Josephine Stewart-Te Whiu

Josephine Stewart-Te Whiu (Ngāpuhi/Te Rarawa) is an New Zealand-based filmmaker of Māori and Pākehā descent. Josephine wrote “Titty and Bash” for Waru (2017), which premiered at TIFF. In 2018, Josephine was awarded the Māori Screen Excellence Award from the New Zealand Film Commission, alongside her fellow Waru filmmakers. Her short film Ani (2019) premiered at the Berlinale International Film Festival and went on to screen at TIFF. Ani has since been acquisitioned by Fox Searchlight Shorts. Her latest short film, When We Were Kids (2020) won Best Short at the New Zealand International Film Festival, and Best Short at the Melbourne Women in Film Festival. Her first feature film We Were Dangerous premiered in competition at SXSW in 2024, where she won the Special Jury Prize for Filmmaking. We Were Dangerous has since screened at festivals globally, and was the opening night film for the 2024 New Zealand International Film Festival.