Josephine Stewart-Te Whiu
Director, Writer, Actor [Ngāpuhi, Te Rarawa]
Auckland film and theatre maker Josephine Stewart-Te Whiu (Ngāpuhi/Te Rarawa) acts, writes and directs. As a writer/director, her film commission supported shorts Ani and When We Were Young enjoyed festival success — family drama Ani was a nominee at the both the Berlin and Toronto International Film Festivals in 2019, whilst When We Were Young won two awards at the 2021 NZ International Film Festival. She contributed to the award-winning screenplay for collaborative film Waru, in which she also performed. Her other her acting credits include Shortland Street, Find Me A Māori Bride and Mahana.
I was really frustrated with how Māori were being represented in a lot of our cinema, especially men. So I made a little piece that was anti that and really flipped the script on how people view our men. Josephine Stewart-Te Whiu on her short film Ani, in an interview with Te Ao Māori News, 8 September 2019
