Wāhine Māori Filmmaker on the Global Festival Circuit
Wāhine Māori Filmmaker Has Three Films Screening on the Global International Film Festival Circuit
Renae
Maihi (Ngāti Whakaue, Ngāpuhi) is an award winning and
critically acclaimed Writer, Director and Producer in
Theatre and Film. She currently has three new films
circulating the global international film festival circuit.
A possible first for any NZ filmmaker. Two of the films are
almost entirely in Te Reo Māori.
The three films
travelling the circuit are:
Mannahatta, a
short narrative black and white film made in New York as an
acknowledgement of the native people who resided in
Manhattan, New York for thousands of years. At the time of
filming, Renae was in New York for two months on a
Professional Development Award from the NZ Film Commission
and the Ngāti Whakaue Education Endowment Trust.
Mannahatta premiered at ImagineNATIVE in Canada in
2016 and also played at this year’s NZ International Film
Festival.
Ka Puta, Ko Au, is a short action film made as part of this year’s Māoriland Film Festival Native Slam initiative with two other native filmmakers. The film is entirely in Te Reo Māori and was made from concept to delivery in 72 hours. Ka Puta, Ko Au will have its international premiere at the ImagineNATIVE Film Festival in Canada this month.
Waru, is a feature film
consisting of eight short films. Renae’s film Ranui is
part of the Waru anthology and is almost entirely in
Te Reo Māori. Waru opens in cinemas around Aotearoa
on the 19th of October. It had its NZ premiere at the NZ
International Film Festival and its international premiere
at the prestigious Toronto International Film Festival
(TIFF). It is due to screen at ImagineNATIVE in Canada this
month and will have its US release at the Hawaii
International Film Festival in November.
Renae
will be travelling to Toronto to accompany both of her films
screening at ImagineNATIVE. She has a longstanding
relationship with the film festival that goes back to 2010
when a film she co-wrote with fellow Waru
collaborator Katie Wolfe and Katie’s husband Tim Balme won
best film. Her next film Butterfly saw her back in Toronto
in 2013 with a strong delegation of Māori filmmakers.
This is the second time within a month that Renae
will be in Toronto after returning recently from the
successful screenings of Waru at TIFF last month.
Going forward, Renae is focused on a career as a
global feature filmmaker. She has worked hard to hone her
craft and develop the necessary skills required to lead a
vision and direct a team. She looks forward to throwing
everything into her current project and working with the
world class practitioners we have in our local and global
film industry.
ends