Michael Jonathan's debut feature tells the 1864 siege of Ōrākau from a Māori perspective, almost entirely in te reo Māori, with Temuera Morrison and Cliff Curtis. It opened in New Zealand over Matariki weekend 2024 and had its North American premiere at Toronto.

Tiki Taane and Arli Liberman wrote the score, working to a brief for something unworldly, built from elements nobody had heard before. I orchestrated their material for nine strings, writing sustained living textures the players could hold and shape, sitting inside the taonga pūoro and synth layers rather than beside them so the acoustic and the electronic read as one sound. A separate session with cellist Ashley Brown opened the sound out further.

I prepared the score and parts and conducted the sessions.