totally owned by Batman this year, for Halloween, who wanted to say “Hola to the Maori people of New Zealand.”

Adds “The Batman Named Jose” playing an American super hero: “I’m a big fan of Rena Owen in the film Once Were Warriors. Awesome film. Made us all cry. You guys are the hot sh*t.”

Alrighty then, go Rena!!! Inspiring Hispanic-Americans like few Kiwi’s can. Demonstrating staying power, that in Maori films with Maori actors a market still exists and is strong, years after good ‘Maori’ Kiwi films have been made. That’s the power of one Maori woman actor giving an outstanding performance.

Like Niki Caro proves when speaking Maori, working with iwi (Maori tribes) and adapting and directing a filmic story by a great storyteller, Ta Witi Ihimaera you don’t have to be Maori to serve Maori stories with a stellar Oscar-nominated Maori cast to an audience the world loves.

Likewise, Ainsley Gardiner, Taika Cohen and Cliff Curtis also demonstrate these traits as producers/ directors of the Berlin Silver Bear award winning film, Boy. Following in their footsteps is The Auckland University schooled and  Scorsese and Spike Lee (at Tisch NYC) trained Reina Webster currently working on her first feature film I hear.

I don’t know why, but when I hear about Reina’s news in Hollywood and listen to Jose talk with enthusiasm about Maori film, I know that we have a Hobbit industry, a 3D Hollywood ancillary sister-city industry for Hollywood’s biggest earning films of all time and a Maori film industry beating like a strong pulse for the world. It’s humbling and yet invigorating to feel at the same time, while I stand on Hollywood concrete–in The City of Angels (The city of messengers with a message) that is known far and wide as being The Entertainment Capitol of The World. Go Maori and Polynesian filmmakers, I reckon!

Batman agrees.

In celebration of Neil Hamilton‘s legacy in Hollywood (the dude who played Commisioner Gordon in the Batman TV series of the 1960′s), this one’s also going out to H-Town - Hamilton, New Zealand with H-Town brothers Katchafire‘s new reggae song, showcasing the wonders of animated hori pop culture moments.

Wherever these lads play around the world, clouds of Marijuana rise above their audiences. Why is that? They have the Bob Marley star factor as reggae rocks stars down pat. I imagine that Katchafire will be mega busy in California this year. Shikes if Proposition 19 goes through at the ballot, they could live in California for half of every year, and just play major Hollywood events. Now how can we get a Katcahfire song onto a movie soundtrack. I can’t believe no one in New Zealand or Hollywood has done that yet, with Prop 19 having had millions thrown in to campaign for it. Heck, the Facebook movie guys (funding Prop 19′s campaign largely) would have had Katchafire in their film’s soundtrack lineup, had they heard of these lads.

Like, they’d be perfect for something like The Hangover 2 for example, if you watch one’s American politics on the Bill Maher Show.

Enjoy our reggae brothas Maori music featured here.

If you don’t like reggae, all good, here’s my choice of cinema today too of a piece of entertainment worth watching, depicting the beauty of Maori-Kiwi humor, with the Oscar-nominated short film, Two Cars, One Night–a Kiwi classic short. Beneath the skin color, it’s actually a small town, Country Music values story, really.

It’s very clear, Maori have gifts as filmmakers that heal human rights rifts in the world. That’s what our presence in the film making world is capable of. It’s what we do with Spirit. Every Maori knows we do. No point pretending anymore we don’t have the gifts our ancestors gave us, to get this job done in the world, to make it a more fair place. Hopefully in 3D too soon. We (and our New Zealand and Hollywood film texts) are box office stars too. Are you ready for US? Hope so.

[Thanks Jose & to a star that burns bright in the minds of Hispanic-America and Mexico (people living in two nations who share a gulf containing oil) --for a legacy that's still memorable on celluloid for everyone. Thanks Rena for giving a performance that lingers in hearts and minds and burns so bright, like a star does, still today in our consciousness.]

[This post for Aunty Robin Cheung of Kawerau country, Bay of Plenty --now of West Auckland, who says she prays for me every day. Thanks Aunty Robin for your love and thoughtfulness. "You fly!" May I do your prayers justice in this Maori-Kiwi life I was given to serve others, for our lives to be good and "to matter" to "people that matter who need us to matter." Thank you].

~Posted by Horiwood.Com, Hollywood California USA. 10.31.10~

November 1, 2010 | Categories: 3D, Action Stars, Actors, America, Auckland City, Authors, Batman, Bob Marley, Box Office Stars, California, Cliff Curtis, Country Music, Directors, Family Vs Fame, Film Franchises, Hollywood Entertainment News, Hollywood History, Human Rights, Kiwi Pop, Latino, Leadership, Literary, Maori, Mexico, New Zealand, Oscars, Producers, Rena Owen, Robin, Spike Lee, Spirit, Super heroes, The Hangover, We Are The World, Wisdom, Witi Ihimaera | Tags: 3D, 3D Film Locations, 3D Movie Development Opportunities, A Batman Named Jose, Action Stars, Actors, Ainsley Gardiner, America, Auckland - The Super City, Auckland City, Aunty Robin Cheung, Auteurs, Authors, Batman, Bob Marley, Box Office Stars, California, Cliff Curtis, Country Music, Directors, Directors Guild Awards, Family Vs Fame, Festivals, Film Franchises, Gratitude, Green and Brown are the new Black, H-Town Hamilton, Hamilton, Hollywood After Dark, Hollywood Entertainment News, Hollywood History, Hollywood Maori Kings, Hollywood Today, Hollywood's Maori Honor Role, Homage, Horiwood Film School, Human Rights, Imagine in New Zealand in 3D, In NZ - Brown is the new Black, Indigenous Peoples - United Nations, Indigenous Thinking, James Cameron, Kiwi Pop, Latino, Leadership, Literary, Literary Trend, Literary Trends, Maori, Maori Art House Cinema, Maori Filmmaking, Martin Scorsese, Mexico, New Zealand, New Zealand Filmmaking, Niki Caro, Oscars, Polynesian Filmmaking, Producers, Real Faces Real People of LA, Reggae, Reina Webster, Rena Owen, Robin, Spike Lee, Spirit, Super heroes, Taika Cohen, Taika Waititi, The Hangover, The University of Auckland, Tisch School of The Arts - New York, Wairua, We Are The World, Wisdom, Witi Ihimaera, Writers, Zak Galifianakis | Leave A Comment »