TAIKA WAITITINew Zealand Film director

Biography• Taika Waititi also known as Taika Cohen was born on the

16th August 1975• Taika is of Te-Whanau-a-Apanui descent and is from the

Raukokore region of the East Coast• He has ben in the film industry for a long time, first as an

actor/comedian but he now focuses is on writing and directing

• He use to be in a comedy duo with Flight of the conchords Jermaine Clemeny

• Taika’s first professional film was the short Two Cars One Night

• He is of Maori & Europaen-Jewish descent

How he started in film making• He first concentrated on becoming an actor• Then he became interested in storytelling and directing• Filmmaking just became composition of all the things

that he was interested in• Visually, musically, dramatically and narratively it was

just the perfect fit for Waititi• In 1999 he started a successful low-budget Dunedin

film scarfies.• Two Cars and One night was his first professional sort

film and it earned him an accademy award.

Filmography: Actor• 2011 Green Lantern • 2010 Radiradirah (TV series) Boy• 2009 The Jaquie Brown Diaries (TV)• 2007 The Flight of the Conchords Eagle Vs. Shark• 2004 Futile Attractionn Toy Boy (short) Heineious Crime (short)• 2002

Turangawaewae (short) The Strip (TV series)• 2001 Snakeskin  A new way home (short)•  1999 Scarfies

Filmography: Director• 2011The Inbetweeners (TV)pre-production) Pilot (2011)Super City (TV series) • 2010Boy • 2009The Flight of the Conchords (TV series) Evicted NewZealandTown• 2008Cinema16: World Short Films (video short) (as Taika Cohen) • 2007New Fans Drive By

Eagle vs Shark • 2005Tama tu (short) • 2004Heinous Crime (short)Two Cars, One Night (short) • 2002John & Pogo (short)

Filmography: Writer• 2011The Inbetweeners (TV)pre-production) Super City (TV series) • 2010Boy • 2009The Flight of the Conchords (TV series) Evicted NewZealandTown• 2008Cinema16: World Short Films (video short) (as Taika Cohen)

• 2007New Fans Drive By Eagle vs Shark • 2005Tama tu (short) • 2004Heinous Crime (short)Two Cars, One Night (short) • 2002John & Pogo (short)

6 Favourite movies:• Dr. Strangelove or How I learned to Stop Worrying and Love

the Bomb, Directed by Stanley Kubrick• The Graduate, Directed by Mike Nichols• Stalker, Directed by Andrei Tarkovsky• Coming Home, Directed by Hal Ashby• Badlands, Directed by Terrence Malick• Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, Directed by Martin

Scorsese

Film themes• A sense of absence from characters is seen in Waititi’s award winning films: Two Cars

One Night, Eagle Vs Shark and Boy

• Ironically Waititi himself plays the absent character in two of the films.• In Eagle Vs. Shark he plays the successful older brother of Gordon who unexpectedly

commits suicide and in Boy he plays Alamein the runaway father of the main character

• In Two Cars One Night the children are left in the car while the parents are at pub

• This absence creates another kind of presence: the parents, Gordon and Alamein, by detaching themselves from their families in their respective ways, become symbols of loss; they are the void that the other characters circle around.

• The characters in all of the films develop from their losses, the kids in Two cars One Night make friends with one another, Gordon learns to stand up for himself, and Boy finds his own potential without the hero he had been hoping for

Current film projects

Waititi is currently launching his tv series The Inbetweeners which he wrote himself and started directing it last year.

Significance of film• Waititi creates a positive image amongst New Zealand film, his films are

based around negtive issues however he manages to turn the situation around into a positive experience, not only inspiring the characters but the audience aswell

• Taika Waititi doesn’t do straghtforward characters or stories, he adds depth and emotion so the audience to feel like they can relate to to characters and the screenplay themselves

• Theres a certain pain and discomfort that comes with watching dysfunctional groups of people, Waititi uses this well to draw the audience in

• Waititi use of comedy is excellent, he knows when to lighten the audience up however he doesn’t mask emotional pain with humour

• He is able to combine drama and comedy to really tell a story and deliver heart-warming New Zealand films.