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the Mystique of the Kauri

I AM

POEM BY KYLIE BRYERS

I am Kauri

.

King of the forest.

I am New Zealand

Ruler, since the birth of these islands.

For 2000 years I have stood

As the forests changed around me

I knew Kupe, the piopio, the moa

Yet I may not outlive you

I am Kauri

.

I watched you arrive

And still more came

You wear tattoos made of my ash

I carried you in my waka

And later in my ships

You’ve walked on my floors

 and eaten from my tables

Your families have slept safe

 under my rooves

I am Kauri

.

Beneath my shelter

a nation has formed

Rushing toward an unknown future

Is it a future without me?

I am Kauri

.

With my gum I protect myself

 from injury and decay

Yet I have no protection from you

I’ve been depleted by your axes

Milled into dust

My bones shipped around the world

My gifts, squandered

scattered to the four corners

I stood silent. I asked for nothing

I’m asking you now.

I am Kauri

.

King of the forest

I am New Zealand

But I am more than a symbol.

I am your heritage.

Square Kauri photo by Greg Daly

I am...

Filmmaking workshop’s

documentary honours the kauri

A

Whitianga filmmaking workshop – led by award-winning producer/

director James Muir and sponsored by Creative Mercury Bay – met

over three weekends in March to face the challenge of learning the entire

scope of video filmmaking.

“Learning is the name of the game here!” stated Muir, and so they did – from

setting up the pro-quality camera, plotting the story, working with ‘actors’

in a documentary framework, capturing good sound ... and then editing the

final product.

Two teams – twelve in all, aged 13 to 50ish – worked on separate short

films with Muir as their mentor. Their first challenge was to dream

a theme for their project. One team chose the ‘kauri’. (During the

post-production, these students also benefited from the help of professional

editor, Koki Nishida, who demonstrated techniques to the team that brought

even more light and life to the moving images of the kauri.)

While the team discussed the variety of forms a film like this could take, one

team member, Kylie Bryers, was silent, busy writing. She eventually came

forward and read the poem she had been working on about this mighty ‘king

of the forest’: “I AM”

(see left)

.

“Yes, this was it”, the participants agreed. The team went on to refine the

poem, develop a script and shoot all the footage locally on the Coromandel.

Inspired by the kauri, the film took an artistic, even spiritual slant, a tribute

to these disappearing trees, rich with colours and natural textures. Young

Elizabeth Thompson (in photo above) became the wonderer, the innocent,

and we see the majestic kauri through her eyes.

The finished piece, shown to an enthusiastic full house at The Monkey

House in Whitianga, left viewers filled with love, awe and respect for these

magnificent trees. Muir expressed how impressed he was with the calibre

of the films produced by the students. With such a wonderful subject

and a talented pool of filmmakers, he plans to make a longer in-depth

documentary starring the Coromandel Kauri.

The very touching video ‘I Am’ and more about the upcoming Muir doco can

be viewed online at

www.kauri.org.nz.

Meanwhile, CMB is certainly keen to

support further film-making initiatives in the Bay. See upcoming events at

www.creativemercurybay.co.nz. WWW.COROMANDELLIFE.CO.NZ

17

Workshop leader and director James Muir films Elizabeth Thompson admiring

a giant Coromandel kauri for their poetic documentary.