Broken Journey - The Life and Art of JC Sturm

JC Sturm (also known as Jacquie Baxter) was an author and poet whose career was overshadowed by her famous spouse, and societal forces that sidelined women writers — especially Māori writers. Mixing English and te reo, this documentary follows Sturm from her 1927 birth in Ōpunake to her renaissance as a writer, which marked the 'missing link' between an old New Zealand literary tradition and a new Māori voice. Sturm talks about struggling to break through as a Māori woman fostered by Pākehā and living in that system. Witi Ihimaera calls her late acclaim an "accident of timing", as she was an early pioneer.

Had she the chance to be published earlier I think that she would have been heralded and acclaimed, like when I came along I was heralded and acclaimed.

– Witi Ihimaera on the late 'discovery' of writer JC Sturm

Key Cast & Crew

Jim Scott

Writer, Editor

Huia Lambie

Producer

Witi Ihimaera

Subject

Ainsley Gardiner

Executive Producer

John Martin

Composer

Jamie Tuuta

Narrator, Translator