Actor, director and international icon Taika Waititi has shared pics from the Welcome to Country on the set of Thor: Love and Thunder on Tuesday.
He and Chris Hemsworth were met by the Gamay Dancers from Gadigal and Bidiagal nations, who are the traditional owners of the lands on which Thor is being filmmed. There was also Maori Karakia from Te Aranganui at the ceremony.
“I encourage all film makers to find and engage with First Nations peoples whenever shooting your films,” Waititi wrote on Instagram.
“It’s worth it and it’s the right thing to do. Mauri Ora!”
Tuesday was also Invasion Day, so co-star Chris Hemsworth added a bit of context for people overseas who might be unfamiliar.
“Indigenous Australians may be just as proud of this country, but many see January 26th as a date signifying the beginning of dispossession, disease epidemics, frontier violence, destruction of culture, exploitation, abuse, separation of families and subjection to policies of extreme social control,” he added at the bottom of Waititi’s post.
“Let’s begin the healing and stand together in unity and support with our First Nations people with solidarity and compassion. Let’s find a date where all Australians can celebrate this beautiful country together. Change the date.”
Hemsworth also shared his own photos on the day, calling the two ceremonies “a beautiful start to our shoot”.
As beautiful as the moment was, a couple of commenters just had to chime in about things they didn’t understand.
And by that we mean wearing face masks:
As one commenter put it: “Not the Americans scolding Australians and New Zealanders for not wearing masks LMAO scold yourselves ya clowns, look at the state of your country.”
So there we have it. Beautiful moments, confused comments.
