After making a debut at the Toronto International Film Festival last year, the New Zealand gothic horror flick “Mārama” is heading to U.S. theaters next month, and a trailer for the impressive effort from first-time feature filmmaker Taratoa Stappard.
The upcoming genre-bending pic (from The Sweetshop and Vendetta Films), penned by Stappard, features both English and Māori languages and explores a story set in the mid-1800s alongside the looming uneasiness of colonialism of the island nation, which is under the boot of the British Empire. Ariana Osborne, Toby Stephens, Umi Myers, Evelyn Towersey, and Erroll Shand lead the cast of “Mārama.”
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Here is an official synopsis from the TIFF website:
Taratoa Stappard’s brooding debut feature plunges us into the dour moors of 1859 North Yorkshire, where the British Empire’s reach casts long and twisted shadows. Mary Stevens (Ariāna Osborne), a young Māori teacher from Aotearoa (New Zealand), arrives in search of family truths, only to find the man who summoned her already dead and no clear path home. Stranded in an unfamiliar and unwelcoming land, Mary accepts work at Hawkser Manor under the seemingly benevolent Sir Nathaniel Cole (Toby Stephens), a wealthy landowner who made his fortune as a South Seas whaler. But within the manor’s cold stone walls — where stolen Māori taonga line the shelves and ancestral whispers echo through dark corridors — Mary’s unease curdles into dread. Haunted by visions and memories that are not her own, she begins to unravel a horrifying truth. As the sinister nature of Cole’s intentions comes into focus, Mārama transforms into a blood-tinged reckoning that never shies from the grotesque. What begins as a search for identity becomes a fight for freedom, dignity, and spiritual survival.
One of the review quotes used in the trailer from The Blogging Banshee jumps out to us and calls the new film “a cinematic masterpiece,” which certainly is setting up some serious expectations alongside this very exciting footage shot by cinematographer Gin Loane (“Pale River”). The trailer is also boasting a 100% Rotten Tomatoes score after the Kiwi movie made its festival runs at TIFF and Fantastic Fest, suggesting we should be in store for something special here.
Sharlene George, Rickylee Russell-Waipuka, and Rouzie Hassanova lead a producing team that also includes Badie Ali, Hamza Ali, Gal Greenspan, Victoria Dabbs, Jill Macnab, and Phil Bremner, set as executive producers.
Watch the trailer for visually striking ‘Mārama’ below, as the pic hits domestic theaters on April 17, thanks to distributor Watermelon Pictures.
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