OPEN CALL FOR AUDITIONS ON THE REO MĀORI VERSION OF WALT DISNEY ANIMATION STUDIOS’ OSCAR®-WINNING FILM ENCANTO
Aotearoa New Zealand, 31 May 2023 - Matewa Media and The Walt Disney Company are thrilled to announce the fifth Disney film to be reimagined into Te Reo Māori, Walt Disney Animation Studios’ Oscar®-winning animated film Encanto.
Encanto, which won Best Animated Feature at the 2022 Academy Awards®, tells the tale of an extraordinary family, the Madrigals, who live hidden in the mountains of Colombia in a magical house called an Encanto. Having captured the hearts of many globally, Encanto’s themes of whānau and intergenerational relationships resonate with the te ao māori.
Encanto Reo Māori will not be tied to a specific mita (dialect). The translations for the film will be helmed by mātanga reo Māori, Pānia Papa and Leon Blake.
“Coming straight off the back of Coco Reo Māori, we are confident that we’ll deliver another high standard film. We’re looking forward to kicking into Encanto with all the magic and challenges that lay ahead,” says Director and Producer of Encanto Reo Māori Tweedie Waititi.
The Walt Disney Company together with Matewa Media (founded by International Award Emmy winner, Tweedie Waititi and Oscar®-nominated filmmaker Chelsea Winstanley) are on the hunt for arero māori to step up and help bring this magical iteration of Encanto Reo Māori to life.
The first round of online auditions opens from today. Each character will have a different audition piece; most will require auditionees to sing a snippet from the film's award-winning soundtrack. Waititi and Winstanley have advised that all levels of Reo Māori fluency are welcome.
The announcement of this fifth Reo Māori Disney film comes after a successful audition process for Disney and Pixar’s Coco Reo Māori which will be released in cinemas for Matariki 2023.
The Reo Māori versions of Disney’s The Lion King, Frozen and Moana are now streaming on Disney+.
Further information on is available on www.matewamedia.nz
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Matewa Media
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ABOUT ENCANTO:
Walt Disney Animation Studios’ “Encanto” tells the tale of an extraordinary family, the Madrigals, who live hidden in the mountains of Colombia, in a magical house, in a vibrant town, in a wondrous, charmed place called an Encanto. The magic of the Encanto has blessed every child in the family with a unique gift from super strength to the power to heal—every child except one, Mirabel (voice of Stephanie Beatriz). But when she discovers that the magic surrounding the Encanto is in danger, Mirabel decides that she, the only ordinary Madrigal, might just be her exceptional family’s last hope.
ABOUT MATEWA MEDIA:
Established in 2017, Matewa Media is owned and operated by Tweedie Waititi and Chelsea Winstanley. It is a multi-media organisation whose goal is to contribute to te reo Māori, the culture and indigenous stories. The directors of Matewa Media have spent decades in their respective careers contributing to Māori storytelling and are thrilled to come together again to bring the next iteration of Disney Reo Māori animation to our screens. Disney’s Encanto will be the fifth animated feature film reimagined into te reo māori - following the Reo Māori translations of Disney’s Moana (2017), Disney’s The Lion King (2022), Disney’s Frozen (2022), and Disney and Pixar’s Coco (2023).
ABOUT WALT DISNEY ANIMATION STUDIOS:
Combining masterful artistry and storytelling with groundbreaking technology, Walt Disney Animation Studios is a filmmaker-driven animation studio responsible for creating some of the most beloved films ever made. Disney Animation continues to build on its rich legacy of innovation and creativity, from the first fully-animated feature film, 1937's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, to 2019’s Frozen 2, the biggest animated film of all time, to the upcoming Fall 2023 feature, Wish. Among the studio's timeless creations are Pinocchio, Sleeping Beauty, The Jungle Book, The Little Mermaid, The Lion King, Frozen, Zootopia and Encanto.