Utu

press release: New Zealand | 1983 | 35mm | 104 min.

Director: Geoff Murphy; Cast: Anzac Wallace, Bruno Lawrence, Tim Elliott

New Zealand, the 1860s. The native Maori people fought the British colonials to keep the land guaranteed to them by a treaty negotiated three decades earlier. The warrior Te Wheke fights for the British until troops massacre the Maori inhabitants of a tiny and remote village, a betrayal that leads him to seek utu (revenge). He turns against the invaders and rallies a rebellious force of Maori to take back their land and drive out the colonizing foreigners. Director Murphy’s powerful narrative is shown here in the American release version.

From the Archives at UNCSA

Founded in the 1990s, the Moving Image Archives at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts in Winston-Salem provided a home for thousands of 35mm film prints once kept at dozens of National Film Service depots across the country. Slated for destruction, the prints were rescued and trucked to a state-of-the-art archival facility, providing a foundation for what is now one of the largest 35mm collections in the world. Consisting primarily of titles released in the 1950s to the early 1990s, the holdings include widely distributed Hollywood classics, subtitled releases of foreign-language titles, grindhouse staples, cult movies, and some truly rare oddities. The series of all 35mm prints will include nine feature-length rarities from three continents and a personal appearance from the UNCSA’s senior curator, David Spencer, who will discuss the history of the collection and its holdings.

All Cinematheque screenings are free and open to the public.