FESTIVAL ‘ 90 : ‘Mana Waka’ a Long-Buried Tale of New Zealand’s Maori : Movies: The Depression-era film, restored by documentarian Merata Mita, chronicles the building of ceremonial war canoes. The Maori queen will attend tonight’s screening at UCLA.

Documentarian Merata Mita, whose film, “Mana Waka” screens tonight at UCLA’s Melnitz Theater, believes a movie buff of a higher order assisted her with her project.

“It was all shot on old 35mm nitrate film,” said Mita, who needed to painstakingly assemble 20,000 feet shot in the late ‘30s. “The consensus was that given its condition, the film would have deteriorated, but it was actually all there--intact. That we put down to the spiritual strength of the film.”

The title means “War Canoe,” and is a celluloid testament to the will of New Zealand’s Maori tribe. In 1937, Princess Te Puea Herangi endeavored to inspire her people during the Depression by commissioning the construction of seven majestic canoes.

R.G.H. Manley’s hand-held camera recorded the felling of the great trees that would eventually carry dozens of proud Maori across the waters. He captured the thousands of man-hours expended and the workers’ frustration before Princess Te Puea’s funds ran out. Only three vessels were completed.

“It wasn’t received well,” said Mita. “And the government wouldn’t support it. That’s how the project fell by the wayside. It became the unfulfilled dream of the Maori people.”

Until now.

What makes “Mana Waka” an event is the presence of the Maori queen, or Te Arikuni (the most high-born), and the elders during all screenings of the film.

Before the lights go down, traditional ceremonies are held in which the audience participates. “They bless the audience,” the director said, “and what happens during the ceremony is the people become part of the film and the film becomes part of the people.

“To a lot of people (in the United States) that is unnatural, but it’s not unnatural to our culture and the way we see things. Art is never disconnected from the people.”

Mita is known in her native land as an impassioned filmmaker. Two of her early efforts in the ‘80s, “Bastion Point: Day 507” and “Patul,” were sharp commentaries on Maori injustice. Her reputation came in handy when trying to locate craftsmen who toiled long ago on the war canoes. She found three of them.

“We were able to have one of the three craftsmen sitting by us all the time, and they would fill us in on the unseen stories of the whole thing,” Mita said.

Te Puea died in the early ‘50s. The canoes, which each span more than 100 feet, are still used during ceremonies and to carry training crews.