Disney's Frozen gets te reo Māori treatment to the delight of tamariki across the motu

Thursday, 15 September 2022

The original film Frozen, which will be translated in to te reo Māori.

After the success of the Lion King and Moana’s reo Māori adaptation, Frozen Reo Māori is set to premiere in Tāmaki Makaurau on October 25.

Read this story in te reo Māori and English here. / Pānuitia tēnei i te reo Māori me te reo Pākehā ki konei.

Frozen Reo Māori celebrates dialects from Ngāi Tahu, Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Rangitāne and Te Tairāwhiti.

Awhimai Fraser (Waikato, Ngāi Tāmanuhiri, Ngāti Pūkenga), who plays Elsa, says she is honoured to be working with the best speakers, translators, consultants and producers on this kaupapa.

Awhimai Fraser, who plays Elsa, says that Frozen Reo Māori is a gift for our children.

“I’ve felt honoured in all my areas of work, but this is one that feels like it's going to sink into every home and hopefully touch many, many hearts.”

Frozen Reo Māori will screen in cinemas in Aotearoa and Australia from October 27.

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When she learnt that she was going to play Elsa, she reflected on her childhood of watching Disney, her reo learning journey, and thought about her aunty Awhimai, who paved the way for her.

“It was not just how I felt in that moment, but I actually was feeling for … us as a people … with that comes a weight, I feel, but it's a welcomed weight.”

Fraser was familiar with te reo Māori but did not learn the language until her mid-20s.

“With us learning [te reo] also comes the weight of our tūpuna and whānau who were literally beaten to not speak their reo,” she says.

Fraser hopes that tamariki are not only inspired by themes in the film but also know that this pathway is something they can weave towards.

“So we also carry them with us into kaupapa like this, and we carry them with us into every space that we go to, to reclaim that space for them. I am so relieved [and] excited that our tamariki now get to have movies like this.

“If we can have a cinema full of tamariki who are laughing and feel celebrated and heard and seen, and … are proud to be in that cinema at that point, then I think we've done what we're what we're trying to do.”

Fraser emphasises that the adaptation of the kiripuaki (characters) through a te ao Māori lens incorporated many talented people.

“The dialogue that we say, the reo Māori that we say, the tikanga that's imbued in every single word that we say comes from many hearts and many lines of whakapapa.”

“I really wanted Elsa to be a mana wahine in her own right, and so she was naturally pitched lower into my puku.”

Fraser says that the environment of this kaupapa is “innately te ao Māori”, where tikanga is adhered to and reo Māori is spoken every day.

“There's no hierarchy, there's no ego, it's all for our tamariki … It's really inspiring to be in those environments where no one has an agenda, we just push for our tamariki to have this experience,” she says.

“It's a kaupapa that is for, and will always be for, our kids.”

Fraser connects to her character by tapping into her identity as a sister, cousin, niece, aunty and mokopuna. She says that even though Frozen is a story of romance and comedy, it’s also about sisterhood.

“For me, that feeling of doing everything and anything that you can for those you love, even if it means that sacrifice has to happen along the way, is something that I would do over and over and over again, without a doubt.”

She wants her character to come across as strong, vocally.

“I really wanted Elsa to be a mana wahine in her own right, and so she was naturally pitched lower into my puku,” she said.

“Her feeling and the way she talked and the way she moved would be different because she’s coming from a te ao Māori perspective … they both know unconditional love, they both know pain [and] at the end of the day find themselves and stand strong in their own mana.”

Fraser hopes that tamariki who watch the film are not only inspired by the themes of the story but also know that this pathway of performing arts is something that they can flourish in.

“I hope that people laugh and cry with us [and] fall in love with the incredible talents who are embodying these kiripuaki … I think it’s an incredible production made by incredible people, for our people and by our people.”

Frozen Reo Māori will be screened across Aotearoa and Australia from October 27.