In the early 2000's Renae Maihi was trained specifically in cultural protocols pertaining to creative projects at Te Wananga O Aotearoa, the largest Māori university in New Zealand. She has contributed as an interviewee to numerous Indigenous filmmaking thesis's around the world specifically around this topic and, due to her upbringing, she has a solid foundational knowledge of appropriate processes for productions with Indigenous themes. Her experience of living in New Zealand, Australia, the Cook Islands, New York and Toronto has also given her a deep understanding of the global cultural landscape, the similarities and differences and the appropriate approach needed when working with Indigenous projects around the world. 

Recently in 2023, Renae successfully negotiated filming rights from the City of Toronto to a location where filming was not historically permitted. She did so on the grounds that the film was led by a Haudenosaunee woman and the production wanted to film on this ancient Haudenosaunee site of significance.  

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Her understanding of best practice and protocols saw her advise as one of the National Executive Board on The Directors and Editors Guild of New Zealand in recent years, a contribution that opened deeper discussions around Indigenous Intellectual Property and the way forward. 

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If you have a project that needs consultation to check it's Indigenous health and wellbeing, would like to connect with the appropriate Indigenous partners or you are a non-Indigenous production that would like to engage with  Indigenous protocol and process then see below, reach out and Renae will be happy to support you through this process.