Highlights Dec 28th to Jan 3rd 2009
LAST QUEENDOM ON EARTH – - Monday, Dec 29th at 8p.m.
The Mosuo are a small ethnic group in China, close to the Tibet border, and known as one of the last surviving matriarchal tribes in the world. Though the men hold political power in this society, it is the women who are usually the head of the household, and property is passed through the female line. To outsiders, it is the ‘walk-in marriages’ that often holds the most fascination – the practice that sees the men walk to the houses of their ‘partner’ at night, but return to their own home in the morning. Documentary-makers explore this intriguing culture
NO SWEAT PARENTING - Tuesday, Dec 30th at 8p.m.
Series finale of a show that’s all about family. Presented by positive parenting advocate Pio Terei, each half-hour show has comedy sketches, whanau interviews, celebrity guests and light-hearted discussion about the joys as well as the challenges we all face when bringing up a family. Tonight: Blended families and whangai, with guests Ella Henry and her daughter Merenia.
THE PROMISED SHIP (INTERNATIONAL DOCO) - Tuesday, Dec 30th at 8:30p.m.
A bilingual documentary that follows the oral history of the Black Star Line, a maritime venture undertaken by Marcus Garvey, leader of the first massive Black power movement of the 20th Century. The steamship line was intended to bring Black people across the Atlantic in search of their lost homelands.
PINE OR POHUTUKAWA (NZ DOCO) - Wednesday, Dec 31st at 8:30p.m.
Comedian Pio Terei explores the highs and lows of the 'silly season' as he travels the country in search of the quintessential Kiwi Christmas. As Pio explores how New Zealanders celebrate Christmas, he also examines our national identity.
RINGSIDE – CAMERON’S BOXING HIGHLIGHTS - Thursday, Jan 1st at 8p.m.
Maori Television presenter Te Arahi Maipi will be joined in studio by Shane ‘The Mountain Warrior’ Cameron, to review all the hard-hitting action of 2008, and to discuss what lies ahead in Cameron’s quest to become heavyweight champion of the world.
KAITIAKI - Saturday, Jan 3rd at 8p.m.
Series finale! An exploration of the ways whanau, hapu and iwi work as guardians of the environment. Tonight: Maori marched against the Seabed and Foreshore Act, and lost. Now more than seven thousand square kilometres of seabed off our coast is under threat from sand mining.
ALL ABOUT MY MOTHER - Saturday, Jan 3rd at 9p.m.
Manuela, a nurse and single mother in her late thirties, must come to terms with the tragic loss of her only son, Esteban, when he is struck by a car. Desperate to finds some meaning in her life, she sets off to find the boy’s father and tell him about the son he never knew. A Pedro Almodovar film.
