Chelsea Winstanley

Chelsea Jane Winstanley ONZM is a New Zealand film producer. She produces short films and documentaries which celebrate Indigenous peoples.[1] She also produced the films What We Do in the Shadows and Jojo Rabbit.

Chelsea Winstanley

ONZM
Winstanley in 2022
Born
Chelsea Jane Winstanley

(1976-01-30) 30 January 1976
Tauranga, Bay of Plenty, New Zealand
OccupationFilm producer
Spouse
​
​
(m. 2011, divorced)​
Children3

Career

Chelsea Jane Winstanley was born on 30 January 1976, in Tauranga, Bay of Plenty, New Zealand. She is the daughter of John Winstanley, a home renovator, and Cherry Wilson, a psychotherapist. Chelsea Winstanley's paternal grandfather was John James Winstanley (1905–1977), an ice cream vendor, born in Wigan, Lancashire, England. Winstanley's paternal grandmother Sophia Millerstone Rowe (nee MacDonald) (1914–1961) was the daughter of James MacDonald and Caroline Creed of Inverness, Scotland. Winstanley's maternal grandmother was Kiritapu "Kitty" Wilson (nee Borell) (1926–2014). Winstanley has Ngāti Ranginui and Ngāi Te Rangi ancestry through her mother.[2]

She has produced short films such as Meathead, Ebony Society and Night Shift. In 2014, she co-produced What We Do in the Shadows with Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement. She also co-produced Te Whakarauora Tangata and a documentary about Merata Mita.[3]

In 2017, Winstanley created the film production company Matewa Media alongside Tweedie Waititi, which focuses on creating Māori language adaptations of Disney animated films. As of 2020, the company has created adaptations of Moana (released in 2017), The Lion King and Frozen (both released in 2022).[4][5][6] She directed the documentary Toi Tū Toi Ora in 2020.[7]

Awards and recognition

She won the 2014 SPADA Screen Industry Awards Independent Producer of the Year (shared with Taika Waititi).[8] In 2015, Winstanley was the New Zealand Women in Film and Television's Mana Wahine recipient at Wairoa's Maori Film Festival.[9]

In the 2022 Queen's Birthday and Platinum Jubilee Honours, Winstanley was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to the screen industry and Māori.[10]

Winstanley has won two awards at the Women in Film and Television New Zealand Awards: in 2009 she won the Woman to Watch Award, and in 2022 she won the Award for Achievement in Film.[11][12]

Personal life

At age 20, Winstanley had a son, Maia, whom she raised as a single mother.[2]

In 2011, she married New Zealand director Taika Waititi; they have two daughters.[13][14] The couple separated in 2018.[15]

References
  1. "Chelsea Winstanley is taking Indigenous women directors global". nowtoronto.com. 23 October 2019. Archived from the original on 24 June 2021. Retrieved 19 June 2021.
  2. "Chelsea Winstanley Opens Up About Her Childhood Sexual Abuse And How Husband Taika Waititi Helped Her Heal". Now To Love. Archived from the original on 28 July 2019. Retrieved 28 July 2019.
  3. "Chelsea Winstanley – NZ On Screen". Archived from the original on 12 October 2016. Retrieved 5 September 2016.
  4. "Tweedie Waititi: Bringing Disney classics into te ao Māori". Radio New Zealand. 15 December 2021. Archived from the original on 9 July 2022. Retrieved 26 July 2022.
  5. "Lion King Reo Māori premiere: 'A dream come true'". Radio New Zealand. 22 June 2022. Archived from the original on 22 June 2022. Retrieved 22 June 2022.
  6. "A TE REO MĀORI VERSION OF DISNEY'S 'FROZEN' IS COMING AND IT'S SOONER THAN YOU MIGHT THINK". More FM. 5 July 2022. Archived from the original on 5 July 2022. Retrieved 9 July 2022.
  7. "Chelsea Winstanley to Direct Māori Art Doc "Toi Tu Toi Ora – Visual Sovereignty"". 7 July 2020. Archived from the original on 26 May 2021. Retrieved 19 July 2021.
  8. "Chelsea Winstanley – NZ On Screen". Archived from the original on 12 October 2016. Retrieved 5 September 2016.
  9. "The Diary: Second baby on the way for Taika". 3 June 2015. Archived from the original on 19 September 2016. Retrieved 5 September 2016 – via New Zealand Herald.
  10. "The Queen's Birthday and Platinum Jubilee Honours List 2022". The New Zealand Herald. 6 June 2022. Archived from the original on 6 June 2022. Retrieved 6 June 2022.
  11. Team, Waatea (17 May 2015). "Winstanley out of shadows for WIFT award". Waatea News: Māori Radio Station. Archived from the original on 27 July 2022. Retrieved 27 July 2022.
  12. "WIFT NZ – In case you missed the WIFT Awards winners..." www.wiftnz.org.nz. Archived from the original on 27 July 2022. Retrieved 27 July 2022.
  13. Powley, Kathryn (3 June 2012). "Girl, not Boy, for director dad". The New Zealand Herald. Archived from the original on 5 July 2015. Retrieved 5 February 2015.
  14. "Day One on Thor: Ragnarok". Taika Waititi. 6 July 2016. Archived from the original on 4 February 2020. Retrieved 6 May 2018.
  15. "Taika Waititi and Chelsea Winstanley Separated". The New Zealand Herald. 14 March 2020. Archived from the original on 27 April 2021. Retrieved 17 May 2021.
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