Frederick Pokai

Bringing Mere Home" is a story set in a small New Zealand community during the 1980s. The protagonist, Billy (played by Frederick Pokai), is driving home from one of his regular Sunday pub sessions when he comes across a mysterious young girl named Mere (played by Isis Bradley-Kiwi), stranded on the side of the road. Sensing that something is amiss, Billy stops to offer Mere a ride home. Little does he know that his decision to help her will lead to a dramatic turn of events in his life.

At the end of the 18th century, hundreds of Indian sailors, known as lascars, worked amongst European settlers in Aotearoa New Zealand - often under the gruesome working conditions of seal hunting gangs. The story follows a lascar, Dasa, who has been abandoned on the coast of Aotearoa NZ by the East India Company, alongside his sealing gang. When Dasa finds himself in the middle of a conflict between his abusive British superior and two Māori traders, he is faced with a choice: bend the knee or take a stand.