Renae Maihi, New Zealand Māori, is an award winning, critically acclaimed writer and director in theatre and film whose career highlights include two feature film world premieres at the Toronto International Film Festivals in 2017 and 2022 respectively. 

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Her debut feature WARU which she wrote and directed in close collaboration with 8 other female filmmakers had its international premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival to widespread critical acclaim. WARU went on to win best screenplay at the NZ SWANZ awards, the Grand Jury Award for an Outstanding International Narrative Feature at the 34th Asia Pacific Film Festival in Los Angeles and the “Best of SIFF 2018 Audience Award” at Seattle International Film Festival.  Theatrically released in New Zealand, Waru enjoyed box office success with repeat audiences leading to an extended run in cinemas across the country. 

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Post-pandemic, Renae returned as a writer/director on the anthology feature film We Are Still Here which opened the Sydney Film Festival 2022 and premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, making Renae the only Māori woman Director to have had two feature films programmed at the A-list festival.

 

We Are Still Here went on to win the Telefilm award for Best Dramatic Feature Film at the imagineNATIVE Film Festival in Toronto which Renae accepted on behalf of the film. In 2023 the film released theatrically in major cinema’s across Australia and New Zealand. That same year it placed in the Top 4 on Netflix.

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A strong and determined woman as reflected by the landmark racism case she won in New Zealand (Maihi V Jones) it is her goal to make blockbuster films and entertain the world with epic Indigenous storytelling told from her unique perspective. 

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Represented by Hollywood Management company 5XMedia (see Press)  Renae is a determined creative visionary and a burgeoning international talent to watch. 

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