Peter Burger: on calling the shots...

Interview – 2011

Peter Meteherangi Tikao Burger (Ngāi Tahu, Rangitane) can thank a childhood lisp for his screen director. Having been sent to speech lessons, he found himself in the wrong class, and discovered the joys of performance in a drama class at an impressionable age. Since then, Burger has directed numerous screen productions, including award-winning true stories Until Proven Innocent and Erebus - Operation Overdue, Fish Skin Suit, and episodes of Outrageous Fortune and One Lane Bridge.

In this ScreenTalk interview, Burger talks about:

How he started out behind the camera
The joys and anxieties of directing Wi Kuki Kaa in short film Turangawaewae
Why editing short film Tama Tū was so satisfying
Getting bestowed the title of Matai while making feature film The Tattooist
How he approached his work on Outrageous Fortune
Interesting insights into how lead actor Cohen Holloway created his character in tele-feature Until Proven Innocent
His thoughts on making Billy, the tele-feature about the life of Billy T James

This video was first uploaded on 14 November 2011, and is available under this Creative Commons licence. This licence is limited to use of ScreenTalk interview footage only and does not apply to any video content and photographs from films, television, music videos, web series and commercials used in the interview.

Interview, Camera and Editing – James Coleman

It was actually a really good one for an editor to do because there's no dialogue. So the whole thing is on glances and very little actual action . . . They're all just sitting down doing glances and throwing little stones and playing little tricks, without saying a word. So it's actually a great piece for an editor to contribute quite strongly on.
– Peter Burger on why he particularly enjoyed editing Taika Waititi'a short film Tama Tū

Peter's Full Profile