Kua Tau: Stories | Tainui Stephens

A lifetime of stories from a master storyteller: Five decades of fi lmmaking, broadcasting and cultural advocacy distilled into one essential collection. The era of Maori reclamation, up close: A warm, direct and deeply grounded account of a transformative period, from the 1970s to the powerful iwi Maori of today. Wide-ranging and deeply personal: Reo, identity, leadership, grief, joy and the small moments that reveal who we are - told with clarity and humour.

Tainui Stephens (Te Rarawa) is a fi lmmaker, broadcaster and producer whose work has helped defi ne Maori storytelling on screen. Beginning his career at Television New Zealand in the 1980s, he has spent four decades shaping projects that centre Maori voices and perspectives, including The New Zealand Wars (1998), The Prophets (2013) and the feature Whina (2022). His long-running writing for E-Tangata is known for its warmth, candour and depth.