Tweedie Waititi is a New Zealand film director and producer. The whāngai sister of

Taika Waititi Taika David Cohen (born 16 August 1975), known professionally as Taika Waititi ( ), is a New Zealand filmmaker, actor, and comedian. He is a recipient of an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, and a Grammy Award, and has received two nominations at ...

, she is best known for her work co-directing production company

Matewa Media Matewa Media is a New Zealand production company that dubs Disney animated films into the Māori language. Productions ''Moana Reo Māori'' (2017) Matewa Media was formed by Tweedie Waititi and Chelsea Winstanley in 2017 after seeing how popul ...

, which since 2016 has produced Māori language versions of

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

animated films.

Biography

Waititi grew up in the

Te Whānau-ā-Apanui Te Whānau-ā-Apanui is a Māori iwi (Iwi is the Maori word for tribe) located in the eastern Bay of Plenty and East Coast regions of New Zealand's North Island. In 2006, the iwi registered 11,808 members, representing 13 hapū. History Early ...

community of Waihau Bay in the

Bay of Plenty The Bay of Plenty ( mi, Te Moana-a-Toi) is a region of New Zealand, situated around a bight of the same name in the northern coast of the North Island. The bight stretches 260 km from the Coromandel Peninsula in the west to Cape Runaw ...

. She is the first cousin of

, but as they were raised together through

whāngai adoption Whāngai adoption, often referred to simply as whāngai (literally, "to nourish"), is a traditional method of open adoption among the Māori people of New Zealand. Whāngai is a community process rather than a legal process, and usually involves a ...

, they consider each other siblings. Waititi studied film at the South Seas Film & Television School. In 2012, she worked as a language coach for the Rachel House-directed production of

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

's ''

Troilus and Cressida ''Troilus and Cressida'' ( or ) is a play by William Shakespeare, probably written in 1602. At Troy during the Trojan War, Troilus and Cressida begin a love affair. Cressida is forced to leave Troy to join her father in the Greek camp. Meanwh ...

'', performed in

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...

. In 2017, Waititi formed the production company

alongside filmmaker (and then wife of her cousin

)

Chelsea Winstanley Chelsea Jane Winstanley (born 30 January 1976) is a New Zealand film producer. She produces short films and documentaries which celebrate Indigenous peoples. She also produced the films ''What We Do in the Shadows'' and ''Jojo Rabbit''. Career ...

. The company was named for Waititi's grandmother Matewa Delamere (1926-1998). Waititi and Winstanley were inspired to create Te Reo Māori (Māori language) adaptations of

films while watching Waititi's toddlers watch '' Moana'' on repeat, and hoping that they would be able to experience the film in Māori. Waititi's cousin

, who had worked on an early draft of the English language version of the film, proposed the idea to Disney, who agreed and allowed Matewa Media to start work on the film. ''Moana Reo Māori'' was released in 2017, coinciding with

Te Wiki o te Reo Māori ( en, Māori Language Week) is a government-sponsored initiative intended to encourage New Zealanders to promote the use of the Māori language which is an official language of the country. Māori Language Week is part of a broader movement to ...

(Māori Language Week) 2017. Waititi also translated the subtitles for her cousin's film '' Thor: Ragnarok'' into te reo, for the home media and aircraft release of the film. In 2020, Waititi worked as a script consultant on the LGBT film '' Rūrangi'', to help develop authentic Māori storylines for the production. Waititi won the Department of Post Best New Zealand Film at the Show Me Shorts film festival in 2020, for producing the short film ''Daddy's Girl (Kōtiro)''. The following year, she translated the song " Bathe in the River" (2006) by

Hollie Smith Hollie Smith (born 17 November 1982) is a New Zealand soul singer-songwriter based in Auckland, New Zealand. Her four solo albums ''Long Player, Humour and the Misfortune of Others, Water or Gold,'' and ''Coming In From The Dark'' have all reach ...

into Māori, as a part of the Waiata / Anthems project. In 2022, Waititi produced two te reo Māori adaptations of Disney films: ''

The Lion King ''The Lion King'' is a 1994 American animated musical drama film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The 32nd Disney animated feature film and the fifth produced during the Disney Renaissance ...

'', released during

Matariki ), signalling the Māori new year., litcolor=, observedby=New Zealanders, nickname=, official_name=, alt=, image=M45 Pleiades Pbkwee (cropped to core 9 stars).jpg, relatedto=, date2022=24 June, date2023=14 July In Māori culture, Matariki is the ...

and '' Frozen'', to be released in 2022.

Artistry

Waititi represents a range of Māori dialects in her adaptations. For ''The Lion King'', different animals were represented with

Waikato Tainui Waikato Tainui, Waikato or Tainui is a group of Māori ''iwi'' based in Waikato Region, in the western central region of New Zealand's North Island. It is part of the larger Tainui confederation of Polynesian settlers who arrived to New Zealand ...

and

Ngāi Tūhoe Ngāi Tūhoe (), often known simply as Tūhoe, is a Māori iwi of New Zealand. It takes its name from an ancestral figure, Tūhoe-pōtiki. ''Tūhoe'' is a Māori-language word meaning "steep" or "high noon". Tūhoe people also bear the sobriquet ...

dialects. For ''Frozen'', Waititi chose to represent southern

Ngāi Tahu Ngāi Tahu, or Kāi Tahu, is the principal Māori (tribe) of the South Island. Its (tribal area) is the largest in New Zealand, and extends from the White Bluffs / Te Parinui o Whiti (southeast of Blenheim), Mount Mahanga and Kahurangi Point ...

dialects, to match the snowy atmosphere of the film.

Filmography

Films

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Waititi, Tweedie 21st-century New Zealand writers 21st-century screenwriters Indigenous filmmakers in New Zealand Living people Māori-language film directors New Zealand film directors New Zealand Māori film producers New Zealand screenwriters New Zealand women film directors New Zealand women film producers New Zealand women screenwriters People from the Bay of Plenty Region Rongowhakaata people Te Whānau-ā-Apanui people Tweedie 1985 births