Dan Taipua

Contributing writer

Daniel Taipua (Waikato-Tainui) is a freelance contributor who has worked in Auckland film and television his whole career. He was shortlisted to appear on TV One's 'Wheel of Fortune' in 2009, shortly before the programme was cancelled.

Shining a bold light on an unobserved world, The Panthers is essential viewing

15th August, 2021

Shining a bold light on an unobserved world, The Panthers is essential viewing

Can a six-part series do justice to the Polynesian Panthers' story?

The original film poster for Patu! (1983)

30th July, 2021

The incredible legacy of Merata Mita’s Patu!

Dan Taipua looks at the legacy of Patu!, the landmark documentary about the Springbok tour protests of 1981.

Stills from Umurangi Generation.

What a video game about a futuristic Tauranga can tell us about our present

A new first-person photography game set in a dystopian Tauranga under lockdown is the best work of Māori science-fiction this decade, writes Dan Taipua.

Image: Matthew McAuley

Empire and rebellion: What Taika Waititi directing Star Wars means for Māori

Photo: TVNZ

30th September, 2019

Māori versus settlers in the wrestling ring? Hell yes!

TVNZ's new online-only series Colonial Combat pits the the inhabitants of Kauri Bay – Māori, settlers, men, women, and many more besides – against each other in the ring.

‘Wakening’ (2013) dir. Danis Goulet

Futurism Aotearoa: A Māori sci-fi festival touches down in Auckland

Self-identified 'Space Māori' Dan Taipua picks his highlights from this weekend's Māori Futurist events.

WWE Superstars go Māori

23rd February, 2018

WWE Superstars go Māori

Finally, the most electrifying sports entertainment programme on earth has come back to Aotearoa. This Saturday marks the first episode of WWE Raw to screen free-to-air in New Zealand in over a decade.

Summer reissue: Thor and his magic patu – notes on a very Māori Marvel movie

25th December, 2017

Summer reissue: Thor and his magic patu – notes on a very Māori Marvel movie

Dan Taipua explores indigenous ideologies in Taika Waititi's Thor: Ragnarok, New Zealand's highest grossing film of 2017.

Thor and his magic patu: notes on a very Māori Marvel movie

31st October, 2017

Thor and his magic patu: notes on a very Māori Marvel movie

Dan Taipua explores indigenous ideologies in Thor: Ragnarok, the blockbuster movie from the king of the space Māori, Taika Waititi.

Māori Television is the best movie channel in the country, and it’s free

5th September, 2017

Māori Television is the best movie channel in the country, and it’s free

With a line-up boasting everything from Miyazaki to Spike Lee, Dan Taipua suggests you look no further than Māori Television for the best in free-to-air movies.