Distant Cousins

Library and Archives Canada: 35mm, 16mm, 1/4, VHS.
"Documentary about the Maoris of New Zealand, who are called distant cousins of the British Empire. It shows: men fishing; women wearing and making garments from a type of flax and trimming them with kiwi bird feathers; a young woman feeding an elder in observance with the Maori taboo that the food intended for chieftains and priests must never be touched by human hands; a man destroying the remnants of his meal by burning them; men performing a war dance with actuality of them chanting as they dance; women sitting on grass and watching the dance; special tools used to tattoo the men; priest tattooing a man's face and the man trying not to flinch from pain; women look on; Maori women doing a traditional dance that includes actuality of dancers singing and intricate movements with a small ball made from bullrushes; actuality of women talking as they make balls; a few people sit and watch the dance; women at hot springs and hot sands; women go swimming; one dives in as others talk and laugh; voiceover narration calls the women 'carefree children of nature'; women swing on rope over water; one lets go and falls in; and shots of women swimming underwater."