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Moana

Ete

Moana Ete, 2020 Springboard Recipient

Moana Ete’s Biography

Last Updated:

5/05/2022, 9:36 am

Discipline:

Multi-disciplinary – writer, film maker, musician, curator, performing arts

Awards:

Arts Foundation Springboard 2020,

Iwi:

Ngāi Tahu, Ngāti Wheke, Rāpaki and Savai’I Samoa

Highlight:

"I have worked hard to be trusted with many artists' visions, telling their stories through writing, acting, directing and music and it is a responsibility that I don't take lightly. Springboard affords me the time and space to plan and execute more of my own projects. It also allows me to build the team I need to make it all happen. I am driven to continue to pave a way forward for my community, my industry and anyone who might see me about and think "I want to do what she's doing". Niki Caro said to me in our first meeting "try not to look too hard for a template" I am eager to follow her advice to follow my instincts, to trust that everyone I have worked with for over 10 years has given me every tool and I will ever need."

Moana is an artist who is cultivating her artistic voice while raising our future generation. Moana uses her practice to explore the ways we are navigating the impact of colonization, sparking korero about our collective future. Moana’s practice demands us to surrender judgement, instead seeking a future where individuality shines”. In her film work she is challenging how we see and relate to people of colour on our screens in New Zealand. Springboard will be an opportunity for Moana to focus on developing her work, while also supporting her whānau.

Moana will be mentored by Niki Caro MNZM

Director Niki Caro, is one of the most successful filmmakers to emerge from New Zealand. Her second feature film, Whale Rider, won twenty-seven international awards, including audience awards at prestigious international film festivals including Toronto, Sundance, Rotterdam, San Francisco, Seattle and Maui. It won an Academy Award nomination for Keisha Castle-Hughes, then the youngest person ever to be nominated in the Best Actress category.

We check-in with Moana to see how the award has impacted her life one-year down the track.