Tagata Pasifika - 7 March 2015
In this March 2015 episode of long-running magazine-style show Tagata Pasifika, Sandra Kailahi explores the factors that lead some young pasifika mothers to abandon their newborns. Then hosts Marama T-Pole and Tom Natoealofa interview actor Teuila Blakely, who had her son at 17, about what it was like being a teenage mother, and what needs to change to support others in that situation. Also featured are stories about the Samoan King’s son converting to the Mormon faith, and allegations New Zealand has been conducting surveillance on its Pacific neighbours.
Bliss: The Beginning of Katherine Mansfield
Bliss is a portrait of the artist as a young woman. The award-winning telemovie follows Katherine Mansfield from boredom in Edwardian Wellington to liberation and love affairs in London, where she dares to dream of being a writer. Kate Elliott plays Mansfield as a spirited 19-year-old, hungry for experience. Bliss screened to acclaim in TV One's Sunday Theatre slot in August 2011. Listener reviewer Fiona Rae praised director Fiona Samuel's "excellent" script, and for allowing "her Mansfield to be witty, passionate and outspoken without belabouring the status of women in 1908".
Teuila Blakely: Learning on the job...
Teuila Blakely began her TV career presenting C4’s live music show Freestyle, before landing an extended role on Shortland Street. Blakely has shown her versatility by appearing in comedy shows (bro’Town, RadiRadiRah and Funny Girls), dramatic series (This is Not My Life) and films (Sione’s Wedding and Sione’s 2: Unfinished Business). She also made a splash as a contestant on Dancing with the Stars.
Hanelle Harris - Funny As Interview
Hanelle Harris is the creator and one of the stars of web series Baby Mama’s Club, which brings Māori and Pasifika solo mothers into the spotlight. Hanelle discusses several topics during her Funny As interview, including: Enjoying playing the villains in plays from a young age, because they always had a lot of “comedy and sarcasm” How she believed getting pregnant at 18 meant that she couldn't have a successful acting career Deciding to write for the screen, because there were no stories that she wanted to direct Creating Baby Mama’s Club to empower young mothers to “make something of their lives”, and create positive representations of Māori and Pasifika women Teaming up with the cast of Flat3 to create a rap battle — Girl Fight — to tackle the issue of racism Reflecting on the problems of past comedy, and how modern audiences can take offense to anything
Open House - Happy Birthday (First Episode)
Open House revolved around the ups and downs of a drop-in house run by Tony Van Der Berg (Frank Whitten, later Outrageous Fortune's Grandpa Ted). In this first episode there's money trouble, court trouble, domestics, a pregnant teenager and an abandoned baby ... but there's community spirit aplenty as the house's whānau prepares for its first birthday celebration, complete with Scottish brass band and Samoan drums. Tony's first lines to a raving old man on Petone Beach? "Good onya mate!". Features author Emily Perkins as Tony's idealistic stepdaughter.
Kathleen Mantel
Kathleen Mantel began directing television documentaries in the late 90s. Since then she has won awards in the United States for Kiwi-made docos on problem gambling (It's Not a Game), teenage pregnancy (KIDS) and the Exclusive Brethren (Leaving the Exclusive Brethren). In 2012 her doco The Green Chain won the NZ Television Award for Best Popular Documentary.
E Tipu e Rea
A flagbearer for Māori storytelling on primetime television, E Tipu e Rea (Grow up tender young shoot) was a series of 30 minute dramas touching on a range of Māori experiences of the Pākehā world — from rural horse-back riding and eeling, to urban hostility and cultural estrangement. It marked the first anthology of Māori television plays, and the first TV production to use predominantly Māori personnel. E Tipu e Rea's mandate and achievement was to tell Māori stories in a Māori way.
Ashleigh Seagar
Actor Ashleigh Seagar first appeared on-screen in 1994, playing a pregnant teenager on long-running soap Shortland Street. Five years later she hit the big screen as the young student caught up in dark doings in hit movie Scarfies.
Vanessa Alexander
Vanessa Alexander attracted attention as a rookie director with her low-budget feature Magik and Rose. Since then she has compiled an impressive list of achievements as a producer (Being Eve, Cargo), director (the opening episodes of Outrageous Fortune and Agent Anna) writer (Love Child), script editor, and lecturer. These days Alexander works in Australian television.
Antonia Prebble
Antonia Prebble played the manipulative Loretta West on Outrageous Fortune over six seasons, before starring in prequel Westside. Prebble began her screen career aged 12 on TV series Mirror, Mirror, and did five seasons on sci-fi hit The Tribe during her school holidays. From 2013 her career got even busier, with starring roles in legal thriller The Blue Rose, Witi Ihimaera film White Lies and bio-thriller The Cure.