Sima Urale

Born in Samoa in 1967, Sima Urale immigrated to New Zealand with her family in 1974.

After graduating from Toi Whakaari New Zealand Drama School, in 1989, Urale worked for two years as an actor before pursuing her ambitions as a director. She studied at the Victorian College of the Arts Film and Television (formerly Swinburne) in Melbourne. In 1993  she won the VCA Encouragement Student Award, and in 1994 she graduated with a bachelors degree in arts, film and television.

On returning home to Wellington,  Urale wrote and directed her short film O Tamaiti (1996), a powerful visual narrative focused on the children's experience in an immigrant family.

O Tamaiti marked an impressive international debut for Urale, winning Best Short Film (Silver Lion), Venice Film Festival; Best Short Film, Asia-Pacific Film Festival; Best Short Film (Silver Plaque) 32nd Chicago Film Festival; Best Short Film, NZ Film and TV Awards; and Best screenplay, Flickerfest, Australia.

In 1997 Urale directed her first documentary, Velvet Dreams, for TVNZ Work of Art series with producer Vincent Burke. Richly ironic and playful, Velvet Dreams explores sensuous and stereotypical images of the bare breasted South Seas maidens painted on velvet. It went on to screen at the NZ and Hawaii film festivals, and won Best Documentary Award at the Yorkton International Film Festival in Canada.

Her first music video Sub-cranium Feeling, filmed underwater for her brother King Kapisi, won Best Music Video at the BFM, Mai Time, and Flying Fish Awards, and in 2004 was awarded a NZ On Air 1000 Music Video Celebration's Award.

Urale's second short film Still Life (2001) became the first New Zealand short to pick up the top award from the prestigious Montreal Film Festival. Still Life received a Special Mention Award at the Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland, as well as Best Director, Best Art Department and Best Script at the Drifting Clouds International Film Festival 2002.

In 2004, Urale was awarded the inaugural Fulbright-Creative New Zealand Pacific Writers' Residency at the University of Hawaii. In 2006 she attended the six month Mauritz Binger Script development programme in Amsterdam where she focused on the feature project Moana.

On her return to New Zealand in 2007, she directed the short film Coffee & Allah, written by Shuchi Khotari, and produced by Khotari and Sarina Pearson. Coffee & Allah had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival.

As a visual storyteller, Urale retains the Samoan oral tradition of story-telling or fagogo and brings to it a contemporary twist. At the forefront of filmmakers telling Pacific stories, Urale is influenced by her Samoan heritage and the urban cultural experience of growing up and living in Aotearoa.

Urale recently completed her debut feature film, Apron Strings, with producer Rachel Gardner, writers Shuchi Khotari and Dianne Taylor; and DoP, Rewa Harre. The film premiered at the 2008 Auckland Film Festival and was officially selected for the Toronto Film Festival.