Wild about Waititi
Film-maker is New Zealander of the Year
Director Taika Waititi was named New Zealander of the Year last night at the annual awards ceremony celebrating Kiwi culture and achievement.
He was joined by refugee advocate Rez Gardi, former Royal New Zealand Ballet and film festival manager Sue Paterson and medical scientist professor Ed Gane as category winners.
Waititi‘s award recognises his work taking New Zealand culture to cinemas worldwide.
Waititi was unable to receive his award at the ceremony last night because he is directing Marvel superhero film Thor in Los Angeles. Hunt for the Wilderpeople star Julian Dennison collected Waititi‘s award, alongside Waititi‘s wife, film producer Chelsea Winstanley.
Chief judge Cameron Bennett said Waititi received the award for his commitment to exploring and promoting New Zealand’s identity and his work to reduce youth suicide rates and poverty through providing creative outlets.
‘‘Waititi is an exciting and inspiring example of who and what we are as Kiwis. Creative, courageous, audacious, subversive and downright funny,’’ Bennett said.
His latest work, Hunt For The Wilderpeople, was acclaimed as a touching yet hilarious comedy about a Kiwi boy from the wrong side of the tracks. It screened across Europe, the United States, Australia and at home.
‘‘His films represent the importance of whanau, of belonging and the challenges facing youth at the margins of society,’’ Bennett said.
Young New Zealander of the Year was awarded to Gardi, a 25-year-old former Kurdish refugee whose family sought safety in New Zealand after nine years trying to escape war, genocide and hunger.
Gardi achieved incredible feats in New Zealand, with positions such as United Nations human rights intern and youth delegate at the Women Deliver Conference in Denmark on her CV.
After graduating, Gardi went on to become a lawyer and passionately advocates to help refugees.
Gane received the Innovator of the Year title for his work on a cure for the Hepatitis C virus.
The disease, which can be life threatening, affected 50,000 New Zealanders, the award’s board said.
Gane has worked alongside scientists across the world to create a cure. They discovered that a short course of tablets could alleviate the disease.
For her services to culture – most noticeably through managing the Royal New Zealand Ballet and the New Zealand Film Festival – Sue Paterson was named Senior New Zealander of the Year. In 2004, she received an Order of New Zealand Merit for services to ballet.
In other awards, Hayden Smith won Local Hero of the Year for starting a trust to clean up New Zealand’s marine environment and the South Auckland suburb of Randwick Park was awarded Community of the Year for evolving ‘‘from a crime ghetto to a family friendly place’’.