Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF) 2026 has done a class-act job of showcasing films rooted in queerness and stories of Black and Indigenous People of Color (BIPOC), particularly in the film Mārama. In this narrative feature-length debut from Māori director, Taratoa Stappard, we embark on a journey of understanding the cultural importance of familial lineage in Māori culture, particularly during the time of British colonization of Aotearoa, commonly known as New Zealand. 

We are dropped into 19th-century Yorkshire, England, as the protagonist of the film, Mary Stevens (Ariāna Osborne), crosses land and sea to the origins of a letter that claims to know information about her family — ghosts of a memory, as she did not come into adulthood with them at her side. This film takes several turns that are shocking, powerful, and revelatory, which will keep you wanting to know what resolution we will be provided.

It is no secret that this film is about seeking vengeance in light of colonization, but one thing it highlights extraordinarily well is the supposed ally that teeters into fetishization. We have Nathaniel Cole (Toby Stephens), who at first comes across as someone on Mary’s side as she longs to understand her family history and can even speak her native tongue, but then we come to see something more sinister within his soul. An appreciation of Māori culture soon turns into lavish parties of white British vultures making a mockery of their history and having a grand laugh at Mary’s haka, a war cry intended to intimidate enemies. As these nefarious actions become more prevalent, Mary starts to shed her politeness in the face of discriminatory and malevolent acts and summons the power of a thousand women, and in plain terms, remembers who she is — Mārama. 

The film is beautifully shot, using the available light to accurately replicate a 19th-century Victorian home. We are taken through the halls in the dead of night with but one warm candlelight, and yet, we are contained in a space that does not require much more and is able to hold the intensity that the horror requires. We are taken to scenic areas of the home’s gardens, vast grassy plains, and even creative hallucination-inducing mirror shots that allow us to take a peek inside Mary’s abilities as a seer, but unfortunately, that is all that is afforded to us. 

Where the film takes its time to have Mary roam the home and gardens and have, sometimes unfruitful, conversations with Nathaniel, there was a desperation from an audience perspective to want more of the seer’s ability. Being able to focus more on the power of the Māori women and how they come together, past and present, to continue their fight as they express their desire to be in the one place they are at their most free — Aotearoa.

While there are some parts of the film where there is a longing for something more when it comes to the focus of Māori culture over those who have taken from it, Mārama still has a strong sense of self when it comes to the foundational story it wants to tell. We know what colonization has done to lands, people, and their bloodlines, but the chickens will always come home to roost, and that satisfaction will always arrive, albeit with a somber undertone.

Review Courtesy of Des Mack

Feature Image Credit to Watermelon Pictures, MPI Media Group