Disconnected

When a construction worker from South Auckland loses the last connection he has with his dead Mum, he spirals into a state of depression, prompting an intervention from beyond the grave.

Written and Directed by Maruia Jensen
Produced by Angela Cudd

Director’s Bio: Maruia Jensen of Ngāpuhi and Ngāti Porou descent is a Māori film-maker, script writer and actor from New Zealand. Between 2008 and 2011, she worked for Kura Productions as one of the script writers for the Māori language (The indigenous language of New Zealand) program ‘Tōku Reo’. It was here she also dabbled in on-screen work as a field presenter for the same show. Later on she wrote scripts for a Kura Production game show, ‘Kupu Huna’. In 2011, Maruia graduated with a Post-Graduate diploma in Education and taught te reo Māori, Māori Performing Arts and Social Studies at various secondary schools in the Northland area. In 2017, Maruia appeared in an episode of Greenstone picture’s ‘Tongue Tied’ which re-ignited her interest in the TV and film industry. Later that year, she decided to put her teaching career on hold while she pursued script writing once more. She was awarded a grant from NZFC at the 2018 Rotorua Indigenous Film Festival, and then another grant from the 2019 Ngā Aho Shorts fund for the pitch of her first short film, ‘Soul Healing’. From here she became one of nine emerging filmmakers selected for the 2019 South Shorts Mentorship Programme. Maruia’s passion for te reo Māori me ōna tikanga (Māori values) is evident in her story-telling and she is determined to showcase and promote positive stories about te ao Māori (The Māori world) through drama and comedy.

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