Canta Magazine

I worked for a few years in a fairly rough area of Christchurch doing youth and kids work, and then in South Auckland briefly. When I began, I was a 16-year-old pākehā from a small town: my boys were half Māori and half Pasifika. They taught me a heck of a lot. How to cry. How to hug properly. How to hongi with actual human warmth. How to visit properly, how to love a very different context, full of basketball and gospel hip hop and conventions I didn’t really understand.

In an age of IP slop and Martin Scorsese extolling the virtues of AI-generated storyboards, we need creative stories and new voices in film more than ever. With the release of Obsession and Backrooms earlier this year, some are tentatively hopeful we're getting them. Are young filmmakers and original works the answer to the enshittification of one of the world's most accessible and beloved art forms? If you've been on the Internet in the past month or so, you will have heard of Obsession.

Lawrence Lui is one of the most exciting fighters our country has to offer, with eight professional wins (four via knockout) and only one loss to his name. But his journey has not been a straight path, rather a windy, bumpy road which has fuelled him to be the best version of himself. When he and his family moved to New Zealand from Hong Kong in 1999, Lui was only two years old.

“There have been near misses, some minor incidents reported and continual pinch points in that spot,” he said. A 2022 Stantec pedestrian survey highlighted that more than 200 pedestrians crossed Ilam Road near Homestead Lane during peak hours, lunch time, and between 3pm and 4pm on weekdays.

The University of Canterbury’s AI checking systems are being questioned after some students claim to have been falsely accused of using Generative AI in their assignments. Students describe the experience as demeaning and isolating, making them feel they have no way to defend themselves. Charlotte*, a 3rd year student at UC, was brought in for a meeting with her lecturer after he suspected that her assignment was 70% AI-generated.

It’s a pretty brutal feeling to realize we cannot escape misogyny. We are absolutely drowning in it. The few times I have been brave enough to stand up to a sexist comment, I catch myself opening with "not to go all feminist on you….". What the fuck is that about? So right now, I am going to go completely 100% full feminist on you. I hope that’s okay! To give you some context, earlier today my flat mates and I were cleaning up a mess we made a couple nights ago at an ex-boyfriend’s flat.

The University of Canterbury Students Association recently hosted the UC Asia Pacific Festival, a four-hour event hosted in Haere-Roa that featured live performances, food stalls and cultural workshops. I got a text in the morning telling me they were selling Malaysian food at uni, which is a big deal. Coming from a small town in North Canterbury, I’ve never really had the chance to connect to my Malaysian heritage outside of my family home and trips to Southeast Asia.

Before Lou’ana’s Disco Witch concert, I had never dabbled in glittery divine-feminine disco pop by a witch from Auckland. But after seeing her live, I’m thinking maybe it's what my life has always been missing. Promoting her recently released sophomore album, Disco Witch, Lou'ana has been touring Aotearoa and bringing her unique brand of feminine, occult-flavoured 70s nostalgia to cities nationwide.

Ōtautahi rangatahi voices are growing louder and fighting stronger than ever against the current government's actions regarding climate change. Locally and nationally, there is a dispute between the younger and older generations in Ōtautahi about Aotearoa’s next steps. Earlier this year, the Christchurch City Council proposed two options for their Climate Resilience Fund.

The Canterbury University Ski and Snow club held their highly anticipated annual snow and ski sale on May 3rd. With lines forming onto the street of Ilam road as early as 8am, New Zealand’s largest snow sale again saw success, with the line not ending until the afternoon.