How Paula and Bree are turning tragedy into comedy

The director admits her leading lady does a better job of being her than she does!

RNZ interview with Paula Whetu Jones. 29 Feb 2024. Click on the link to hear the Interview

https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/2018928103/our-humour-doesn-t-go-when-we-lose-our-legs-film-maker-paula-whetu-jones

Tessa Rivers' busy life is upended when a mysterious illness leaves her paralysed. Sent to Goldfield’s Spinal Unit, Tessa meets the eccentric residents but quickly decides not to get comfortable - with the help of her alter-ego 'walking Tessa', she's determined to walk again by any means necessary.

Starring: Bree Peters, Tom Sainsbury, John Landreth, Oscar Phillips

This Award recognises significant achievement with a short or feature film released in the last three years locally and/or internationally. Paula is nominated for her work in ‘Whina’.

Bree Peters takes the lead in a new comedy about being in a Spinal Unit…created and directed by Paula Whetu Jones.

Thands to Mel and Jade from the Incubator and Screen BOP. Had a lovely surprise when beautiful people Ainsley Gardiner, Roy Taoho and George Hennah joined us to give feedback to the budding screenwriters of the BOP.

A wonderful article in WOMAN written by Aroha Awarau,

Trailer unveiled for Blockbuster New Zealand Feature Film ‘WHINA’. With an all-star cast including Rena Owen, Miriama McDowell, Vinnie Bennett and James Rolleston.

I have been applying for this for years and the irony is, the project that I got in with is the very first script I wrote and have adapted constantly over the last 12-15 years. So this is special!

I cant wait to get together with my fellow filmmakers for the 5 day workshop.

Im so chuffed to be selected to participate in this workshop. The script I will be working on is The Last Padre.

The FilmUp Mentorship Programme is an eight-month professional development programme for practising writers, directors and producers. It supports and empowers up to nine practising filmmakers selected each year to reach the next stage in their film careers.

Throughout the programme each participant receives 20 hours of mentorship with an esteemed industry mentor, participates in group work & round tables, and receives wrap-around support.

WHINA (played by Rena Owen) is the story of the beloved Māori matriarch who worked tirelessly to improve the rights of her people, especially women. At nearly 80-years-old Cooper became nationally revered as the ‘Mother of The Nation’ when she led the first Māori Land March over 1,000 kilometers from Te Hapua in the Far North to Wellington at the bottom of the North Island of New Zealand in 1975.

Written and directed by James Napier Robertson and Paula Whetu Jones.

Cornerstone will launch worldwide sales, excluding ANZ, for writers and directors James Napier Robertson and Paula Whetu Jones’ Whina (pronounced fee-nah), out of the upcoming European Film Market.

The Ionian University, Project Partner of CIAK Project, organized the third and last weekly part of the Screenwriting Workshop in Corfu, Greece on November 26 – December 1, 2019 at the Audiovisual Arts department premises. During the three weekly workshop sessions (hosted in Ioannina, Bari and Corfu respectively), 15 ascendant cinema screenwriters from all over the world attended intensive courses and gained personal supervision towards the development of their personal scenario. After the successful organization of the last session, high-quality scenarios were developed, which are expected to be submitted in their final form by January 2020.

I was invited in Sept 2019 to be a mentor for the Sabah Film Making course in conjunction with the Kota Kinabalu Film Film Festival(KIFF) by Festival Director, Jude Day who is a New Zealander who has been living in Sabah, Malaysia since 2007

In 2009, Jude founded the KKIFF and last year they celebrated our 10th anniversary and I was lucky enough to be 1 of the 5 filmmakers who was asked to be a mentor.