Official Trailer To ARRAY Film ‘Cousins’
ARRAY Releasing, the distribution arm of Ava DuVernay’s Peabody Award-winning arts and social impact collective ARRAY, has released the trailer to the striking feature film COUSINS. Helmed by award-winning Māori filmmaking duo Ainsley Gardiner and Briar Grace-Smith, the film debuted at number one at New Zealand’s box office when it was released earlier this year.
ARRAY Releasing will debut on July 22 on Netflix. The film had its worldwide festival premiere in March at the Māoriland Film Festival in New Zealand where it won the 2021 People’s Choice for Best Feature Drama.
COUSINS follows three Māori cousins—Mata, Missy and Makareta—who lead separate lives, yet are bound together forever. Orphaned Mata believes she has no whānau (family) and lives out her lonely childhood in fear and bewilderment. Back home on the land in New Zealand, driven and educated Makareta flees an arranged marriage to study law and begin the search for her missing cousin. She leaves behind cheeky yet dutiful Missy who takes on her role of kaitiaki (guardian) of the land. As the years pass and land surveyors begin to encroach, their promise to bring their stolen cousin home seems more unlikely than ever, until a chance encounter changes everything.
The COUSINS ensemble cast includes Rachel House (MOANA, THOR: RAGNAROK), Tanea Heke (NO.2), co-director Briar Grace Smith (WARU), Ana Scotney (THE BREAKER UPPERERS), Tioreore Ngatai-Melbourne (HUNT FOR THE WILDERPEOPLE), Hariata Moriarty (SAVAGE), Mihi Te Rauhi Daniels, Te Raukura Gray, and Keyahne Patrick-Williams.
