Rain of the Children
Grand Prix Winner
Headline quote
Stunning... A haunting historical epic… Masterful
HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
Emotionally rewarding… powerful… and heart wrenching… visual and aural artistry at work.
VARIETY
- Year:
- 2008
Some Secrets Are Kept Forever…
Vincent Ward’s deeply personal and incredibly moving film unravels and re-imagines the story of Puhi, the Tuhoe woman he documented in 1978 for his early film In Spring One Plants Alone. Then she was 80 and caring for her adult son, and Ward was 21, a young art student capturing her traditional way of life…
Puhi believed herself to be cursed and this unknowable curse is what preoccupies Ward now. Puhi, he discovers, was an extraordinary woman. Chosen by Tuhoe prophet Rua Kenana to marry his son, she survived the 1916 police raid on Rua’s Maungapohatu community and went on to have 14 children. Cutting between early footage, his own to-camera narration, contemporary interviews with Tuhoe descendents, and magnificently recreated historical sequences (featuring Rena Owen as the older Puhi among a superb cast of Maori actors); Ward reveals both the heartrending background of Puhi’s belief in the curse, and her lasting power over him.
Cast and crew
- Director, Writer and Producer:
- Vincent Ward
- Producers:
- Margaret Slater and Tainui Stephens
- Co-producers:
- Keero Te Awhimate Tait and Catherine Fitzgerald.
- Featuring:
- Rena Owen, Temuera Morrison, Taungaroa Emile, Vincent Ward, Miriama Rangi, Waihoroi Shortland, Toby Morehu, Mahue Tawa, Mikaira Tawhara and Harmony Wihapi.
Grand Prix (voted by audience from 250 feature films)
Era New Horizons Film Festival, Poland — 2008
Nominated for Best Film
Asia Pacific Screen Awards — 2008
Nominated for Best Director
Australian Directors Guild — 2008
Winner, Best Original Music
New Zealand Film and TV Awards — 2008
Nominated Best Director
New Zealand Film and TV Awards — 2008