‘Mārama’ Trailer – Taratoa Stappard’s Haunting Māori Gothic Horror Story Opens in US Theaters

Mārama, the genre-bending gothic horror feature from Indigenous Māori director Taratoa Stappard, follows a young Māori woman in the mid-19th century who travels from New Zealand to England after receiving a mysterious letter about her family.

What begins as a search for belonging quickly transforms into something far more unsettling when she arrives at a remote manor hiding dark secrets tied to colonial violence.

Rooted in an Indigenous perspective, Mārama features Māori actress Ariāna Osborne (Madam, In a Flash) in a breakout lead role. Alongside Osborne star British actors Toby Stephens (Black Sails, Die Another Day, Percy Jackson and The Olympians) and Umi Myers (Bob Marley: One Love, Dope Girls), as well as New Zealanders Erroll Shand (Savage, The Luminaries) and Jordan Mooney (The Bluff, Pike River).

The film had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival and went on to screen at other festivals, including Palm Springs, AFI Fest, Sitges, and others. It opens in theaters only on April 17, at the IFC Center in New York City and the Laemmle Monica Film Center and Laemmle Glendale theaters in Los Angeles via Dark Sky Films and Watermelon Pictures.

Set in North Yorkshire, Victorian England, 1859, Mārama is the story of a young Māori woman’s fight to reclaim her identity and indigenous culture. When she is summoned from New Zealand to North Yorkshire, she uncovers her horrific colonial heritage and is compelled to confront and destroy the titled Englishman who devastated her family.

Watch the official trailer for Mārama above.