Josephine Stewart-Te Whiu

Auckland film and theatre maker Josephine Stewart-Te Whiu acts, writes and directs. As a writer/director, her short family drama Ani was a nominee at the 2019 Berlin and Toronto International Film Festival; and short When We Were Kids won two awards at the 2021 NZ International Film Festival. She contributed to the award-winning screenplay and acted in the collaborative film Waru. Her other acting credits include Find Me A Māori Bride and Mahana. She directed her debut feature We Were Dangerous in 2024, following three girls at a 1950s reform school. The film was awarded a Special Jury award at American festival South by Southwest.

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