Marama

This grim debut from Taratoa Stappard plunges us into the bleak moors of North Yorkshire in 1859, where the long, twisted shadow of the British Empire falls heavy. Mary Stevens (Ariana Osborne), a young Māori teacher from Aotearoa (New Zealand), arrives seeking family truths, only to find the one who summoned her is dead and the path home is lost. Stranded in this alien, cold land, Mary takes a position at Hawksworth Estate, owned by the seemingly benevolent Sir Nathaniel Cole (Toby Stephens), a wealthy landowner who made his fortune whaling in the South Seas. Yet within the estate's icy stone walls—where stolen Māori treasures line the shelves and ancestral whispers echo through dim corridors—Mary's unease curdles into dread. Haunted by visions and memories not her own, she begins to unravel a horrifying truth. As Cole's sinister purpose comes into stark focus, 'Marama' spirals into a bloody reckoning, unflinching in its grotesque nature. What begins as a search for identity becomes a desperate fight for freedom, dignity, and spiritual survival.