Tweedie Waititi is a New Zealand film director and producer. The whāngai sister of Taika Waititi, she is best known for her work co-directing production company Matewa Media, which since 2016 has produced
Māori language
Māori (), or ('the Māori language'), also known as ('the language'), is an Eastern Polynesian language spoken by the Māori people, the indigenous population of mainland New Zealand. Closely related to Cook Islands Māori, Tuamotuan, and ...
Waititi grew up in the Te Whānau-ā-Apanui community of Waihau Bay in the Bay of Plenty. She is the first cousin of Taika Waititi, but as they were raised together through whāngai adoption, they consider each other siblings. Waititi studied film at the
South Seas Film & Television School
South Seas Film & Television School is a higher education institution centered on the visual arts based in Auckland, New Zealand. They offer courses for full-time diplomas in Film & TV, Photography and On Screen Acting. They also offer introduct ...
. In 2012, she worked as a language coach for the Rachel House-directed production of William Shakespeare's '' Troilus and Cressida'', performed in Māori.
In 2017, Waititi formed the production company Matewa Media alongside filmmaker (and then wife of her cousin Taika Waititi) Chelsea Winstanley. 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 Disney 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 Taika Waititi, 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 (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
''Rūrangi'' is a 2020 New Zealand LGBT-related independent drama film directed by Max Currie. The queer and trans-positive drama was written by Cole Meyers and Oliver Page. It stars Elz Carrad in his feature film debut, along with Arlo Green, ...
'', to help develop authentic Māori storylines for the production. Waititi won the Department of Post Best New Zealand Film at the
Show Me Shorts
Show Me Shorts is an international short film festival held in Auckland and other venues across New Zealand. It screens a selection of short films from New Zealand and around the world in cinemas nationwide each spring.
Each year approximately 6 ...
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 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'', released during Matariki and ''
Frozen
Frozen may refer to:
* the result of freezing
* a paralysis response in extreme cases of fear
Films
* ''Frozen'' (1997 film), a film by Wang Xiaoshuai
* ''Frozen'' (2005 film), a film by Juliet McKoen
* ''Frozen'' (2007 film), a film by Sh ...
'', 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 and Ngāi Tūhoe dialects. For ''Frozen'', Waititi chose to represent southern Ngāi Tahu dialects, to match the snowy atmosphere of the film.
Tweedie Tweedie is a surname of Scottish origin. The name is a habitational name from Tweedie, located in the parish of Stonehouse, south of Glasgow. The origin and meaning of the name is unknown.1985 births