PRESS KIT Cover - African Film KIT A new film from ... Censorship Rating M with violence and nudity ... Barnett says it was the powerful themes and the strong female characters within

PRESS KIT

A new film from the Producers of Whale Rider, written and directed by Dana Rotberg

Based on the novella ‘Medicine Woman’ by Witi Ihimaera.

Distributed by

ArtMattan Productions

[email protected] ‐ www.AfricanFilm.com – (212) 864‐1760

CONTENTS

The Film at a Glance ................................................................................................................................... 4

Key Cast ....................................................................................................................................................... 5

Synopses:

One-liner ............................................................................................................................................ 6

Short synopsis ................................................................................................................................... 6

Long synopsis .................................................................................................................................... 6

Glossary ....................................................................................................................................................... 8

Historical Background ............................................................................................................................. 10

Production Story ....................................................................................................................................... 11

Author Witi Ihimaera - on writing the novella Medicine Woman ....................................................... 15

A note from Writer/Director Dana Rotberg .......................................................................................... 16

Witi Ihimaera in Conversation with Dana Rotberg ............................................................................. 18

A note from Tracey Collins ..................................................................................................................... 25

An Interview with John Psathas ............................................................................................................. 26

An Interview with Whirimako Black ..................................................................................................... 27

An Interview with Rachel House ........................................................................................................... 31

An Interview with Antonia Prebble ....................................................................................................... 33

Key Cast Biographies:

Whirimako Black | Paraiti ............................................................................................................. 35

Rachel House | Maraea .................................................................................................................. 35

Antonia Prebble | Rebecca ............................................................................................................ 36

Key Crew Biographies

John Barnett | Producer ................................................................................................................. 37

Chris Hampson | Producer ........................................................................................................... 37

Dana Rotberg | Writer & Director ................................................................................................ 38

Witi Ihimaera | Originating Author ............................................................................................ 38

Alun Bollinger | Cinematographer .............................................................................................. 39

Tracey Collins | Designer .............................................................................................................. 39

John Psathas | Composer .............................................................................................................. 40

Paul Sutorius | Editor .................................................................................................................... 40

Rosa Bosch | Executive Producer ................................................................................................. 41

Awards & Nominations ........................................................................................................................... 42

Credit Block ............................................................................................................................................... 43

Full Credits ................................................................................................................................................ 44

© 2013 South Pacific Pictures Ltd 5

THE FILM AT A GLANCE

English Title White Lies Māori Title Tuakiri Huna Genre Drama Censorship Rating M with violence and nudity

Running Time 96 minutes NZ Cinema Release June 27, 2013, nationwide NZ DVD Release 2013 Director Dana Rotberg Producers John Barnett and Chris Hampson Executive Producer Rosa Bosch Screenplay Dana Rotberg, based on the novella Medicine Woman by Witi Ihimaera Key Cast Whirimako Black, Rachel House and Antonia Prebble Music John Psathas Cinematographer Alun Bollinger Editor Paul Sutorius Production Company South Pacific Pictures Distribution by Madman NZ/South Pacific Pictures Financed by New Zealand Film Commission, Screen Production Incentive Fund,

NZ on Air and South Pacific Pictures Locations Filmed on location in New Zealand in Te Urewera, Ruatahuna,

Waikaremoana and Auckland. Technical Colour, 1:1:85, 96 minutes, Dolby Digital


KEY CAST

Paraiti WHIRIMAKO BLACK

Maraea RACHEL HOUSE

Rebecca ANTONIA PREBBLE

Horiana NANCY BRUNNING

Aroha TE WAIMARIE KESSELL

Wirepa KOHUORANGI TAWHARA

Hospital Matron ELIZABETH HAWTHORNE


SYNOPSES

ONE-LINER

A medicine woman - a giver of life – is asked to hide a secret which may protect one life but which will destroy another. SHORT SYNOPSIS

White Lies is about the nature of identity: those who deny it and those who strive to protect it. Paraiti (Whirimako Black) is a medicine woman. She is the healer and midwife of her rural, tribal people – she believes in life. But new laws are in force prohibiting unlicensed healers. On a rare trip to the city, she is approached by Maraea (Rachel House), the servant of a wealthy woman, Rebecca (Antonia Prebble), who seeks her knowledge and assistance in order to hide a secret which could destroy Rebecca’s position in European settler society. If the secret is uncovered a life may be lost, but hiding it may also have fatal consequences. So Paraiti, Maraea and Rebecca become players in a head-on clash of beliefs, deception and ultimate salvation. LONG SYNOPSIS

Late 19th century, Te Urewera, New Zealand: A young Māori girl, Paraiti, is forced to watch as her father is murdered by European soldiers and her village is burnt. The experience leaves her scarred inside and out - a slash across the face has left her permanently disfigured. Many years have passed. Paraiti lives a nomadic life. Her only companions are now just a dog and a white horse. Steeped in traditional beliefs and distrusting of the Pākēhā (European settlers), she uses the old ways to heal the sick and teach the children of Te Urewera. However, while she is quietly celebrated within her community, the art of traditional healing has been made illegal and the consequences are dire if Paraiti is caught.


While in town one day, Paraiti is approached by Maraea, a servant, who begs the medicine woman to tend to her mistress. Rebecca Vickers is beautiful, arrogant and deathly pale. With her pregnancy well-advanced, she asks Paraiti to rid her of the child before her husband returns from a trip abroad. Maraea adds that if the husband learns of his wife’s pregnancy he will kill her. Disgusted, Paraiti leaves, telling the pair that healing is about giving life, not taking it away. Soon after, staff at the local hospital prevent Paraiti from providing a young pregnant Māori woman who she knows, with the medicine she needs. Paraiti witnesses the subsequent death of both the girl, her baby and the breaking of tapu (sacredness) - this sends her into the depths of despair and the load she carries suddenly becomes too heavy. Paraiti returns back to the town to Rebecca and tells her she has changed her mind and is willing to treat her. During her stay at the Vickers’ estate Paraiti becomes increasingly annoyed with the servant Maraea - why is she, another Māori woman who has also suffered loss, insistent on disregarding her culture? Why does Maraea want so much to be like a white person? As Paraiti continues to ignore the rules of the house, firmly adhering to her own traditions, the tension between the pair grows. As Paraiti continues to treat Rebecca, she discovers a shocking revelation and the three women become players in a head-on clash of beliefs, deception and ultimate salvation.


GLOSSARY (www.maoridictionary.co.nz)

Aotearoa The Māori name for New Zealand. Literally ‘land of the long white cloud’.

atua ancestor with continuing influence, god, demon, supernatural being, deity, ghost, object of superstitious regard, strange being - although often translated as 'god' but when used for the Christian God, this is a misconception of the real meaning. Many Māori trace their ancestry from atua in their whakapapa and they are regarded as ancestors with influence over particular domains.

huna to conceal, hide Māori the indigenous people of New Zealand, of Polynesian descent marae courtyard - the open area in front of the wharenui, where formal greetings and

discussions take place Pākehā New Zealander of European descent Ringatū a Māori Christian faith founded by Māori leader Te Kooti in the 1860s with

adherents mainly from the Bay of Plenty and East Coast tribes rongoā to treat, apply medicines tatau pounamu enduring peace Te Kooti Te Kooti Arikirangi Te Turuki (Gisborne, c. 1832–1893) was a Māori leader, the

founder of the Ringatu religion and fighter for Māori sovereignty. Te Urewera An area of the central North Island of Aotearoa, New Zealand. Te Urewera is a

rough, sparsely populated hill country and is the historical home of Ngai Tūhoe (the Tūhoe tribe). Because of its isolation and dense forest, Te Urewera remained largely untouched by British colonists until the early 20th century.

tīpuna ancestors, grandparents tikanga correct procedure, custom, habit, lore, method, manner, rule, way, code, meaning,

plan, practice, convention tohunga skilled person, chosen expert, priest - a person chosen by the agent of an atua and

the tribe as a leader in a particular field because of signs indicating talent for a particular vocation


Tohunga Suppression Act 1907

An act of law passed by the government of New Zealand which limited what services Māori tohunga could provide to their communities

tuakiri identity Tūhoe Māori tribal group of New Zealand’s Bay of Plenty covering an area from

Whakatane to Gisborne and including Rotorua utu to repay, pay, make a response, avenge, reply whakapapa genealogy, genealogical table, lineage, descent wharenui meeting house, large house - main building of a marae where guests are

accommodated


HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

In late 19th and early 20th century New Zealand, most of the country’s indigenous people - Māori - lived in predominantly rural areas and did not have significant access to Western medical, educational or social services. The medical needs of many isolated Māori communities were provided by traditional healers who dealt with minor ailments as well as childbirth.

Many of these healers were male priests called tohunga who, while trained in traditional methodologies, were untrained in the Western medical practice of the day. In an attempt to set a “modern” standard of medical health and to quash what was considered to be superstitious and at times dangerous practice, the New Zealand Government passed an Act suppressing the activities of the tohunga and sought to replace

traditional medicine with “modern” medicine. This act was known as the Tohunga Suppression Act 1907 and it limited what services tohunga could provide to their communities. However, the use of traditional Māori medicine continued in many areas, often in secret. The genesis of this story actually began in the 1950s when Witi Ihimaera, the author of the originating literature, was taken to such a healer by his mother.


PRODUCTION STORY

White Lies owes much of its genesis to the 2003 South Pacific Pictures feature film Whale Rider. Not only are both feature films based on literary works by acclaimed author Witi Ihimaera, but it was Whale Rider that inspired White Lies director and writer Dana Rotberg to move half-way across the world to New Zealand from her native Mexico. John Barnett, Producer of both Whale Rider and White Lies, credits Rosa Bosch of B&W Films with making the initial introduction between himself and Rotberg. “Rosa was one of the sales agents on Whale Rider and her expertise in the Hispanic and Latin American film markets is legendary,” he says. “In early 2007 she called me to say a friend of hers had come to live in New Zealand. She told me this friend [Rotberg] is a very well-known Mexican film director and the reason she decided to move to New Zealand with her daughter is because she saw Whale Rider.” Rotberg’s decision to move to New Zealand was certainly spontaneous but such was the power of her reaction to Whale Rider. “At the time, I didn’t even know anything at all about New Zealand. I was taken by the film in a very, very profound way, and I thought, ‘if I could choose where I want to live and where I want my daughter to grow up, I would choose that place’.” The morning after she saw Whale Rider, Rotberg purchased two one-way tickets for herself and her daughter to New Zealand. Along with her daughter and later the family dog, Rotberg settled in Auckland and soon after that, on Bosch’s recommendation, Barnett called the director and the pair struck up a rapport. “I said to Dana, ‘if you find a story that you really like then maybe we could make it’,” explains Barnett. Despite an illustrious career as a film director and producer, Rotberg thought her film-making days were behind her and her new priority was a mother raising her young daughter in their new homeland. Rotberg explains, “I told John, ‘if you are ready to wait for me to raise my daughter, I will happily make a film…if we find a story’.” It turns out that story was the relatively unknown novella Medicine Woman by Witi Ihimaera. In late 2007, Barnett had gifted Rotberg a collection of Ihimaera’s short stories called Ask the Posts of this

House. “I spent a weekend reading the whole book and I enjoyed each one of those amazing stories,” says Rotberg. “But Medicine Woman was a story that just kept on bouncing around my mind. Pieces of the story would come to me so vividly I thought, ‘This must be a story that is speaking to me from somewhere else’.” Barnett says it was the powerful themes and the strong female characters within Medicine Woman that captured his attention. “In a way it was quite different from some of the other things Witi had written, but at the same time it had similar themes; it was about identity, it was about belonging and it was about what happens when you turn your back on your identity”. South Pacific Pictures put up the development funding for the project and Rotberg commenced work on the screenplay. As a relatively new immigrant to New Zealand, one of the first stumbling blocks Rotberg encountered during the scriptwriting process was that she lacked the necessary knowledge of Māori culture. “I discovered how absolute ignorant was in regards to the complexity of the Māori culture and then of the Tūhoe culture and then of the Ruatahuna culture… each one of them is a universe


within itself,” she explains. “So once I was aware of my ignorance, my next step was to read as much as I could. I really spent two years reading books about the Māori culture and the Tūhoe history. Of course I then understood all that was dead knowledge – it was a good reference but it had nothing to do with the powerful living culture that was out there somewhere in a place called Te Urewera.” So Rotberg then took a journey to the place where her film was set - Te Urewera - where she walked the spectacular Lake Waikaremoana and then ventured to spend a night in Ruatahuna, where Ihimaera had placed his story. Ruatahuna is a tiny rural township in the northeast of New Zealand’s North Island. It is located 90 kilometres west of Gisborne, 18 kilometres northwest of popular tourist destination Lake Waikaremoana and is surrounded on three sides by Te Urewera National Park. It was there, at the Ruatahuna motel (which consists of a couple of rooms off the town’s petrol station-cum-store), that Rotberg met Ruatahuna locals Meriann and Richard White of Oputao Marae. The Whites showed Rotberg around the area, familiarised her with the landscape and introduced her to the local people and the culture. Their friendship flourished and Meriann connected Rotberg with her sister, a film-maker called Kararaina Rangihau who critiqued an early draft of the script and soon became Rotberg’s primary cultural advisor on the project. “Dana wrote a terrific script,” says Barnett. “She took Witi’s novella, and in changing and adapting the roles and motivations and the inner qualities of the characters, the film story became a triangle of confronted and conflicting identities. “But, in addition to that, she also became involved in the community of the story - in the Tūhoe community and in the Ruatahuna community - and she made sure everything she did was done with their knowledge and their blessing.” By early 2012 the script was ready to be shot and Barnett brought on board Producer Chris Hampson to helm the production. “This project has a strong artistic and art house element to it and I brought Chris on as Producer because he has got a long history of literary involvement,” says Barnett. “I knew Chris would be somebody who would understand the basis of the story and he could work across the production and really be my eyes and ears on location as well as throughout the production and post-production period.” In the pre-production period, Rotberg worked closely with Casting Director Christina Asher to find the right combination of the three actresses who were going to embody her three leads. In a sense, the casting of Whirimako Black started early on in the writing process. “While I was writing the script, I had a few faces in front of me because they allowed me to jump out from my Mexican image universe to something more suitable to the story I was adapting,” she explains. “I had a Whirimako Black CD by my window and that CD cover was a visual reference for me while I was writing Paraiti,” says Rotberg. “I think Whirimako brings a profound, ancient, grounded and sacred quality to Paraiti,” says Rotberg. “She also brings the beautiful te reo because she’s a native speaker so Whirimako, within herself, just being herself, gave to Paraiti a beautiful presence.”


Antonia Prebble had also been an early contender for Rotberg for the role of Rebecca: “I absolutely love that girl and I could see her in that role,” she says. “In the case of Antonia, I think she’s an extremely talented, beautiful, devoted actress and she also has an emotional wisdom and is very brave - all qualities that we needed with this character. “Antonia knew this character in and out. She knew her story and her journey so profoundly that she brought into the story things that I was not even aware that they were there, and she revealed them to me which is quite a privilege as a director - to collaborate with someone who has that wisdom. She is perfect in terms of the seriousness that she brings to her work. She’s an absolute pleasure to work with and she also has a cinematic beauty…no matter how you shoot her she responds to the space of the camera, in a way that is joyful for a director.” Maraea presented something more of a casting challenge for Rotberg. “When we started out, I couldn’t see who would play Maraea but then Christina Asher mentioned the amazing, beautiful Rachel House.” Rotberg saw Rachel and was instantly taken with her. “With the power she has and the sophistication of her acting, she couldn’t be better for that role. You need to have a very refined and intelligent actress to be able to be able to convey the level of complexity required for that character and Rachel House brought to this character much more than what I gave her in the script.” Rotberg couldn’t be more complimentary of her lead cast: “I got three amazing woman, all three of them absolutely different - as my characters are absolutely different. Each one of them, as human beings and as actresses, brought different textures and perspectives and colour to the characters. I was enriched by them.”

In the crewing of the film, the Producers knew it was vital to bring on board key personnel who would not only suit the project from a creative standpoint but who could also endure the unique conditions of shooting on location in Ruatahuna and Te Urewera. “Filming in an area like Te Urewera is certainly not easy,” explains John Barnett. “You are an hour and a half by car from the nearest town, the road to Ruatahuna is unsealed which makes it difficult for camera and lighting trucks to access the area and the one road in and out of the town can be closed in bad weather. Plus there is no mobile phone reception, internet access can be limited and even power supply is unreliable. So the crew members on this shoot had to be flexible in their approach. Plus, we knew having made Whale Rider in Whangara, that the crew also had to fit in with the local community, because you can’t trample all over the way the local people live their lives. We had to pick people who know that when they get in there are going to be respectful, not overawed by it.” Cinematographer Alun Bollinger was an easy choice for both the Producers and for Rotberg who had first seen Bollinger’s work while at film school in Mexico. “Alun Bollinger is a unique artist,” she says. “He is a man who understands the space in the frame in an emotional way. He understood the film profoundly and is humble enough to allow a story to happen and at the same time to bring the best of his vision to a film.” Barnett also credits Bollinger’s off-screen experience with adding a special touch to the picture. “When Alun was younger, he and his father had gone tramping all over the area so he was physically familiar with the space but he was also emotionally familiar with it and in that way he


was critical to the project. In addition to that, Alun is a not only a stand-out DOP but he’s also flexible enough to work through the challenges of a shoot like this.” Other key creative on the film were Editor Paul Sutorius who Barnett says “brought a sensibility and a common sense to the editing role”; renowned Designer Tracey Collins who had worked on a number of South Pacific Pictures’ previous film and television productions and who helmed both the Costume and the Art departments; and Composer John Psathas for whom White Lies is only his second film credit. Unlike many of the other key creatives on the project, Barnett didn’t know Psathas personally but the composer’s reputation preceded him. “I was aware of the work John had done on the score for a New Zealand Western called Good for Nothing which had received really good reviews but he is best known internationally for doing the opening music for the Athens Olympics,” says Barnett. “John is of Greek New Zealand descent and he has a big reputation and although he was very busy at the time, he read Dana’s script and was intrigued.” Psathas brought on board musician Richard Nunns who is renowned for his work with traditional Māori instruments and Psathas deftly combines Nunns’ traditional Māori melodies with a classical score. “John brought an exquisite emotional understanding not only of the film, and not only of the characters but also of the two cultural sources that feed our drama,” says Rotberg. “He was wise enough to allow the space of the Māori traditional sounds to tell their story and then hand over when it was needed to the occidental white Pākehā cultural territory of music, which is a very difficult thing and he did it with discretion, with respect and with amazing talent. I think he brought another layer of drama and emotional texture to the film and he made the film fly.”


WRITING THE NOVELLA MEDICINE WOMAN - AUTHOR WITI IHIMAERA The novella ‘Medicine Woman’ is really about the woman who saved my life.

When I was born I was a sickly infant with chronic breathing problems and, after trying a number of Pākehā doctors, my parents took me to see a Māori "doctor" who was known as Blightface because of the livid red scar across her nose and left cheek. She practiced illegally among Māori patients, travelling alone with a horse and mule on various circuits to Ringatū marae on the East Coast or throughout inland Gisborne and across into Tūhoe country. According to my mother, my parents were scolded, I was taken away into a tent full of steam mixed with herbs and various softening oils and honey were dripped through my lips and, then, Blightface put the hook of her finger down my throat and began to pull out string after string of phlegm.

Such a character is the stuff of highly individual fiction and it’s a wonder that I had never written about Blightface earlier. I guess I was waiting for an inner story to manifest itself with a fictional moral dilemma that I could give my fictional Blightface as she travels among the Ringatū faithful who provided her main customers. That story came when I read about the classic English actress Merle Oberon, who famously played Cathy to Laurence Olivier's Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights. Nobody realised until she died that she had been born in India or part Indian and part Māori descent, and that the Indian servant who greeted guests at the door had been her own mother. And so the Merle Oberon story entered into the novella to provide its huge emotional and terrorising heart. As Blightface visits Gisborne she is approached by a Māori servant who works for a beautiful Pākehā woman Mrs Rebecca Vickers who wishes Blightface to rid her of an unwanted baby. The three women enter into an unholy alliance, filled with intrigue and deception. And at the core of it, Blightface must answer to her own moral code: can she, as a person dedicated to saving life become complicit in ending life? I am particularly proud and humbled that John Barnett, South Pacific Pictures, and Dana Rotberg, director, have taken upon themselves the loving challenge of bringing Blightface's immensely human story to the screen. Witi Ihimaera, Author Medicine Woman


FROM THE SCREENPLAY WRITER & DIRECTOR – DANA ROTBERG

When I first read Medicine Woman by Witi Ihimaera, in the collection Ask the

Posts of the House (Reed Books, 2007), I found it a perfect piece of storytelling: a balanced structure that contained complexity, was generous in its understanding of human drama and had a delightful sense of humor. A profound story but not a pretentious story. A little gem! The story would not leave my mind. It kept visiting me while I was driving on the motorway, while cooking, when falling asleep…

Paraiti, the Medicine Woman, became a stubborn presence that refused to leave and I became haunted by her. That was to me a clear sign that the story told by Witi Ihimaera was speaking to me from places other than where the original work had come from. Places that belong to my intimate family history and my most unresolved conflicts as a person in the world. It was a call from the core of my origins to look for answers that matter to me, being myself a half-caste, a woman, a mother, and a descendant of people who have been eternal immigrants or brutally colonized by others. A call coming from every drop of the Mexican, Jewish, Catholic, Polish, Indigenous, Italian, Spanish, and Russian blood that runs through my veins. The blood of my tipunas. My very own whakapapa. Never uprooted from its origins, but with enough independence to become an organic entity with a purpose of its own, the creative process of writing an adaptation and imagining a film story becomes the work of an alchemist. For that to happen, I asked Witi Ihimaera if he was ready to give me freedom and independence from him as an author, and allow me to take on my own the original novella Medicine Woman and transform it to first a screenplay, and ultimately a film: White Lies –

Tuakiri Huna. Witi Ihimaera was generous and trusted me. Only then could this script have been conceived and a film been born. Writing the script White Lies – Tuakiri Huna has been for me an uninterrupted experience of adaptation - not only through the process of transforming a literary work into a cinematographical expression, but also as a pilgrimage through a cultural, linguistic and spiritual vision that was unknown to me. I was privileged to be guided by people who know the Māori culture from deep within. People who honour the tikanga and who are proud guardians of a sacred knowledge.


The screenplay and the film:

-Adaptation: ● the act or process of adapting: ● adjustment to environmental conditions as:

a. adjustment of a sense organ to the intensity or quality of stimulation b. modification of an organism or its parts that make it more fit for existence under conditions of its environment.

● Something that is adapted; specifically: a composition rewritten into a new form. Merriam-Webster online Dictionary

Adapting an original work of literature to make a film makes sense to me only when the story can be filtered through my own identity as a filmmaker and as a human being. The heart of literature and cinema palpitate with a different beat. They have different needs in terms of the narrative devices, skills and tools required for a story to be told. Looking for the answers to the demands of the specific language of cinema, I made fundamental changes in the transition from the novella Medicine Woman to the screenplay. These changes took the story of Paraiti, Rebecca and Maraea to a new destination: the film White Lies – Tuakiri Huna.

The title: lies that kill

“Verdades a medias; mentiras que matan”

There is a popular saying in Mexico: “Verdades a medias: mentiras que matan”. In English it would be something like: “Half-truths are lies that kill”.I looked for an equivalent in English to that saying and I believe White Lies is the right expression within the context of the film. In the historical context of colonization it conveys precisely the meaning of that piece of Mexican popular wisdom. Ani Prip, Hineira Woodward and Mina Prip, who knew the script from its earliest origins, gifted us with the te reo Māori translation of Tuakiri Huna(*). That is the origin of the title of the film that was born from the novella Medicine Woman. All through the voyage of languages and cultures, the title has retained the fundamental concepts of the original written by Witi Ihimaera. I believe that this is the most precise example of how the human conflict of identity and truth is a universal drama, no matter in which language, era or culture it is seeded.

Dana Rotberg, Writer & Director of White Lies – Tuakiri Huna

*Tuakiri Huna: Tua: Beyond, on the other side of. Kiri: Identity, personality, Huna: To conceal or hide.

Source: Ani Prip


WITI IHIMAERA IN CONVERSATION WITH DANA ROTBERG - An edited transcript of a video interview -

WITI: I’m so grateful to John [Barnett] that he recognised the promise of an auteur director newly arrived in New Zealand and that he honoured her vision. I think that it is always important that when we have people of calibre we allow them to ‘see’ in the way that they see. Through Dana we have been able to find ways of transforming [the way we look at] our world. I don’t think this film would have been as successful if we hadn’t had a director as aware of how its resonances can also be intuitively moulded towards something that is universal. I think that John has been very courageous in producing this film. Apart from The Māori Merchant of

Venice, which was probably our bravest film in terms of te reo [the Māori language], there has been no other film that has had that component of te reo in it. Now for that to happen Dana, of course, had the assistance of people like Kararaina Rangihau and all those people behind her because they were fully supportive of it. I think that if there are any people that have reservations they really should look at the kaupapa, the purpose of this film, and see how strongly Māori it really is.

DANA: It was a process that really was taken over by everyone in Ruatahuna [the place in which the novella and film are set]. They appropriated the story because it belongs, through you, to them so I would love them to be present until the very end. WITI: This is the thing, why I first fell in love with you in this whole process - the generosity. That both you and I as artists know that we are only part of a matrix. That we obtain things from the people - the people give us things, and we give them back. And it’s always an exchange. How have you found that exchange? DANA: You entrusted me your story, to go inside it and to understand it as freely as I could. You were really respectful and generous. The people of Ruatahuna were as generous as you again. They embraced the idea of the film. They trusted me with a knowledge that I know is sacred, crucial and important. For me it has been an overwhelming privilege but also quite an intense responsibility because when you are entrusted with something so sacred and so fundamental it’s not only me doing my film, it goes beyond any need of an individual who is expressing a story.

WITI: Can you tell me the story about going to Ruatahuna?

DANA: Well the whole story was quite magic to be honest. Because I started writing the adaptation from your beautiful novella and referencing my own culture, but I was in my house in Auckland city. I thought ‘well the story is there but I just have to see the landscape’. Without knowing the landscape so I couldn’t really place the story in a specific geography. I went in the car by myself into the middle of the most beautiful profound intense part of New Zealand, I would say. That was one of the advantages of being ignorant because I went through this process of discovery and I was able to feel it and recognize it, almost through my skin without any preconceptions. It was a delight. Well, I ended up in the very heart of the Urewera country and I had all kind of adventures. I got lost, I didn’t have a sleeping bag, it was freezing cold. I ended up, through good fortune, in Oputao Marae, with the White family and the Rangihau family.


WITI: You knew no one?

DANA: You know something, I was at Lake Waikaremoana first, and after a long trip around the lake (which was a difficult adventure because I am a girl from Mexico City!) I stopped in Ruatahuna because, of course, it’s where the heart of the story in your novella sits. There I met Richard and Meriann White of Oputao Marae. In Ruatahuna there is a tiny petrol station with a shop and a tiny motel. I met Richard and Meriann at the petrol station and we just became friends immediately. I was not even talking about the film at the time I just wanted to see the landscape, to understand the colours, to see the light. I stayed with them for a few days. We spent a beautiful day on horseback going through the old Māori tracks in the bush. It was pouring with rain and it was, for me, like a baptism. It was amazingly powerful rain. And that was the first time I understood visually - and in other ways - the meaning of the land and that bush. And only after that I thought ‘okay, now I can ask permission to stay in the marae’. I was welcomed into that beautiful marae where we shot the film. That night I slept on my own in the marae and there was a huge hurricane during the night, and that’s the night I asked permission to tell this story. A permission that goes beyond all of us. It was a permission I needed to ask to the ancestors of that marae. I didn’t sleep – with the wind and the rain, that marae was speaking, it was talking to me. I just asked: ‘If I am not the one to tell this story just please make that clear, because I am a little slow understanding, and if I am allowed to tell this story then all I can promise is that I will try to keep the integrity of the story until the very end of the process’. And that was the beginning. WITI: How did you meet Kararaina Rangihau?

DANA: She is the sister of Meriann. One of the first things I did was show Meriann the script to get her thoughts, and she told me she has a sister who knows a lot and she is a filmmaker. So I sent the script to Kararaina and she sent me back a very powerful and precise analysis of the script. She pointed out the things I assumed to have understood but in reality I was far away from understanding - some of the protocols and traditions and values that I was trying to portray in the adaptation. So I thought, ‘she’s my girl’. If she has the knowledge, and she has the honesty to be so critical because she cares so much about the identity of the culture, and if she doesn’t let me get away with my mistakes, she will be my best source of advice. It was Kararaina and a beautiful young man, Whitiaua Ropitini as well as Meriann and Richard who asked the Ringatu Parish of Ruatahuna if they would feel comfortable and if they would be welcoming of the film and of me as a foreigner. They presented the project in one of the Ringatu ceremonies that takes place every 12th of the month. And I was blessed enough to be able to be there, and present to the whole parish why I was there and what I was asking for. WITI: A crazy Mexican woman who just walked into their valley with all the innocence that you have! But you came to an arrangement with them didn’t you? DANA: They read and approved the script and the arrangement was that I would follow their lead. I know that film productions can often behave like a bulldozer - we go and we don’t care for anything. On this project, the commitment was that I wouldn’t go anywhere I’m not allowed and


that the people of Ruatahuna had the authority to stop anything that they felt was intrusive or disrespectful or misunderstood. And of course as much as possible the people of the valley would participate in the production of the film so it wouldn’t be a foreign entity that simply invades and then disappears. I also committed to respect absolutely their language because the language is a living entity of their identity.

WITI: Is that why a lot of the film is in Māori? How did that come about? Who made that decision? DANA: If we had shot that film in English it wouldn’t be truthful or correct. In fact, it would be one more expression of how colonisation behaves - it would be taking away something. As an immigrant I am aware how powerful the language is, how much we convey when we express ourselves in our own language. WITI: That word colonialism - it’s also a practical situation. You came to an agreement about mentoring the film process - would you like to talk about that? DANA: Yes. Kararaina and I agreed that she would guide me in the process of understanding the culture and the language and the tikanga (culture) of her people and I would, in exchange, give her as much as I could in terms of my knowledge of how to make a film and how to write a script. So it was an agreement through which a beautiful relationship flourished. Kararaina was very close to me through all the process of adapting the novella and she was by my side as a trainee assistant director during the process of shooting and post production. And not only that, she was the guardian in the protecting the integrity of the film. WITI: I think that’s why the film took my breath away, because I thought to myself this is why people come to see a film - to be taken into a world that they’ve never seen before, to be surrounded by the sounds, and (the composer) John Psathas soundscape and his music is so absolutely appropriate – including a lack of music in many instances. So the whole world was made out of collaboration with the Ringatu people as well as the valley. DANA: Yes, this film - without them opening their spaces, their knowledge, their territories -would never have happened. It’s their film. It really belongs to them, it’s their landscape, their sounds. We recorded the sounds and birds of the bush in post-production. Richard White was generous enough to take us at 4 o’clock in the morning to record the moment when the birds wake up. Every bird and every wind and every river and every sound you hear in this film really belongs to that geography. WITI: Can you tell me about the advice you received about the processes of a medicine woman?

DANA: That was like another stage of research in which we involved Tangiora Tawhara, a medicine woman from Ruatahuna. She read the script and participated the translation (it’s not only te reo Māori, it’s Ruatahuna te reo). So we really checked every word and traditional medicine procedure. Tangiora was there with us as an advisor and as a supervisor and she explained to us all the physical mechanical procedures and reasons behind everything that you do to manipulate a pregnant woman. It’s not only a physical procedure; it calls on a lot of different understandings of how you communicate with a baby, which are the right plants to use, where those plants grow, how they grow, how you pick them, which are the karakia. She stayed with us all the time and she is an author of the visual storytelling dimension of the film.


WITI: I was really affected by some of the scenes where Paraiti is singing to the baby. Because as an author you can’t have that [sense of the musical word] in your work. And there is also another scene where she puts the basin underneath the dress of Rebecca. These are really profound moments. Were they moments that you had to negotiate with them?

DANA: Tangiora Tawhara explained the procedures of a medicine woman, and just told me what would be appropriate to include. As you know, it is a sacred knowledge and it’s guarded, so all the procedures we see in the film are what Tangiora felt comfortable to share. There may be many others and they remain in the sacred silent place where they guard their knowledge. WITI: In the novella it’s a two hander between Paraiti and Rebecca Vickers, but in the film what fascinated me was that it had become a trio, a triangle between Paraiti, Rebecca and Maraea. Where did you get the idea to expand it? I loved the various formations you had them in. It was kind of like a dance around these three individuals.

DANA: The dramatic settings and narrative values are there in your novella. All character qualities are there too, I just picked them up. I felt I needed the Maraea character to bounce all the action in the story between those three women. When you read the novella and it happens between two, it’s intense and it’s wonderful. But I just thought that in order to expand into an hour and a half on the screen, I needed a dynamic between the characters that would create a triangle. WITI: Well there are confrontations between Maraea and Paraiti that are not in the novella and address what it is to be Māori, and I was fascinated by that.

DANA: One of the things that grabbed me from your story is the conflict of identity. Probably because it’s one of my main personal conflicts which is still unsolved. For me that was the power of this story. How we survive. Our own inner contradictions and how we adapt when two universes clash. Which are the options we have. Either you remain absolutely in touch of where you come from or you adapt and try to survive or you wash away the story of the ones who didn’t get the victory. So yeah that dynamic, that game of how the three of them represent a story of survival and identity was fascinating for me. WITI: I’m glad you mention that word contradiction because when we first met, John (Barnett) said “Well there’s this woman and she is from Mexico and she’s actually come here because she loved Whale Rider and she wants to make a movie so would you like to meet her?” But you haven’t made a film in 10 years. Why?

DANA: Well I guess that the main reason was that I’m a mother and this is a very demanding profession and either you put all your heart and all your time and all your passion into a film or you don’t make a film That is the way it has happened anyway in my life. So I honoured my motherhood which is something I’m really happy I did. I made a choice. WITI: But you came from Mexico to New Zealand. Is this a Mexican film? DANA: Well I am a Mexican woman. And yes it is a Mexican film, definitely, because my soul is there. My understanding of colonisation is there. But at the same time it’s a New Zealand film


because it happens in this country, this story of colonisation is not the same as it happened between the pre-Hispanic and the Spanish people in my country. And of course the story comes from you and Ruatahuna and the Ringatu people, and so the blood of it is Māori. It is a film that holds all those sources of identity and I think that is one of the reasons why it is such a powerful film. WITI: I love the fact that you said, “The blood of it is Māori”. The blood of it is Māori but the story is universal, it is about colonisation, it is about the dilemma of three women with different ways of trying to negotiate in a changing world. What is your vision for the film in terms of its internationality? DANA: I just can remember myself driving in Auckland city which couldn’t be more far away from where I come from, being absolutely haunted by your story. So I do believe that there are many, many levels of this story that touch layers of our humanity. Identity, survival, motherhood; they are all primal feelings, they are primal conflicts that we all have, no matter where we are. I think of my grandmother for example. She was a Mexican Catholic converted to Judaism in Mexico City, married to a Polish Jew, she went through that process, and she had to bleach her identity in order to belong. So I do believe that all of us are survivors, trying to create an awareness of who we are, where we come from, so we have something to work with. Motherhood is just the most universal experience. You don’t have to be a mother, you don’t have to be a woman, to know what this process is all about. I do believe that it can land in many places and resonate and be welcomed and felt. WITI: You’re actually talking about Rebecca and I find that interesting. In the film the dilemma of Rebecca Vickers is the one that probably has as much resonance because she is actually the way that you are talking about yourself. DANA: Rebecca is the one who is in the middle of the conflict; she is caught between two extremes. But having said that I think Paraiti is the grounding force of the film. She is the only one who knows. All the other characters are totally lost, they are bouncing all over the place trying to find a way to survive. Paraiti knows who she is, knows where she belongs, and knows the only way to survive is by holding on to who she is and that is the most important force in the film. She ignites the conflict of the others. She shakes them, she destroys that world of simulation and bleaching. If I go through all of them I feel profound compassion for the three characters. I can understand Maraea as well, I don’t approve her ways but I understand her. If I think about why I brought my daughter to this country, of course I wanted her to be free from a lot of suffering that I had in my own country, I wanted to preserve her from difficult situations that I went through. So I find myself in all of them. WITI: I thought that your artistic choices were admirable. At the end of the movie Rebecca Vickers does what she does, [and] you see Maraea coming into the bathroom with a towel and a basin but she doesn’t say anything. It's really very moving and I found that lack of closure so interesting. DANA: I am fascinated by the process that you must go through as an author. I know that this story comes from a very old, beautiful memory of yours, when you were a little boy and your mother took you to meet Paraiti. You handed your story to a foreigner who knew nothing because I was an absolute ignorant, and a few years later you sit and you watch a piece of you on the screen.


WITI: I watched it but I wasn’t thinking about myself or you. I was thinking this is Paraiti on the screen and this is her world and these are her people. [Indeed] when we started talking about adapting the novella I was really excited about the opportunity of someone seeing it through different eyes. Because you are on record as saying that as filmmakers you must follow your heart. You must hear its heart beat and then you must go to the source of that. And the source you have taken us to is something very primal. It’s something that we can all understand... it is the source of life, it is the source of death, it is the fountain that lies at the heart of Māori culture, that lies at the heart of every culture. And we are not just talking about colonisation here. We’re talking about that source that we can all recognise. So when the film had finished and I was sitting in the dark I kept on thinking there will be many people who are so far away now from that understanding, who will come to the film and will see it through a Māori perspective that has developed through a Mexican camera and I hope it changes their lives.


A NOTE FROM TRACEY COLLINS | DESIGNER

When I first read the script of this film, I felt it was a most unique story, its pace and movement, it conjured up images for me - very poetic, original, timeless, and internationally universal in its characters conquests. The lead characters are all women, their stories seemed original to the medium of film and I felt they would make some powerful universal resonances. Early discussions about the project promised a strong, symbolic visual language that would make this piece of work both potent and evocative for the viewing audience. We created two distinct visual languages for this film - they contrast, juxtapose, even clash into each other’s worlds. The world of the character Paraiti is tribal, Māori, rural, natural, and spiritual. We utilized locations, and created sets in big open spaces, rich in colour, (reds, greens, ochres). The textures were luscious- nature, the bush, woven and sourced materials, and natural fabrics, working together in a harmony. We adopted ‘vertical forms and structures’ - both constructed and the naturally occurring - together in big sweeping horizontal landscapes, which support and embody Paraiti’s big character and story, and her community. Rebecca’s character world is a contrast- in being “tightly held together”, formal, controlled, highly constructed, a sense of absolute perfection and control from its European perspective of this time. We created her world with tonal subtle colour, blends of creams, beiges, and texture, very smooth, clean, very constructed, and decorated. Her world spaces feel claustrophobic - a sense of ‘one way in, and one way out’. The design language supports the story in a very considered way, it is then heightened by these two world’s collisions of character, and belief system. While we were shooting Paraiti’s world, for two weeks, we all lived and worked on location in the Te Urewera’s for a month, based in Ruatahuna. For the art department this created unique challenges, and a very privileged opportunity in many ways. Most importantly working and collaborating with local artists, makers, and healers - the receiving of highly regarded and specialised local knowledge, from the local community of medicine women, weavers, and natural resource makers, and artisans who all worked with us to build with their local materials and tools, from specific and chosen areas on various different locations.


AN INTERVIEW WITH COMPOSER JOHN PSATHAS

Q. At what stage of the project did you come on

board?

JOHN: I got a phone call from [Producer] Chris

Hampson, and I think they had just finished the first

edit so they were really far down their own track by

the time they got in touch with me. In fact, they were

so far down the track that I thought maybe I was way

down on a list of composers, because it was so late!

But it turns out I was the first composer that they

spoke to. I’ve been approached about quite a few films

but have only ever gotten involved in one before and

essentially the thing that got me involved in this

project was really Chris describing the nature of the

story to me over the phone. From that 10-minute

conversation I felt right away that I really want to be a

part of this, because it’s a big deal telling a story like

this, here, now. And I also felt – and this is the key thing from a composing point of view - that I

would be able to bring something to it.

I was flown to Auckland and watched the film with [Producers] Chris and John [Barnett], [Director]

Dana [Rotberg] and Paul Sutorius, the editor. What was interesting about that was I found out

afterwards that I was the first person they’d shown the film to. So they were all really hanging on

and really intensely waiting for my reaction. It was just great for all of us that I reacted really

positively, and very naturally to the film. I think they all felt a bit relieved by that first response!

Q. Tell us about meeting Dana.

JOHN: I had a very immediate connection with Dana when I met her and we talked about the film

and I talked to her about my feeling about the film after I’d seen it and she talked about hers. I felt

very much the power of her connection with the story.

As the composer, the thing that you want more than anything is to know that the director is

married to the story in a really deep way and knows it really well; knows the people, and cares and

loves the characters. I felt that straight away and I felt very confident in getting involved.

Q. When you are composing a film score, is it a matter of you going away and tinkering away in

a room by yourself, or did you sit with Dana and go through the film with her?

JOHN: You know it’s interesting because from the composer-director relationship point of view,

you don’t actually talk about music very much. What you talk about are the people in the film and

what things mean to them and what’s happening to them. And the struggle that they have in their


story. So my process in terms of working with Dana was to get her to talk a lot about what she

thought and felt about it all and I record all that and listen back to it over and over again. Then

gradually, by looking at the film and thinking about the director’s comments and their philosophy,

something emerges from all of that. You start to think ‘Well I think that this person is this kind of

instrument’. For instance, with the character of Rebecca, she was this sort of fake person who’s

living a massive deception, but that deception involves being very high class and aristocratic, and

also being very contained in a very small environment. So I thought the piano might work for her,

and I started playing around with piano sounds for her and it worked. I found very sad sounds and

they worked really well, and Dana responded to that very strongly. For the character of Paraiti, I

felt all the way through the first screening that breath and wind - which are in some ways an

expression of life - needed to be a part of the score somehow. And that’s why we explored the

taonga pūoro sounds that Richards Nunns plays, and the pūtorino, and the purerehua and the bull

roarer. We got Richard into a studio for a day and got him to play a whole lot of things. And so the

score developed these two identities, one was very much the Māori music identity, which follows

the medicine woman’s character all the way through. And the other one is more I suppose the

Western-European kind of identity which is the piano and some strings.

Q. This is only your second film score, how did you find the experience?

JOHN: The thing that I have loved both times that I’ve worked on film scores is that you come into

contact with the director when they have lived with this thing for years, and they know every single

nook and cranny of every part of it. I’ve read that it’s very common for directors to be kind of jaded

at that point, and they find it very hard to keep being enthusiastic about the film. And that all

changes when the composer comes on board because all of a sudden this music appears and it re-

emotionalises the film. I saw that with Dana and I saw it with the director in my previous film

project - it’s like they suddenly woke up all over again to the film and what it was doing. That’s a

real privilege to be doing that as part of your contribution.

Q. What was it about this film and the story that appealed to you?

JOHN: I guess one thing that this film has that was very powerful for me is that it doesn’t flinch

from what it’s about. And having since become involved I’ve watched a whole lot of Dana’s other

films. And that’s something that through her whole career is that she takes on very difficult things

and she doesn’t shy away from them. There are things in this film that are deeply tragic, really

disturbing, brutally unflinching, and I thought it’s kind of got a raw power about it. Even though

it’s really beautifully shot, the sets are very elegant, everybody’s dressed really nicely, underneath

all that there’s something very basic; human nature. And I was really attracted to that. I mean the

things from my point of view is that if I’m going to write music for something I’m sort of looking

for an outlet as a composer that allows a kind of intensity, and a kind of depth, and a reality and

truth about things. I think also everybody’s got their own level in terms of emotion. And some

people are just ‘up’ emotionally, others are really balanced, and others are really fascinated by the

darker or harder things that we have in us as human beings, and I’m kind of more drawn to the


latter…the places where there’s suffering and pain, because then I want to think about how you can

make something better. So that was another reason I was drawn to the film was that there’s a lot of

that in the film and I thought that the music could somehow humanize that, so that as we watch it

we can associate with it, we can share. Because one thing about dealing with pain and suffering, one

of the greatest reliefs from that is knowing that you’re not alone in that thing, that’s it’s shared.

That’s the other thing that drew me to the film is that I knew that if we got the whole thing right by

the end of it, even though it’s tragic. I mean no one smiles in the whole film until the last minute

when the little girl appears, and it’s hey someone’s smiling!


AN INTERVIEW WITH WHIRIMAKO BLACK

Q. What kind of preparation did you do for the role of Paraiti?

WHIRIMAKO: I researched a bit about Māori medicines and Māori healing and I also spoke to

some of my family members who knew something about herbal medicine. I don’t actually go out

and pick leaves and such for medicines in my everyday life but I do gather for food. I also spoke to

a spiritualist because I wanted to check from that point of view that I was the right person to be

doing this.

Q. Much of your character’s dialogue is in Māori – can you tell us about that?

WHIRIMAKO: One of the key things that made me feel more at ease with taking on this role was

that I speak Māori. It is my first language and more than 80 per cent of the film is in my language

and my dialect. We’re often told that the Māori language is dying so for me to be able to present my

language in an art form like this was a real privilege.

Q. How familiar with the world of the film were you?

WHIRIMAKO: I think one of the advantages I have is that my mother is still alive. She grew up in

a world like that and so she was very helpful to me in that she added aspects that I really needed so

that it wasn’t just a matter of me reading the script, but rather knowing that this is how a Tūhoe

person would react to certain parts in the scene.

Q. Describe the character you play in White Lies.

WHIRIMAKO: Paraiti is a Māori wahine [woman] who never had any children or a partner of her

own. She is totally dedicated to being a protective member of her hapu - of her extended family.

She’s a spiritual person and she grew up with the old people so she holds a lot of knowledge and a

lot of that sacredness that comes in the spirituality of the Māori people, of Ngai Tūhoe [the Tūhoe

tribe]. Even though she’s grown up in an area where there are very few white people around she

knows how to speak English and she can hold her own in the English world.

Q. Paraiti lives in two very different aspects of colonial New Zealand – can you tell us about

these opposing worlds?

WHIRIMAKO: I think she’s really happy in her own world, in the valley, and it’s just a matter of

necessity that she goes into town for supplies and food although she also doesn’t mind the

occasional treat. We see her going to the movies which indicates she’s unafraid to be a bit modern

but she is far happier in her own environment away from the hustle and the bustle of urban life. In

fact there are a lot of Tūhoe people who are like that to this day - they are very happy in their own

environment where they are close to nature, they are close to the land of their ancestors and they

only go into town for specific tasks.


Q. Was there a particular aspect or part of the film that resonated with you?

WHIRIMAKO: The Pākehā / Māori relationships were a particular challenge for me in that when I

was confronted by the Pākehā characters in the story, it made me really frightened of my own

strength. In particular, there’s a scene with Elizabeth Hawthorne [who played the hospital matron]

and during the shooting of that scene I really felt jostled by her and I felt like I could really attack

her in that moment because of what that character represented. So that was a real test for me

personally.


AN INTERVIEW WITH RACHEL HOUSE

Q. How did you come to play the role of Maraea?

RACHEL: Initially I did an audition for Paraiti and I thought ‘I can’t do this.’ It was clear to me that

that character really needed to be someone who was from Tūhoe and who was fluent in te reo

Māori – neither of which applied to me. And then [Casting Director] Christina Asher rang me and

told me Dana wanted me for the part of Maraea. It didn’t interest me at first, probably because in

my initial read of the script I saw her as the villain. Ordinarily that would have interested me but in

this instance, I thought, ‘No, it’s too much. Her secret and what she’s up to is just too much.’ So I

said no, at first… And then Dana asked to meet with me and said ‘I will be in the café with a rose’. I

thought that was pretty gorgeous. I arranged to meet her and I walked into this cafe and she had a

huge rose plant and I thought, ‘Wow, you’re crazy, lady’ - I liked her immediately!. And she

convinced me that it’s a great role and that I should play it. I mean I’m a reluctant actor anyway so

it was more about that than anything else.

Q. How familiar were you with Witi’s work before working on this project?

RACHEL: I grew up in Witi’s books. I first came across his collection of short stories Pounamu,

Pounamu and absolutely loved them. I thought they were really good depictions, particularly of

rural Māori life. I did a play called Women Far Walking which was written by Witi. It’s about a

woman who was born on the day of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi. So, again it was quite a

complex play, quite dark, and quite dealing with some pretty full-on politics. And I also had a role

in Whale Rider. Witi is a great writer and, in particular, he writes women very well.

Q. What can you tell us about the character of Maraea?

RACHEL: One of the reasons I wanted to do this film is where Dana sat with it politically. She said

that Maraea and Paraiti and Rebecca represented three faces of colonisation which I thought was

intriguing. And colonisation is a form of abuse: everything that you know and love that you are is

taken away through colonisation. And essentially, you have to kick into survival mode…you can

continue to be a victim or you can fight. I think that’s what Maraea is doing - she is coping as best

she knows how with the situation of colonisation.

Q. As a director, how do you suspend the director in yourself when you’re acting?

RACHEL: I love being directed. I’ve often been in a situation where I haven’t because the director

doesn’t have time or they’re not strong in their performance direction but I find that really need it

because I tend to stray miles away so I need a director to rein me in. Dana was great. I mean, she

was a bit scary at times but she is very honest and after the first day I trusted her implicitly because

I thought to myself, ‘Anyone who can be that brutally honest is going to be great to have on board’.


Q. On a personal level, do you relate to the essence of this story?

RACHEL: Being a half-caste myself, I think I really relate to Maraea’s story. I relate to that feeling

of not fitting in either world [European or Māori]. However, in saying that, Maraea didn’t have

freedom whereas I live in a very modern world, and I’m in a position where I can actually live

comfortably in both worlds now. I don’t have the same issues that Maraea had working against her.

So while I’m very pro- Māori, but I’m also very comfortable in my Scottish upbringing.


AN INTERVIEW WITH ANTONIA PREBBLE

Q. How did you land the role of Rebecca?

ANTONIA: More than a year before the shoot, [Producer] John Barnett rang me up and he said

that South Pacific Pictures had a movie in development and the director of the movie wanted to talk

to me about it. John put me in touch with Dana [Rotberg] – the writer and director. At our initial

meeting she told me that the film was based on a Witi Ihimaera short story and we talked a little bit

about it, but nothing in real detail. At that point she gave me the working draft script to go away

and read. It’s a pretty intense story and it’s a pretty intense role, and to be honest I wasn’t really

sure if I was up to doing it for many reasons. But I had a second meeting with Dana, where she told

me that she had actually written the part of Rebecca with me in mind. She’d seen some previous

work that I’d done, so I felt hugely honoured to hear that.

Q. What challenges did you face in accepting this role?

ANTONIA: I must admit there were a couple of things that I wasn’t entirely comfortable with

initially – the nudity for one, and also the sheer weight of the acting requirements to play Rebecca –

I just really wasn’t sure if I was up for it. So Dana gave me three months to decide if I wanted to

take the role or not, and in all honesty, probably for the first two and a half months I was going to

say no, mainly for the nudity aspect. I just didn’t know if I was ready to take that leap. But over

that time Dana and I had some very long meetings, spending up to seven hours going through

every scene in the script and we talked very specifically and precisely about what would be

required of me so I knew the exact parameters of the decision I was making. I also did a lot of

talking to various people in my life about what they thought about it. I did a lot of research

watching other movies that had sort of non-sexualised nudity in it and to see how that had been

handled and if I was up for it.

Q. Describe the character you play in White Lies.

ANTONIA: Rebecca Vickers is a wealthy white woman. She’s very well-travelled. Her husband is

a successful businessman and she’s lived all over the world as a result of being his wife. And now

she’s back in rural New Zealand and she is pretty disdainful of anyone else who is not in her class.

She definitely stands on ceremony. She enjoys being at the top of the pecking order. She likes the

hierarchy and her place in it. She definitely has a taste for the finer things in life because that’s the

way she’s been bought up. She’s quite self-centred and she likes other people to do her bidding.


Q. What is at stake for Rebecca?

ANTONIA: When we first meet Rebecca in the film she is pregnant but her husband isn’t aware of

this fact – he’s away on business, but is returning very soon. For reasons we’re not told at the

beginning of the story, he cannot know she is pregnant and if he does find out, Rebecca’s life as she

knows it will be absolutely destroyed. So she wants an abortion because that’s the only way she can

preserve the life she’s created for herself. So she’s got herself into a very, very difficult position and

is prepared to go to any lengths to right it.

Q. What kind of character is Rebecca?

ANTONIA: Rebecca is an extremely tragic character because she’s not in control of her life at all. It

seems from the outside that she is, because superficially she’s got everything that everyone wants.

She has material wealth, and to a certain extent she does really enjoy that life, because it’s the one

that she’s accustomed to enjoying and she’s constantly told by certain people that that’s what one

should strive for – material wealth and status is the epitome of a successful life. And while she does

enjoy it on a certain level, what’s inside her is a very unhappy, tragic woman who is the victim of

her own circumstances, who has no control of her life. She is trapped in her own body.

Q. What do you think are the key themes of the film?

ANTONIA: For me the film is about identity and motherhood. It’s about what it is to be a mother,

different facets of motherhood, the extents which one would go for your child and how becoming a

mother changes you. The process of giving birth seems to alter something at the very core of who

we are, which instantly connects to the idea of identity – what is it that makes us who we are: is it

nature? Is it nurture? Can we ever escape from who we are fundamentally through the way in

which we’re bought up, through the experiences we have, or are we ultimately exactly who we are

on the day that we were born? The three characters in this film are being pushed to the edges of

themselves within those two concepts of identity and motherhood and I think the film poses some

very important questions in this regard.


KEY CAST

WHIRIMAKO BLACK plays Paraiti the medicine woman

Ngāti Tuhoe, Ngāti Tuwharetoa, Ngāti Ranginui, Te Whakatohea and Te

Whanau-a-Apanui

White Lies marks Whirimako Black’s acting debut. Whirimako is a New Zealand Māori recording artist. She specialises in jazz, blues and traditional Māori musical forms. Having recorded eight solo albums, Whirimako sings primarily in te reo Māori and also uses traditional Māori instruments in her music. Through her collaboration with One Giant Leap producers Jamie Catto and Duncan Bridgeman, Whirimako’s track Ta Moko featured on the One Giant

Leap debut album alongside other world renowned musicians and performers. In 2006 Whirimako was made a member of the NZ Order of Merit (MNZM) for services to Māori Music and in 2011 received an Arts Foundation Laureate Award. RACHEL HOUSE plays Maraea

Ngai Tahu, Ngati Mutunga Rachel graduated from Toi Whakaari (New Zealand Drama School) in 1992 and has a multi-faceted involvement in New Zealand’s creative arts industry. She has performed in a variety of productions from contemporary Māori plays to Shakespeare, some of which have toured nationally and internationally. Among Rachel’s feature film credits are two of New Zealand’s most acclaimed and successful pictures – Boy and Whale Rider. She has also had a number of television roles including the BBC co-production Maddigan’s Quest.

In addition to her acting work, Rachel works as a director for both stage and screen and attended The Prague Film School in 2008. In 2012, Rachel received an Arts Foundation Laureate Award.


ANTONIA PREBBLE plays Rebecca Vickers

Antonia Prebble is best known to New Zealand and Australian television audiences for her role as Loretta West in the highly successful television series Outrageous Fortune. More recently she has appeared on New Zealand screens in the critically acclaimed mystery series The Blue Rose. She also performs on stage with theatre companies throughout New Zealand and is a trained mezzo soprano singer. A child star, her career began at the early age of 11 on the television series, Mirror Mirror. From the age of 14 she appeared in five seasons of cult teen series The Tribe. Antonia has also hosted the children’s television show WNTV (What

Now Television).


KEY CREW

JOHN BARNETT | Producer

John Barnett is New Zealand’s leading film and television producer. He began his career in the screen industry as an independent producer in 1973. Over the past 40 years, he has produced television drama, documentaries and feature films, including the internationally acclaimed and Oscar-nominated film Whale Rider, the feel-good Polynesian comedy Sione’s Wedding and its sequel ; Middle Age Spread; Beyond Reasonable

Doubt; Race for the Yankee Zephyr; What Becomes Of The Broken-Hearted? (the sequel to Once Were Warriors); and the animated hit, Footrot Flats. John has produced or executive produced five of the top 10 highest grossing New Zealand films at the New Zealand box office and has been active in the film and television industry throughout his career. He founded New Zealand’s film industry magazine, OnFilm, and set up

Sundance Channel (NZ) – the first Sundance affiliated channel outside the United States. He has also been actively involved in film, television and video distribution and in the development of multiplex cinemas in New Zealand. In 2002, he was made the SPADA/OnFilm Industry Champion of the Year, for his ongoing contribution to the New Zealand industry, and in 2003, was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list, for services to the film industry. He was also awarded an honorary Doctorate of Commerce at Victoria University.

CHRIS HAMPSON | Producer

Chris Hampson’s career has spanned more than 30 years in most aspects of the

New Zealand film and broadcast industries. He has produced numerous film

and television projects, written for television, directed for theatre and acted on

both stage and screen.

Before turning to the screen Chris was part of New Zealand’s literary scene: he

started out as a publishing editor.

Chris currently sits on the board of the New Zealand Film Commission and

previously he was an integral part of developing the Commission's low budget

feature scheme, ScreenVisioNZ. He was executive producer for three of the six

films: Via Satellite, Savage Honeymoon, and Scarfies. He also produced (with Don

Reynolds) the feature films Illustrious Energy and Arriving Tuesday. In addition, Chris produced the

short film Tick that opened the 2002 New York International Film Festival.

Chris’s executive producer and producer credits for television include: Shortland Street, Marlin

Bay, Deepwater Haven, Fallout, CoverStory, The Chosen, Street Legal, Orange Roughies,

Stolen and Kaitangata Twitch. He is currently producing the mini-series Hope and Wire.


DANA ROTBERG | Writer & Director

Mexican filmmaker Dana Rotberg has lived and worked as a director, writer and producer in Mexico, France and Bosnia and Herzegovina. She now lives in New Zealand. Dana’s first film was the feature-length documentary Elvira Luz Cruz: Pema Maxima (1985) which was awarded Best Documentary by the Mexican Film Academy and the Bochica de Oro Award for Best Latin-American Documentary, Colombia. In 1989, she wrote and directed the feature film Intimacy.

Dana has thrice been given the prestigious honour of opening the Director’s Fortnight at the Cannes International Film Festival. The first time was as Director of Angel de Fuego (1992) and the twice more as Producer of Man, God and the Monster (1994) and The Perfect Circle (1997). The latter film also won the François Chalais Award and the Cannes Junior Prix at Cannes that year as well as many other prestigious awards. In 2000 Dana directed and co-wrote the Mexican feature film Otilia Rauda which won the NHK Filmmaker’s Award at the 2000 Sundance Film Festival. In 2004, after watching the movie Whale Rider, Dana immigrated with her daughter to New Zealand. WITI IHIMAERA | Originating Author

Te Whānau A Kai, Ngāti Porou, Tūhoe, Kahungungu, Te Aitanga A Māhaki, Rongowhakaata

Described by Metro magazine as ‘part oracle, part memoralist, Ihimaera is an inspired voice, weaving many stories together', Witi Ihimaera was the first Māori novelist and has published many notable novels and collections of short stories. He has also has written for stage and screen, edited books on the arts and culture, and published various works for children. His best-known novel is The Whale Rider, which was made into an internationally successful feature film in 2002. Apart from his work as a writer, Ihimaera has also had careers in teaching, theatre, opera, film and television. He has received numerous awards, including the Wattie Book of the Year Award and the Montana Book Award, his most recent being the inaugural Star of Oceania Award, University of Hawaii 2009, a laureate award from the New Zealand Arts Foundation 2009, the Toi Māori Maui Tiketike Award 2011, and the Premio Ostana International Award, presented to him in Italy 2010.


ALUN BOLLINGER| Cinematographer

Alun Bollinger is a veteran of the New Zealand screen industry with nearly 40 years in the business. His extensive career began at the age of 17 as a cinecamera trainee with the New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation where he shot news, current affairs and documentaries for television. After leaving the Corporation, aged 20, he became a freelancer and was involved with feature film work from the beginning of the new wave of New Zealand cinema. Alun’s work features in numerous high profile New Zealand projects such as the quintessential Goodbye Pork Pie (Geoff Murphy), Mr Wrong, Bread and Roses, War Stories, Perfect Strangers and Lovely

Rita (Gaylene Preston), Heavenly Creatures, Forgotten Silver, The Frighteners and Lord of the Rings (Peter Jackson), The Piano (Jane Campion), What Becomes of The Broken Hearted?, End Of The Golden

Weather and Came A Hot Friday (Ian Mune), and Vigil and River Queen (Vincent Ward). Alun is a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit (MNZM) – for services to cinematography in 2005 and received an Arts Foundation Laureate Award in 2006. TRACEY COLLINS | Designer

Tracey Collins is no stranger to creating award-winning worlds for television, film and theatre projects.

In 2011 Tracey won the Aotearoa Film and Television Award for Best Production Design for her work on futuristic drama series This is Not My Life. In 2009, she was awarded the same honour for telefeature Piece of My Heart and in 2007 she received the New Zealand Screen Award for Contribution to Design for her work on children’s fantasy series Maddigan’s Quest.

On the big screen, Tracey was Production Designer for Sione’s 2: Unfinished Business, and Set Decoration Workshop Supervisor for Narnia Chronicles – The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and Prince Caspian as well as Costume/Props Supervisor for Underworld 3: Rise of the Lycans.

Tracey’s slate of work in Production Design for the small screen also includes several top-rating New Zealand telefeatures: Bliss – The Beginning of Katherine Mansfield, Billy T and Piece of My Heart. She also worked as Production Designer on season 2 of comedy-drama series The Almighty Johnsons. Tracey’s dual credits as both Production and Costume Designer include This is Not My Life, Waitangi: What Really Happened, Diplomatic Immunity and Cook: Obsession and Discovery.


JOHN PSATHAS | Composer

John Psathas is one of a few New Zealand composers who have made a mark on the international scene, particularly in Europe and North America. He is now widely considered one of the three most important living composers of the Greek Diaspora. Raised in Taumaranui and Napier, John is the son of Greek immigrant parents who arrived in New Zealand in the early 1960s. After studying piano and composition at Victoria University, he studied privately in Belgium with Jaqueline Fontyn before returning to take up lecturing at the New Zealand School of Music in Wellington. John wrote much of the ceremonial music for the 2004 Athens Olympic Games and more recently he composed the score for the New Zealand ‘Western’ feature film Good for Nothing. John’s music has been commissioned and performed by many great musicians and orchestras around the world. These include Michael Brecker, Dame Evelyn Glennie, Michael Houstoun, Joshua Redman, The New Zealand String Quartet, Federico Mondelci, The New Zealand Trio, Pedro Carneiro, the Takacs Quartet. The Netherlands Blazers Ensemble, the Halle Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic, the Melbourne Symphony, the BBC Scottish Symphony, the Auckland Philharmonia, the Vector Wellington Orchestra, the NZSO, and many others.

PAUL SUTORIUS | Editor

Paul Sutorius has a long career as an editor and his work has spanned feature films, television drama, documentaries, comedy and current affairs. He has also won editing awards across several genres: Ruby and Rata (1990); Best Editing - Drama/Comedy Programme for Until Proven Innocent (2009); Best Editing – documentary for Getting

to Our Place (2000) and the same award in 2006 for Aspiring. His feature films also include Bread & Roses, War Stories Our Mothers Never Told Us, The Irrefutable

Truth About Demons, Chunuk Bair and Fresh Meat. Paul’s extensive and varied television credits include telefeatures Tangiwai: A Love Story, Until

Proven Innocent and Clare; children’s series Kaitangata Twitch; dramas The Insider’s Guide to Happiness,

The Insider’s Guide to Love and The Strip; as well as television documentaries.


ROSA BOSCH | Executive Producer

Spanish born Rosa Bosch has been based in London for 25 years. After nearly 10 years as Deputy Director of The London Film Festival/ National Film Theatre she was a co-founder of Mexican production and sales company Tequila Gang, working with notable filmmakers including Wim Wenders, Guillermo Del Toro and Terry Gilliam. Her production credits include The Devil’s

Backbone (El Espinazo del Diablo), Buena Vista Social Club and Lost in La Mancha. During this time she was involved in the international launch of films including Amores Perros, Nine Queens and The Holy

Girl as well as in packaging and remake rights. In 2003 she established and was Co-managing Director of HBO Films based in London, where she handled the launch and distribution of titles including American Splendor, Real Women Have Curves and Elephant, which won the Palme D’or and Best Director at Cannes. She has also produced a wide range of filmed musical events including TV concerts and documentaries with artists such as Orchestra Baobab, Toumani Diabate and Bjork. She now heads B&W Films, an independent London-based production outfit which has partnerships with Bertha Navarro in Mexico and with 5th Avenue Productions in Cuba (Cuban Star www.cubanstar.co.uk). B&W Films also acts as producer’s representative for the international launch and distribution of feature films, most recently for Alice Rohrwacher’s debut Corpo Celeste, Juan Carlos Rulfo’s documentary Carriere, 250 Meters and the Televisa/ Lynn Fainchtein produced music road movie Hecho en Mexico. Under B&W Films, Rosa has produced Polaris and The

Chronograph by BAFTA award winning video artist Tal Rosner, which were commissioned to inaugurate the 2011 opening of the Miami New World Symphony building designed by Frank Gehry. She recently co-produced Julien Temple’s acclaimed London – The Modern Babylon and is currently developing feature project Rose Indigo Paris with director Gillies MacKinnon. Rosa is currently a member of the European Film Academy and BAFTA. She is fluent in English, Spanish, French and Italian.


AWARDS & NOMINATIONS

Awards

2015 Festival des Antipodes (St Tropez)

Best Actress – Whirimako Black

2014 Balinale International Film Festival

Audience Award – Best Overall Film

2014 La Costa Film Festival in California

Audience Choice award

2013 New Zealand Film Awards

- Best Production Design (Tracey Collins) - Best Make-Up Design (Abby Collins, Yolanda Bartram, Vee Gulliver, Andrew Beattie & Main Reactor) The WIFTS Foundation Awards 2013:

- Best Director, Dana Rotberg - The Barbara Tipple Best Actress Award, Antonia Prebble

Massey University’s Nga Kupu Ora Aotearoa Maori Book Awards

- Winner of fiction category (White Lies – the book by Dana Rotberg & Witi Ihimaera)

Nominations

The 86th Academy Awards (January 2014) – New Zealand’s Official Selection for the Best Foreign Language Feature Film 2013 Asia Pacific Screen Awards (December 12, 2013) – Whirimako Black Best Performance by an Actress 2013 New Zealand Film Awards (December 10, 2013) - Whirimako Black – Best Actress - Antonia Prebble – Best Supporting Actress - Dana Rotberg – Best Screenplay - Alun Bollinger – Best Cinematography - Paul Sutorius – Best Editor - John Psathas – Best Score - Steve Finnegan, James Hayday & Chris Sinclair – Best Sound


- Tracey Collins – Best Costume Design - Damon Keen, Todd Eyre & Matt Klitscher – Best Poster Design

CREDIT BLOCK

SOUTH PACIFIC PICTURES presents

in association with the NEW ZEALAND FILM COMMISSION and NZ ON AIR

WHITE LIES

WHIRIMAKO BLACK | RACHEL HOUSE | ANTONIA PREBBLE

Casting CHRISTINA ASHER Line Producer CATHERINE MADIGAN Sound Design JAMES HAYDAY Designer TRACEY COLLINS Composer JOHN PSATHAS

Editor PAUL SUTORIUS Director of Photography ALUN BOLLINGER Screenplay DANA ROTBERG based on the novella “MEDICINE WOMAN” by WITI IHIMAERA

Executive Producer ROSA BOSCH Producers JOHN BARNETT CHRIS HAMPSON Director DANA ROTBERG

© South Pacific Pictures Ltd 2012


FULL CREDITS

South Pacific Pictures

in association with

The New Zealand Film Commission

present

WHITE LIES

WHIRIMAKO BLACK

RACHEL HOUSE ANTONIA PREBBLE

Casting CHRISTINA ASHER Line Producer CATHERINE MADIGAN

Sound Design JAMES HAYDAY Designer TRACEY COLLINS Composer JOHN PSATHAS Editor PAUL SUTORIUS Director of Photography ALUN BOLLINGER Screenplay DANA ROTBERG Based on the novella “Medicine Woman” by Witi Ihimaera Executive Producer ROSA BOSCH Producers JOHN BARNETT CHRIS HAMPSON Director DANA ROTBERG


Paraiti WHIRIMAKO BLACK

Maraea RACHEL HOUSE Rebecca ANTONIA PREBBLE

Horiana NANCY BRUNNING Aroha TE WAIMARIE KESSELL Wirepa KOHUORANGI TAWHARA Hospital Matron ELIZABETH HAWTHORNE Young Paraiti TE AHUREI RAKURAKU Paraiti's Grandfather MAHURI OTE RANGI TRAINOR TAIT Soldiers STEVE MCQUILLAN KYLE PRYOR GEORGE SMITH Snr GEORGE SMITH Jnr JONATHAN TORKINGTON Horiana's Grandchild RAWIRI WAIARIKI Pirihimana TE WHENUA TE KURAPA Woman with Bad Leg TANGIORA TAWHARA Limping Girl VANESSA PARAKI Chemist PHIL PELETON Pharmacy Worker JUANITA HEPI Girl at Cinema RINA KENOVI´C Woman at Cinema KATE STALKER Children at Cinema GRIFFIN GOUGH STALKER TESS GOUGH STALKER Gardener WILLIAM DAVIS Uncle Jim JIM WHITE Asthmatic Boy TE UREWERA KAPEA-RUA European Nurse SOPHIE HAMBLETON Aroha's Uncle MELVIN TE WANI Māori Nurse PATRICIA VICHMAN Hospital Orderly TIM COOPER Rebecca's Baby DEIZHON MANAWANUI KING Mr Vickers' Employee JON BRAZIER Rebecca's Child TE AHUMAIRANGI BRIDIE POTTS Script Editor MICHAEL DONNELLY 1st Assistant Director HAMISH GOUGH Location Manager CHARLOTTE GARDNER On Set Art Director DAVIN VOOT


Off Set Art Director MILTON CANDISH Make-Up/Hair Supervisor ABBY COLLINS Gaffer GILLY LAWRENCE Key Grip TERRY JOOSTEN Sound Recordist ADAM MARTIN Kaitiaki NGAMARU RAERINO Cultural Advisor KARARAINA RANGIHAU Iwi Liaison WHITIAUA ROPITINI Advisor to the Director TANGIORA TAWHARA Script Supervisor HAYLEY ABBOTT Focus Puller BRADLEY WILLEMSE 2nd Assistant Camera ALYSSA KATH Video Split NINA WELLS Best Boy BEN CORLETT Generator Operator STEVE JOYCE Lighting Assistant MANA LAWRENCE Assistant Grip TIM WATSON Additional Grips TOBY CONWAY ROAN LEWISHAM Boom Operators SAM GOOD NIKORA EDWARDS 2nd Assistant Directors KATIE TATE CATHERINE BENNETTO 3rd Assistant Director LANCE MCMINN Trainee Director KARARAINA RANGIHAU Animal Trainers ANIMALS ON Q Dog Trainer KIM LUX Horse Trainer ROSIE MILES Animal Wranglers MARLON HART JULIE WHIU Art Dept Coordinator KATE OLIVE Set Decorator ANITA DEMPSEY Set Dresser SETU LIO Assistant Set Dresser LEAH MIZRAHI


Props Master/Standby Props NICK WILLIAMS Greens SAM HOLLYER Graphics LISA RUSHWORTH Art Assistant JESSICA LEIJH Additional Art Assist CALUM MACMILLAN Scenic Artist PAUL NY Vehicle Wrangler IAN GOLDINGHAM Armourer PETER "GUNNER" ASHFORD Special Effects FILM EFFECTS LTD Special Effects Technicians SVEN HARRENS ALASTAIR VARDY Construction Manager NIK NOVIS Carpenters MERV LAMBERT JASON JOHNSON Assistant Costume Designer KIRI RAINEY Costume Standby CARMEL RATA Costume Assist/Dresser EMMA RANSLEY Pattern Cutter MITCH ANDREWS Costume Machinist KIRSTY MCLAY Make-Up/Prosthetics Artist YOLANDA BARTRAM Make-Up & Hair Artist VEE GULLIVER Facial Prosthetics Designer ANDREW BEATTIE Belly Prosthetics MAIN REACTOR Acting Coach STEPHANIE WILKIN Production Coordinator MICHELLE LEAITY Production Secretary SARAH BANASIAK Production Runner AIMEE RUSSELL Additional Production Asst CHARLOTTE PARSON Chaperone DEBORAH LANE Midwife ABBY CLARK Production Accountant SUSIE BUTLER Post Production Accountant ESTHER SCHMIDT Additional Location Mgr JACOB MCINTYRE Location Assistant NINA BARTLETT Unit Manager BEN DUN Unit Assistant ANDREW D'ALMEIDA


Catering MARVEL CATERING Safety Supervisor ROBERT "GIBBO" GIBSON Assistant Editor SHAILESH PRAJAPATI Stunt Coordinator/Performer STEVE MCQUILLAN Stunt Performer KYLE PRYOR Stunt Double Rider RICHARD WHITE RUATAHUNA CREW Art Assistants GRAHAM RANGIHAU BONNEY SMITH ROGER WHITE Horse Wrangler PAREHUIA EPARAIMA Production Runners HINEMA RUREHE JOHN BIRRELL Location Assistants JIM WHITE MERIANN WHITE MAHURI OTE RANGI TRAINOR TAIT RICHARD WHITE TE KIATO "TK" MOREHU Security PETER TIMOTI STEVE PENWRIGHT Catering MERIANN WHITE THE WHITE FAMILY OPUTAO MARAE 2nd Unit Camera DJ STIPSEN 2nd Unit Focus Pullers SAM MATTHEWS LEE ALLISON Security PARAGON NZ Script Development TIM BALME JO JOHNSON Māori Language Translation KARARAINA RANGIHAU WHITIAUA ROPITINI TANGIORA TAWHARA RANGITUNOA BLACK Post Production IMAGES & SOUND LTD Post Production Supervisor GRANT BAKER Post Production Coordinator ANNA RANDALL


DI Conform/Titles ANDREW MORTIMER Digital Intermediate ColouristPAUL LEAR Assistant Colourist ALANA COTTON Engineering ANDREW ROSS VFX ANDREW MORTIMER BRENTON CUMBERPATCH CARLOS PURCELL DAVID MYLES Digital Cinema Package TRISTAN SIMPSON Film Output WETA DIGITAL Film Recording Manager PETE WILLIAMS Film Recording Supervisor NICK BOOTH Film Recording Technician DANIEL ASHTON Film Laboratory Services PARK ROAD POST PRODUCTION Sound Post Production IMAGES & SOUND LTD Supervising Sound Editor STEVE FINNIGAN Dialogue Editor CHRIS SINCLAIR Sound Effects Editor JAMES HAYDAY ADR Recordist STEVE FINNIGAN Sound Mixing Studio DIGIPOST LTD Re Recording Mixer CHRIS SINCLAIR Foley Artist JONATHAN BRUCE Foley Engineer GARETH VAN NIEKERK Dolby Consultant BRUCE EMERY ADR Loop Group ANGELINE VAIKE ANNIE TE MOANA GEOFFREY DOLAN GREG JOHNSON GRIFFIN GOUGH STALKER JAROME HENERE-SAMUELS KAHLEE HENARE-SAMUELS KARARAINA RANGIHAU KATARAINA WIAPO KATE STALKER KIRK TORRANCE NARELLE AHRENS POMARE TAWHAI POTAUA HOTENE RAYMOND BRUCE HOPKINS STEPHEN HALL TAMAKAIMOANA HUNE TE RUKI TE MOANA TESS GOUGH STALKER TUMANAWA TAWHAI Legal and Business Affairs JESSICA WISEMAN HEATHER AH YEN Financial Controller TANIA BETTANY


Publicist & EPK TAMAR MÜNCH Stills Photographer TODD EYRE MATT KLITSCHER Trailer JAMES BROOKMAN

The producers wish to thank

OPUTAO MARAE TE UMUROA MARAE

THE PEOPLE OF RUATAHUNA VALLEY HIGHWIC & ALBERTON - NZ HISTORIC PLACES TRUST PROPERTIES

The Production gratefully acknowledges the support, advice and assistance of Te Haahi Ringatu o Ruatahuna Special thanks to ROSA BOSCH RICHARD & MERIANN WHITE MOANA MANIAPOTO JOE MCCLUTCHIE ANI PRIP HINEIRA WOODARD MINITA PRIP CALUM MACMILLAN LEANNE POOLEY DIANNE TAYLOR HINEWAI MACMANUS JON ARVIDSON JOHN MACDERMOTT GERALD LOPEZ ESTHER AMMANN KATHLEEN BENNETT FAY CLARK MERCEDES HOPE ANNETTE MASON CLAIRE STAFFORD TRISH HOLLOWAY CHARLES DIVINS PATY AGUIRE SEAN PUMFLEET LEON CONSTANTINER WARWICK GOUGH JIM BUTTERWORTH CHRIS MEADE RINA KENOVI´C JULIO DIAZ

MOOMOO THE DOG Produced with the assistance of

THE DEPARTMENT OF CONSERVATION TE UREWERA, WHIRINAKI OFFICE TE PAPA ATAWHAI, NEW ZEALAND

Original Music Composed by JOHN PSATHAS Performed by

RICHARD NUNNS Taonga Puoro EMMA SAYERS Pianist


SASHA GACHENKO Bass MATT CAVE Bass ROWAN PRIOR Cello PAUL MITCHELL Cello KONSTANZE ARTMANN Viola IRINA ANDREEVA Viola KATE OSWIN Violin MATTHEW ROSS Violin

Score Recording Engineer & Mixer GRAHAM KENNEDY Assistant Score Recording Engineer CHRIS KEOGH

Music Production Supervisor INGE RADEMEYER Typesetting BEN WOODS Composer's Assistant BRIAR PRASTITI

Thanks to VICTORIA UNIVERSITY OF WELLINGTON

NEW ZEALAND SCHOOL OF MUSIC RADIO NEW ZEALAND

"Melodic Instrument 2" Written & Performed by Richard Nunns Courtesy of Rattle Records

Camera and Lenses QUEENSTOWN CAMERAS Insurance CROMBIE LOCKWOOD (NZ) LTD MARTIN TRENDALL

This film was made with assistance from the Screen Production Incentive Fund

www.facebook.com/WhiteLiesTheMovie

Based on the novella "Medicine Woman" by Witi Ihimaera from the collection "ASK THE POSTS OF THE HOUSE" published by Reed Books

Made by New Zealand

Filmed on location in New Zealand in Te Urewera, Ruatahuna, Lake Waikaremoana and Auckland

© 2013 South Pacific Pictures Ltd

Documents

PRESS KIT Cover - African Film KIT A new film from ... Censorship Rating M with violence and nudity ... Barnett says it was the powerful themes and the strong female characters within