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.
One thing that I learnt during this period was never mind about the facts; it's how you felt about what happened...it's an emotional memory that you're using.– JC Sturm on her family's time in India in the early 1960s
Tim Rose
Jim Scott
Made with funding from Te Māngai Pāho
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