Renae Maihi

Renae Maihi is a New Zealand film director and screenwriter.[1][2] She is best known for her work on the films Waru and We Are Still Here, both of which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2017 and 2022 respectively.[3][4]

Renae Maihi
Born
Auckland, New Zealand
Occupation(s)Director, writer, producer
Years active2009–present
Children1

Life and career

Maihi was born in Auckland, New Zealand. She is Māori of the Ngāpuhi and Te Arawa tribes as well as NZ European.[2]

In 2009, Maihi made her writing debut with Nga Manurere, starring Keisha Castle-Hughes.[5] In 2010, she made her screenwriting debut with short film, Redemption, which premiered at the 60th Berlin International Film Festival and Sundance Film Festival.[6] Her play, Patua, about child abuse won Adam NZ Play Award for best play by a Maori Playwright 2013, and her directorial theatre debut garnered critical acclaim in New Zealand.[7] She subsequently wrote and directed the short film, Butterfly (Purerehua), funded by the New Zealand Film Commission.[8] Butterfly premiered as part of the ImagineNATIVE Film Festival Māori spotlight in 2013 and screened in a programme alongside Taika Waititi’s Two Cars One Night.[9] In 2015, her short film, Mannahatta, premiered at ImagineNATIVE Film Festival in Toronto.[10] Mannahatta was later selected as a finalist for "Best Short Film" at the New Zealand International Film Festival.[11] During 2015, she worked on series 2 of My Kitchen Rules NZ as the Talent coordinator.[12]

Maihi's feature film, Waru, which she co-wrote and co-directed in collaboration with 8 other Māori women filmmakers was made up of a series of vignettes which addressed the widespread issue of child abuse in New Zealand.[13][14][15] The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival,[16] won the audience award at Seattle International Film Festival and the grand jury award for an outstanding international narrative feature at the 34th Asia-Pacific Film Festival in Los Angeles.[17][18] It was also screened at the Wairoa Māori Film Festival, where it won the Indigenous Rights award.[19]

In 2018, she was awarded the NZFC Maori Screen Excellence Award and Whakapapa Film Festival of Italy Award.[20] Her films were screened as part of a retrospective on Māori filmmakers at Auckland's first Māori Film Week and the New Zealand International Film Festival.[21][19]

She directed one of the segments of the anthology film We Are Still Here, which premiered as the opening film of the 2022 Sydney Film Festival and had its North American premiere in the Contemporary World Cinema program at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival.[22] We Are Still Here won Best Dramatic Feature Film at the 2022 imagineNATIVE Film Festival in Toronto.[23]

Bob Jones v Renae Maihi

For Waitangi Day in 2018, Bob Jones wrote an opinion piece calling for an annual "Māori Gratitude Day", where among other things he suggested that Māori serve breakfast in bed to Europeans as Māori owe their existence to British migrants. The opinion piece was published in the National Business Review on 2 February and caused so much outrage that it was soon deleted from their website.[24] In response, Maihi started a petition calling for Bob to be stripped of his knighthood (received as a Knight Bachelor in the 1989 Queen's Birthday Honours) and on 27 March 2018, the petition (with then 68,000 signatures) was presented to parliament and received by MPs Kiri Allan and Willie Jackson.[25] In a seven to four majority decision in April 2018, the New Zealand Media Council did not uphold a complaint about the opinion piece, but noted that the National Business Review's decision to no longer publish columns by Jones was an "appropriate response to the justified public outrage".[26][27]

In June 2018, Jones filed defamation papers with the Wellington High Court, seeking a ruling that the language used in Maihi's petition defamed him.[28] Also in June 2018, community campaigner Laura O'Connell Rapira started a crowdfunding campaign for Maihi's legal costs.[29] The court hearing was set for 10 to 21 February 2020. In his initial cross examination, Jones admitted that he had never read the petition that he claims defames him.[30]

On 14 February 2020 Jones withdrew the case.[31][32][33]

Personal life

Maihi has one son Dallas born in 2001. She identifies as bisexual and has been in a relationship with emerging First Nations Canadian filmmaker Judith Schuyler since 2017.[34]

Filmography
Year Title Writer Director Producer Note
2010 Redemption Green tickY Short Film
2013 Butterfly (Purerehua) Green tickY Green tickY Green tickY Short Film
2015 Mannahatta Green tickY Green tickY Green tickY Short Film
2016 Ka Puta, Ko Au Green tickY Green tickY Short Film
2017 Waru Green tickY Green tickY Feature Film
2022 We Are Still Here Green tickY Green tickY Feature Film

Theatre
  • Nga Manurere
  • Patua
  • Good Medicine

Awards and nominations
Year Result Award Category Work Ref.
2017 Won New Zealand Writers Guild Awards Best Feature Film Script Waru [35]
2018 Won Asia-Pacific Film Festival Grand Jury Award [36]
Won Seattle International Film Festival Audience Award [37]
Won Wairoa Māori Film Festival MANA WAIROA FESTIVAL PRIZE [38]
2022 Won imagineNATIVE Film and Media Arts Festival Best Dramatic Feature Film We Are Still Here [23]

References
  1. "Renae Maihi". nzonscreen.com. Retrieved 1 October 2019.
  2. "Māori filmmaker takes to Global International Film Festival Circuit". teaomaori.news. Retrieved 1 October 2019.
  3. "Waru". sbs.com.au. Retrieved 6 September 2022.
  4. "We Are Still Here". tiff.net. Retrieved 6 September 2022.
  5. "Review: Nga Manurere at TAPAC, Western Springs". NZ Herald. 4 June 2009. Retrieved 1 October 2019.
  6. "NZ short films selected for Sundance". thebigidea.nz. 8 December 2010. Retrieved 1 October 2019.
  7. "PATUA written & directed by Renae Maihi". thebigidea.nz. 29 April 2013. Retrieved 1 October 2019.
  8. "Purerehua". nzfilm.co.nz. Retrieved 1 October 2019.
  9. "2013 imagineNATIVE Catalogue". issuu.com. Retrieved 4 December 2022.
  10. "Award-Winning NYFA Grad's Newest Film Tackles Native Americans' Struggle in "Mannahatta"". nyfa.edu. December 2016. Retrieved 1 October 2019.
  11. "New Zealand Short Stories On Screen at NZIFF 2017". The Weekly Spoon. 1 June 2017. Retrieved 14 February 2020.
  12. de Graaf, Peter (23 February 2015). "Chance to show region's kitchens rule". The Northern Advocate. Retrieved 14 February 2020.
  13. "Waru review: powerful portmanteau film - The Skinny". www.theskinny.co.uk. Retrieved 14 February 2020.
  14. Pringle, Gill (22 November 2017). "Waru: Uncovering New Zealand's Epidemic of Child Abuse". FilmInk. Retrieved 14 February 2020.
  15. "Waru: The New Zealand film you need to see". www.metromag.co.nz. Retrieved 14 February 2020.
  16. "NZ Film WARU to Screen at Toronto International Film Festival - Vendetta News". www.vendettafilms.co.nz. Retrieved 14 February 2020.
  17. "Waru: The nine female Maori filmmakers united in their passion to start a conversation". stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 1 October 2019.
  18. "Award-winning movie "Waru" plays at SIFF, elevates Maori wahine voices". iexaminer.org. 11 June 2018. Retrieved 1 October 2019.
  19. "Best of Wairoa Māori Film Festival to Be Showcased". www.scoop.co.nz. 25 June 2018. Retrieved 14 February 2020.
  20. "Best of Wairoa Māori Film Festival Showcased in Auckland". scoop.co.nz. Retrieved 1 October 2019.
  21. "Aucklanders invited to the city's first ever Māori Film Week". Māori Television. Retrieved 14 February 2020.
  22. Sandy George, "Indigenous anthology feature ‘We Are Still Here’ to open Sydney Film Festival 2022". Screen Daily, 4 May 2022.
  23. "imagineNATIVE Announces Award Winners for 2022 Festival". povmagazine.com. Retrieved 4 December 2022.
  24. "Bob Jones and NBR divorce over 'Māori Gratitude Day' column". The Spinoff. 7 February 2018. Retrieved 14 February 2020.
  25. Sherwood-O’Regan, Kera (28 March 2018). "The Bob Jones knighthood petition has been delivered. Will anyone listen?". The Spinoff. Retrieved 14 February 2020.
  26. "Sir Bob Jones 'Māori Gratitude Day' column complaint not upheld". Radio New Zealand. 6 April 2018. Retrieved 14 February 2020.
  27. "Mel Whaanga against National Business Review". New Zealand Media Council. Retrieved 14 February 2020.
  28. "Sir Bob Jones files defamation papers against filmmaker Renae Maihi". Stuff. 7 June 2018. Retrieved 14 February 2020.
  29. Hurley, Sam (18 June 2018). "Givealittle page launched for film-maker Renae Maihi's legal fees in defamation battle vs Sir Bob Jones". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 14 February 2020.
  30. Johnsen, Meriana (11 February 2020). "Sir Bob Jones didn't read petition he claims defamed him". Radio New Zealand. Retrieved 14 February 2020.
  31. Johnsen, Meriana (14 February 2020). "Sir Bob Jones withdraws defamation case against filmmaker Renae Maihi". Radio New Zealand. Retrieved 14 February 2020.
  32. "What really happened in the Sir Bob Jones v Renae Maihi defamation case?".
  33. "Lizzie Marvelly: Renae Maihi and Sir Robert Jones defamation case threat to free speech". NZ Herald. 21 February 2020.
  34. "A MĀORI OPINION: WHY INDIGENOUS CANADIANS LIVES DIDN'T MATTER TO MICHELLE LATIMER". muskratmagazine.com. Retrieved 4 December 2022.
  35. "SWANZ Awards". nzwg.org.nz. Retrieved 6 September 2022.
  36. "Congratulations to our 2018 Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival winners!". vcmedia.org. Retrieved 6 September 2022.
  37. "Award-winning movie "Waru" plays at SIFF, elevates Maori wahine voices". iexaminer.org. Retrieved 6 September 2022.
  38. "Wairoa Maori Film Awards 2018". maorimovies.com. Retrieved 6 September 2022.
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