ScreenTalk

Tainui Stephens (Te Rarawa) is one of our foremost Māori broadcasters. He has worked as a reporter, writer, director, producer and executive producer. His credits include Maori Battalion March to Victory and The New Zealand Wars.

Stephens was a stalwart of TVNZ’s Māori Programmes department in the 1980s and 90s, working on the regular series Koha, Waka Huia, Marae and Mai Time.

In this interview Tainui Stephens discusses:

• being raised by his Pākehā mother, and his own personal journey “into my Māoridom”
• beginning work at TVNZ Māori Programmes in 1984, and how much he enjoyed his work there
• how he loves all the programmes he has worked on over the years
• the good that Māori broadcasting can do
• the Maori Television Service, its success, and the important role it plays in New Zealand life.

This interview is available on YouTube for distribution via a Creative Commons licence.

Credits: Interview by Monika Ahuriri, camera and direction by Clare O’Leary. Editing by Leo Guerchmann.

Actor Rena Owen came to international fame through her role as matriarch Beth Heke in the hard-hitting feature film, Once Were Warriors, based on the Alan Duff novel about a Māori family struggling with domestic violence, gang culture and urban alienation.

She is currently living and working in Los Angeles and and is developing an adaptation of the novel, Behind the Tattooed Face by Heretaunga Pat Baker. Behind the Tattooed Face was the first novel written by a Māori about pre-European Māori. Owen hopes to return to NZ to film it once the financing is in place.

Owen was back in New Zealand recently to work on Vincent Ward’s Rain of the Children and Fiona Samuel’s upcoming TV drama, Piece of My Heart.

In this interview she talks with Clare O’Leary about:

• her beginnings in theatre as an actor and playwright;
• her many television drama roles and how she got her break on the landmark drama series, E Tipu E Rea;
• her role as Beth in Warriors;
• making a living as a Kiwi actor overseas;
• working on New Zealand stories (Behind the Tattooed Face, Piece of My Heart);
• the significance of working with Māori creative teams and crew.

Find out more about Rena Owen on NZ On Screen.

This interview is available to download and distribute in two parts (Part One and Part Two) on YouTube.

Credits: Direction and Interview – Clare O’Leary, Camera and Editing – Leo Guerchmann