Biography
Merata Mita (19 June 1942 – 31 May 2010) was a New Zealand filmmaker, director, producer and writer of Māori descent. Born in Maketu, she belonged to the Ngāti Pikiao and Ngāi Te Rangi iwi and became a central figure in the development of the Māori screen industry.
She began her career in the late 1970s with documentaries including Bastion Point: Day 507 (1980) and directed the feature-length documentary Patu! (1983) about the 1981 Springbok tour protests. Mita acted as Matu in Geoff Murphy’s Utu (1983), on which she also served as cultural adviser. In 1988 she wrote, directed and produced Mauri, the first dramatic feature film made solely by a Māori woman in New Zealand.
She received the Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit (CNZM) for services to the film industry and later worked as a co-producer on Boy (2010).
