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2025

Marlon Williams: Ngā Ao E Rua - Two Worlds

As he records his first album in te reo Māori, Marlon Williams opens a gentle window into the spaces between language, identity, and sound. This observational portrait is less about fluency than feeling, capturing an artist drawn toward something deeper than words.

Director

Ursula Grace Williams

Runtime

92 Minutes

Country

New Zealand

Classification

Unclassified 15+

Beloved for his haunting voice and genre-defying songwriting, Marlon Williams has built a career on straddling borders - between country and crooner, Māori and Pākehā, past and future. In Ngā Ao e Rua – Two Worlds, the acclaimed Aotearoa artist turns inward.

Gently observational and rich with landscape, the film follows Williams as he begins work on his first album sung entirely in te reo Māori. While he does not speak the language fluently, Williams describes te reo as something that has always unlocked emotion, a way of feeling rather than explaining. What unfolds is not a grand statement of cultural reclamation, but something quieter and more resonant.

This is a portrait of an artist listening deeply, searching for shape and sound that honour both inheritance and instinct. Set across the windswept coasts and quiet spaces of Aotearoa, Ngā Ao e Rua is a meditation on voice, land, and creative risk. In tracing this artistic process, both grounded and searching, the film captures a musician not just returning to his roots, but tuning more precisely to the frequencies that have always been present.

“The story is crafted in a way that is natural, his journey seamlessly interwoven - and beautifully filmed.”

RNZ

Sydney, Melbourne
Trailer

Play Trailer

Film Credits

Director

Ursula Grace Williams

Year

2025

Country

New Zealand

Language

English & Māori

Subtitles

English

Type

Documentary & Feature

Program Strand

World Documentary

Producer

Alexander Behse

Cinematographer

Tim Flower

Editor

Josh Yong

Music

Mark Perkins

Film Source

Madman Entertainment

Genre

BiographicalBIPOCFeel-Good & Music

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