The Navel of the World (2024)
• June 14th, 2024 • 0h 30min
Documentary
Overview
“Te Pito o Te Henua” (The Navel of the World) tells the story of the community behind Rapa Nui’s largest and most colorful annual Indigenous celebration, the Tāpati Rapa Nui Festival. Honoring ancient rites and competitions, Rapa Nui families participate in nine days of athletic feats, cultural demonstrations and ceremonies paying respect to the land, water and other natural beings of the island. They also crown a Queen to represent her people for a year throughout Polynesia and on the world stage. The film traces the journey of 19-year-old candidate Vaitiare and her family as they join work to earn her the crown and represent this small but well-known island as its people fight for increased autonomy and recognition on the world stage. Through intimate character portraits, behind-the-curtain moments and heartfelt musical performances, “Te Pito o Te Henua” reveals the true meaning of Tāpati and the deep connections the Rapa Nui share with their lands and waters.
Make sure to check your pop-up blocker!!
Trailer
Similar Movies
Crazywise
Released on: 2017-06-06
Documentary
Western culture treats mental disorders primarily through biomedical psychiatry, but filmmakers Phil...
Susanne Bartsch: On Top
Released on: 2017-05-01
Documentary
Dubbed New York's "Queen of the Night," proto–club kid Susanne Bartsch has been throwing unforgettab...
Out of State
Released on: 2017-11-04
Documentary
Out of State is the unlikely story of native Hawaiians men discovering their native culture as priso...
Ainu Neno An Ainu
Released on: 2021-06-01
Documentary
This documentary started as part of a photography project about the indigenous Ainu population in no...
Maximón: Devil or Saint
Released on: 2014-02-06
Documentary
MAXIMÓN - Devil or Saint is a documentary about the controversial Maya deity, also known as San Simo...
Trick or Treaty?
Released on: 2014-09-04
Documentary
Legendary Canadian documentarian Alanis Obomsawin digs into the tangled history of Treaty 9 — the in...
Stories Are in Our Bones
Released on: 2020-03-08
Documentary
In this layered short film, filmmaker Janine Windolph takes her young sons fishing with their kokum ...
Desert PHOSfate
Released on: 2024-01-01
Documentary
DESERT PHOSfate is an artist film that tells about the impact of phosphate on the Sahrawi community ...
Qipisa
Released on: 2017-02-23
Documentary
The director goes back to her roots in Pangnirtung, amongst her family and community. It leads her t...
The Haida in Canada
Released on: 2022-12-10
Documentary
Haida Gwaii, an archipelago off the west coast of Canada, is home to Skil Jaadee and her family. The...
The 50 Year Argument
Released on: 2014-06-07
Documentary
Follows the waves of literary, political, and cultural history as charted by the The New York Review...
ThuleTuvalu
Released on: 2014-11-13
Documentary
Thule, Greenland, also called Qaanaaqis, one of the northernmost towns in the world. As the climate ...
This Land
Released on: 2025-01-01
Documentary
In 1974 a group of Mohawk Indians occupied a defunct girls camp in New York's Adirondack mountains a...
Alpine Meltdown: Just a few degrees more...
Released on: 2011-11-15
Documentary
The climate is changing, global temperature is rising. The impacts are already apparent, especially ...
Once upon a time... "I, Daniel Blake"
Released on: 2021-05-12
Documentary
The documentary, filmed in England in autumn 2020, sheds light on the genesis and background of the ...
Sweetheart Dancers
Released on: 2019-02-23
Documentary
Sean and Adrian, a Two-Spirit couple, are determined to rewrite the rules of Native American culture...
No Māori Allowed
Released on: 2022-10-18
Documentary, Drama
When an academic unearths a forgotten history, residents of the small township of Pukekohe, includin...
100% Rivales
Released on: 2025-01-01
Documentary
In the 2000s, Vicente Viloni and La Masa became legendary wrestling rivals and idols for kids across...
POSERS - The New Romantics
Released on: 1981-01-15
Documentary
Shot in a single day, POSERS captures a thriving subculture in Kings Road, London: the style, music,...