TAIKA WAITITI New Zealand Film director

Biography Taika Waititi also known as Taika Cohen was born on the 16 th 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 2011  The Inbetweeners (TV)pre-production)  Pilot (2011)  Super City (TV series) 2010  Boy 2009  The Flight of the Conchords (TV series)  Evicted  NewZealandTown 2008  Cinema16: World Short Films (video short) (as Taika Cohen) 2007  New Fans  Drive By  Eagle vs Shark 2005  Tama tu (short) 2004  Heinous Crime (short)  Two Cars, One Night (short) 2002  John & Pogo (short)

Filmography: Writer 2011  The Inbetweeners (TV)pre- production)  Super City (TV series) 2010  Boy 2009  The Flight of the Conchords (TV series)  Evicted  NewZealandTown 2008  Cinema16: World Short Films (video short) (as Taika Cohen) 2007  New Fans  Drive By  Eagle vs Shark 2005  Tama tu (short) 2004  Heinous Crime (short)  Two Cars, One Night (short) 2002  John & 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.