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MakeritaUrale

  • Director
Makerita_Urale.jpg

Makerita Urale grew up in her father's village in Samoa, before the family emigrated down under. She has gone on to bring a Pasifika voice to plays (the acclaimed Frangipani Perfume), museum exhibits, and documentaries. In 1995 Urale wrote Samoans-down under drama 'The Hibiscus' for TV's Tala Pasifika. Since then, the one time RNZ journalist has directed documentaries on Samoan tattooing (Savage Symbols), gangs (Gang Girls), and Kiwi activists (Qantas award-winner Children of the Revolution). In 2010 she joined Creative New Zealand, as an arts advisor on Pacific Arts.

Screenography

Waiata Whawhai: Songs of Protest
2009 Director Television
Journey to Ihipa
2008 Producer Short film
2007 Director Television
2007 Creative Producer Television
Gang Girls - Mob Daughters
2006 Director Television

Awards

2008 Qantas Film Television and Awards
Best Māori Language Programme: Children of the Revolution

2007 Winnipeg Aboriginal Film Festival (Canada)
Nominated for Best Documentary: Gang Girl - Tarnz' Story

“Frangipani Perfume is an intoxicating blend of lush physical imagery and spare poetic language, as sensual and evocative as its title.”

Canadian writer Kathleen Oliver, in a review of Makerita Urale's play Frangipani Perfume, The Georgia Straight, 19 October 2006