The Haka Party Incident

On May 1, 1979, the Maori and Pasifika activist group He Taua confronted University of Auckland engineering students over their annual “haka party”– a racist and drunken mock haka – in what became a pivotal moment in Aotearoa’s race relations. Katie Wolfe’s stirring documentary revisits the event through archival footage and unfiltered contemporary interviews. Adapted from the director’s acclaimed play, the film is suffused with tension, legacy, and painful introspection. With powerful juxtapositions of the past and the present, it interrogates what has changed and what hasn’t – and what remembrance really means. A vital documentary that reclaims forgotten history and honours those who stood up, and changed a nation.

Limited seats are available for patrons requiring access for wheelchairs, low vision and hearing loop. Please contact our ticketing team directly on 1300 733 733 or tickets@sff.org.au to complete your booking.