Vertigo Releasing has shared a trailer, poster and images for Mārama, the gothic horror from writer-director Taratoa Stappard.
Ariāna Osborne stars as Mary, a young Māori woman who finally arrives in Whitby, England, following a long journey from New Zealand, where she accepts a job as a governess for a wealthy landowner, who she discovers is a fetishistic collector of Māori cultural artefacts as his dark secrets begin to surface.
The cast also includes Toby Stephens, Erroll Shand, Umi Myers, and Evelyn Towersey. Watch the trailer below…
1859. A young Māori woman, Mary Stevens (Ariāna Osborne), arrives in Whitby after a 73 day journey from New Zealand only to discover that the man she was to meet is dead.
Trapped without prospects in an unfamiliar, hostile environment Mary is obliged to accept work as a governess for Sir Nathaniel Cole (Toby Stephens), a local landowner with a vast fortune made as a South Seas whaler. But when Mary moves into Cole’s grand country house, she gradually discovers he is an obsessive, fetishistic collector of Māori cultural artefacts and she begins to uncover the full, horrific truth of her colonial heritage.
Mārama arrives in cinemas on December 11th.

