Point of View - Ep. 4: "Storytelling: A Fire That Fuels Life" with Ramon Te Wake

Transcript

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[Music]
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Y and welcome to point of view this is the monthly podcast where we talk about what's coming up in cinemas and on
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streaming we talk about what's happening out there in the film world and we get some really cool people and to talk about uh their films their television
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the things that they love about the film landscape and so on today we're talking to Ramon taaki who is the uh legendary
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writer at actress uh director uh presence in uh altero queer scene um she
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has a huge amount of amazing cred credits under including just recently uh the TV andz series uh the boy the queen
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and everything in between we're going to be talking to her about that and as well as her upcoming projects as well we're
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also talking to Doug Dillman who is a local filmmaker he has a new film out called gut instinct which is an
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independent science fiction feature uh it's uh something quite unique it's
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really special um it's a really really fun experience um that really speaks to
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um Al's independent uh spirit and voice um so stay
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tuned toi thank you so much for joining us today at point of view K thanks for having me how are you doing how's uh
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how's life for you at the moment uh it's been an interesting year actually um
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it's been quite transformative and in many ways and it's also been uh just interesting watching
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the industry kind of tip up and down and kind of um you know people are panicking
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to some degree about what's going to happen what the future of the industry looks like and then others are just like
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consistently working so I'm like where are you getting your jobs from um but you know it is definitely an industry I
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love and will be in forever so you just got to ride the w I suppose absolutely there's always those ups and downs
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aren't there yeah um so let's go back to the beginning so uh for those who who who uh are being introduced to ramont
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toak at the moment uh where did your journey start I know you grew up in daville is that correct well I was born
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in daville Born of daville yeah I was born in daville and we left um when I was a a kid a baby okay to move to poor
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Wellington right gotcha gotcha and um my father got a job down there was actually interesting cuz he always said to us I
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think he threatened us that he said oh you know we could have taken you to Mango tooto which was even smaller than
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D like blinking your Missle at one Pub for those that live the I apologize we
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love we love both them yeah we love we love it all AB um but he's like you know but I knew he says I knew better so
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anyway so we grew up in escort poor escort Park poor um yeah and I remained
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there till I was 18 then moved into the City and you know lived a city girl life and my parents moved back up north and
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kind of just been dancing and Performing until I found other ways of expressing I
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think I've always been a Storyteller um and when I kind of did
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performance as a young show girl and kro as a teenager and then moved into music
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and moved to television so I've always just really uh left the door of
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curiosity open I guess you could say um and just moved with however I thought
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was where I needed to move to and just so happens I've been on television and film for 20 years now so what Drew what
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Drew you to that that world at first like was it just like a natural kind of sliding across to that part of
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entertainment or was it uh uh conscious like I want to get into this I got back
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from New York I was pretending to be a musician for several years um living off
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the bones my bum and you know all that kind of yummy stuff you do when you're an independent artist abolutely
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yeah yeah and then uh Mar television actually began and so they had a casting
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call I suppose for any Mar with kind of an interest in television and there was
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a lot of us and there was one show in particular called takat Tapo that uh was
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reaching out to the community for um gay lesbian and trans presenters and yeah
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eventually it landed on my door um met claudet ho front of the Box Productions
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and that was it and then just kind of started my television my screen career
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um with front of the Box Productions doing a show called takat which was 20 years ago and it it was quite pioneering
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wasn't it the first you were the first kind of host of a show who was also takat boy is that correct yeah I mean
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it's well arguably it's the first indigenous qu Series in the world wow um
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and yeah that was pretty special I mean when you're in it obviously it always feels different looks different but you
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know upon reflection you sort of think wow how groundbreaking it was you know to be a part of that um yeah and being a
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trans woman on screen during that time you know um was being on the industry
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was you know tough and exciting and strange and all that kind of stuff to navigate all the stereotypes and um
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being you know misgendered and and kind of navigating through that whole Space
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was interesting I'm so interested in how you you've probably got this perspective on how the world of New Zealand film and
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television has evolved since then yeah do you think it's become a a better more
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welcoming space uh in general yeah I mean the short answer is
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yes I you know I mean we've moved as a society the education's better the
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access to information easier you know with the social media and the internet you know it's like
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um back in the day right back in 20 years ago and then I'm not even speaking about the girls that had to go through
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stuff without the stuff that we had access to you know so um we definitely
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definitely have come and progressed a long way which is really really exciting
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now there's so many queer and takat tapi people across all parts of the industry
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you know not just in front of the camera but behind mind um and you know in
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positions of decision making positions of power and that's really exciting it's really special yeah and along the way
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you've been you know presting you've been uh you've performed you've written you've directed um this year you created
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a show the boy the queen and everything in between did you see it I am halfway through and I am really enjoying it it's
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a really really lovely show it has a real the thing I really love about it particularly beyond the performances and
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the writing which are both really this just sparkling is this um this sense of like lived in community
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that comes from it it's it it feels organic it feels authentic um can you
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tell me a little bit about how that series came to be well they always say write what you know right and so I
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suppose my point of difference as a creative person is the fact of my lived
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experience and so being able to kind of have opportunities where I can create stuff that speaks directly from myself
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um and the community to which I belong to and the people that I've kind of shared space with is really empowering
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to me and important to me so you know it's during lockdown like most people who kind of driven nuts with the whole
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pandemic yeah um you know I I knew I wanted to ride a ton of stuff um and so
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I ended up writing a whole bunch of props and one of this was one of them
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the boy the queen and everything in between and uh yeah I mean it just kind of uh struck aord with a couple of
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networks actually that was fun yeah that was fun War yeah yeah yeah you know
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spitting War oh cute very cute um and you know ended up going with Steve Tim
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because he was just um I love Steve I love Steve he's a great guy Love Steve love you Steve um and yeah and so it
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basically happened so quickly we were on the train and just went right through and then all of a sudden we finished it and went to air in February this year so
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it was a whirlwind yeah and you uh you have assembled this amazing cast um uh
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Amanda laor who is an amazing actress um just she did good a she did my goodness
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the real the gravitus and the kind of this kind of Regal performance such a
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presence and Aluna as well absolutely incredible um you also directed with Damon fule is that right um who who also
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directed red white and Brass um so it's a it's an awesome team it's something really really cool um how do people find
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that show uh I mean you know selfishly I made it people always say you would make
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things so Diane and Steven in bagle or you
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know April and Peter in the far north and I did have them in mind but I really
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I made up for my community yeah you know we need we need stuff too you know there's there's plenty of stuff for
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mainstream people out there and I think we need our own things to feel um proud
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of and see ourselves reflected I think all of those things are really
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empowering but it also contributes to really joyful and um accepting
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environments within family I mean there's a whole bunch of stuff I could go into but you know it was really for our community um and so they loved it
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yeah and I was really pleased with that uh and you know hopefully Mildred and
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Simon from andago watched it too yeah maybe yeah maybe they expand their world a little bit as well yeah and so you can
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find that on TV andz plus TV and Z Plus yeah um and so you've also directed the show uh uh trans and Pregnant which has
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just launched is that correct yeah Monday yeah can you tell us a little bit about that series gosh that was a bit of a fan Fair wasn't it um you know what it
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was three years in the making um I guess as a docu in terms of documentary that's
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pretty good going yeah you know kind of sticking um be stuck in the trenches
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with the story for that long um you know when we first pitched it because we had
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interviewed at aen Frankie for another TV show that Nicolo and myself who's the producer of it were working on called
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quir and here and they were u in front of us on a story about bisexuality and
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family is actually something completely different then at the end of it we were like oh so what's in the future and they were like we're going to have kids and I
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was like how like well Frank is a trans man because I'm going to have it biologic I'm going to you know wow have
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it and I was like I think I want to tell that story that's an amazing story to tell yeah and it literally much like the
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boy the Queen We pitched it there was initial trepidation I think there's fear
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around you know perpetuated by um uh fear as perpetuated the fact that
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trans bodies are just you know like politicized um you know and so there's a
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huge amount of fear around what that looks like uh so I think tan said as is
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beautiful they were beautiful they came to the party but there was trepidation definitely initially about how we
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proceed and what's the duty of care look like and how do we make sure that and
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Frankie is safe and we're safe and that you know all of these things so there was a bit of that at the beginning that
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continued throughout and even more so now that we had just released it um you know there was a lot of meetings and
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hoie about how we um our duty of care as
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creatives as a network you know yeah I guess I guess it's difficult because there's that there's so much
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disinformation out there about this uh topic and yet the visibility element the
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the presenting it as something that is beautiful and worth embracing is it's
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about I guess balancing those two things yeah I agree I agree um but what a story
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to tell yeah uh and at the end of the day you know it's about love and showing
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human beings um at its most beautiful natural you know um and the baby hewa is
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one plus 2 months what's that 14 months yeah that's my math yeah um and is just
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a bundle of joy and love D and they have a beautiful supportive Community around
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them you know so it people should be able to have the
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family they want to have 100% And they are an example of that and the and the
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the feedback has been extraordinary like it was funny we watched it together they were at my house on Cut Hy Road on
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Monday actually and but I were franking hea and Nicola few others and you know their phones were going off straight
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after like Ting Ting Ting and I was waiting for mine to ring mine didn't ring at all but that's okay no I'm
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joking my mom right oh that's good you got one I got one so what's on the
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what's on the uh kind of what's in the future for you in 2025 what's what's planned I know that you're working on a
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new documentary is that correct yeah we've been in development with a film Commission on um a feature my first
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feature length called denied um initially it was around 50 years of gay pride and all but we've missed that
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window like several years and probably will be several years by the time we actually get it off the
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55 years maybe maybe yeah but it doesn't have to stay ring to it you know it's not like so we've given up the number
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thing just to kind of take us out of trapping ourselves I guess fair enough but um yeah denied really does really
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explore you know our community and what we've been through and through being denied you know we've created um the
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first gay pride you know on the ground 1972 you know led by many but also n
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aoku who was um one of our trailblazing activists in our community uh and you know we do focus a
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lot on takat voices um Amari lead
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stories um trans lead stories with K rupe and Georgina Bayer and Louisa wall
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and to our current takab activists because I feel like our story's been told a lot in this country through
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different lenses um but it hasn't really been told through a tar or tatap lens in a way that we've packaged it wow um and
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as takat tap's trans and Nicolas takat we feel like this you know our perspective and where we want to bring
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the story from um is really special such it's a quite a massive scale really so
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how what's your process in terms of like wrangling the story shaping it into something that can fit like a feature
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length shape or are you are you wanting to make quite a long lengthy story or well I mean we've got our Heroes I think
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we just kind of sit with our heroes you know like Nya and like
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um Georgina before she passed um I did one of We did an interview with her um
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because we were in development for this and she was obviously one of our main
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characters in the film um so she gave us an interview we used it as a pre- interview to get the project off the
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ground and she was so behind it and so excited for it and so we have that and
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she's passed obviously so you know to us that is Tonga yeah you abely and so to
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be able to honor her um in this way still with her words um it's going to be
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such a beautiful moment for us but you know like I said they're all Tak with
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their trans there's these Pioneers you know like K like Georgina like nahua
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like Louisa wall um and like even the current ones The Young Ones the
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activists of the time they're all mildy and all tatap and I think that's really our strength is telling these takat tapi
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lid stories so that's where we'll probably
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Focus so we're looking at what's coming up on uh the big screen in December and
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January as well um because we're taking a break over Christmas um so there's a lot of big stuff coming out uh and to
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start with we're going to talk about some of the kind of Blockbuster ones that are coming out beginning with um Mufasa The Lion King so this is the
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sequel to the liveaction remake of the animated film are you a l fan uh well I
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mean I did see the film yeah back in the day for sure I I'm going to be honest with you I didn't catch the Remake I
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didn't catch the something about it doesn't really fly with me I just think feels very um
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whenever I see these like emotionless animated animals trying to do feel right
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perform it doesn't feel right yeah and it feels a bit colorless and I think this what's interesting about this is that it's actually directed by Barry
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Jenkins who made Moonlight yeah brilliant and a brilliant movie and a brilliant filmmaker so it's quite an
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interesting choice for him to do this it is I mean I just think he's like as soon as I saw that I just went okay I I want
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to see it it's a little funny how you could be drawn to something depending on who's involved who's involved um then I
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saw Beyonce obviously I'm a huge Beyonce fan um you know and I thought well this is great like you know but then
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definitely Barry cuz moonlight's literally on my one of my top 10 films ever yeah then that opening scene you
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know single shot open so you get to see world it's just like this so beautiful is it this is how you tell a story yeah
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absolutely so yeah so I think I'm really it made me more excited to see the though it strikes me as maybe one of
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those like old school like one for me one for them kind of things yeah but if Barry jenss is doing it
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there must be something that's bringing him to the table so um I will be seeing it for this one um we've also got
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another film that's quite interesting it's called better man um it is about Robbie Williams it's a bick about Robbie
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Williams I'm sure you bought his CDs back in the day I really did I had I had the one no no I the CD with all his
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faces as soccer players do you know that anyway doesn't matter um
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I list I'll smash at Robbie Williams every now there you karaoke Robbie Williams yeah I would I would absolutely
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so you ex you must be super excited about this listen I am interested I'm intrigued because one of the big twists
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of it is that uh it's it's a CGI monkey playing Robbie Williams don't know what
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the deal is with that uh but at least it's something new it's something interesting so it's bet crazy and
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I'm I'm here for I think we for some strange reason post and moved into this badshit crazy Wonder
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World next level land where everything and anything is crazy um yeah and then
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this is just brilliant I just imagine that he probably walked in one day and said I wanted to be me to be a monkey in
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this movie and I had to roll with it and so we'll see we'll see how it works out
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as far yeah well I saw as documentary on netlix and I mean look I'm not as
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probably as a huge fan of Robbie as you might be and that's okay um that's be my
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rip going forward more I totally get it I totally get it um that you know it's
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uh yeah I'm but hav't been portrayed by a monkey makes me like gag a little was
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is super exciting like I can't see I feel like it matches his like I don't
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know something about him makes me cringe but I feel like the monkey the cheekiness yeah matches him like matches
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his energy so it's probably a recipe for Success oh yeah 100% this the next one
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I've got here now this one is actually a sequel to this action movie and if you like me a big kind of be movie action
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nerd um there was a film that came out called which might not be your scene there was a film that came out called
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den of Thieves which had Gerard Butler as the words like sweetest greas Action Hero um and it was like a dirt ball
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grease Ball version of that movie Heat the Michael Man film and this is the sequel uh it brings the main cast back
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together it's going to be Cinemas uh if you're looking for a switch your brain off great action film Extravaganza den
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of Thieves the original it's a really good time in the movies it's really trashy like high trash but in a really
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great way and this is this is another one so uh I'm excited for it I'm an
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action news are you're an action new okay great yeah I I don't know if it surprises you or not but I cuz I me I grew up with a brother and in a
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household and we grew up with beer and I remember our first films we bought was
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be Master a yes and yeah right yeah so we grew up with all
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that um and then um K and the Barbarian and that whole series into Billy H cop
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and die hard Bruce Willis iconic you know so I I grew up in action so I am
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the type of girl that would pay to go and see an action movie over something a lot more Artful
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yeah you get the spectacle on the big screen and all my friends just like why
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and I'm like what do you mean why beekeeper it's like a rotation The Beekeeper this so this kind of is coming
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out at the same time as B keep in January which is a great time for an action film to come out and I feel like it's going to f fill the same void it's
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going to hit the same marks and the big keep was such a great time it was so good I mean Jo Butler I mean he's
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Dependable isn't he he is yeah you can always rely on him to turn on something worth watching I think he gets
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gr I hope he gets ruffier like I feel like he's getting gruffer he's definitely getting like like the beiger
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but like a extra heroy kind of yeah it I dig it um okay so a little bit of a
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shift um we've also got a film called the Haka party incident coming up by KY wolf have you seen this film I have not
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seen it and I felt really bad that I hadn't seen it but it was or originally a play right it was yeah so it was also
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at F M uh New Zeal International Film Festival this year yeah um and it tells
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the story of um back in the day in the 70s engineering students at the
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University of ockland exclusively white male um decided to do a little bit of
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blackface and dressing up as and doing uh yeah generally causing
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chaos and they were met by um a protest group and it it result the conflict but
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it's a really really powerful interesting documentary that takes this moment in history that might have been
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swept under the rug and really blows it up to make it about um you know mipaka
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relations in general um really really powerful story um and really well put together and it puts um some of the
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people who were actually involved in the spotlight some of the people who like took part and were part of the Haka
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party uh and yeah grills them and it's pretty do they have regrets do you know
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does it does it talk about that so it's really it's really interesting because some of them try and explain it away or
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justify it and then others show their regret they kind of take some
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accountability um and there's tension in there it's really really interesting it's really worth watching I mean Katie
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wolf is a talent isn't she absolutely yeah because she has quite a story film television career before us yeah they
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had the show as well yeah and I you know I mean I'm for like stage plays being turned into dark H mic or SL films we
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did a one called inky pinky py which was oh I love yeah that's so great it's
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great it's great H but that was originally a stage play that like did tremendously well yeah I didn't even
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realize that yeah so it comes from that and then it was turned into a a film which you know I got I was great I was I
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was so happy to be able to be part of it so I do love it when we're able to kind of give it more than One Life yeah just
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feels like you know didn't get the point across get across this way you know I think that's really powerful yeah it's
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great to keep the the kind of awareness and the visibility and all their life by Reinventing and that kind of and the
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conversations obviously really conversations around activism and race and racism I think you know we want to
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keep them moving and alive in this country um well it's coming out at a real fles Point kind of time as well it
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speak to and actually in the film it draws attention to the relationships with the current coalition government
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that kind of thing as well so it's pretty interesting um we've also got the homy coming up which is um a film by a
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filmmaker called Marty Diop who made a film called Atlantics which you could see on Netflix really really beautiful
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film um the hom is a really interesting documentary this was also at F and it's
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um about the repatriation of stolen bines artif effects uh returning to the
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and uh the arguments around them and and uh people going and seeing them and
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returning to the Homeland after decades and Decades of having been stolen and and so it's if that sounds dry it's it's
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not dry at all it's um it's actually narrated by the spirit of someone who's
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captured in one of these statues um it's a very very powerful story and M was
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fascinating filmmaker it's also only an hour long so it's not going to take too much time but it will leave a huge mark
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on you really really powerful I mean these are the kind kinds of documentaries that really fill your heart right with joy and with purpose
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because TAA is so precious to indigenous people right um The Returning of Tonga
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yeah to its rightful place is powerful absolutely um and the conversations
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around all of that you know I mean Mar have been having T been returned home
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for decades right and just the whole process of that um and to just be
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witness of it returning home I mean I just make sure heart feel full yeah
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absolutely and it's such a complex and there's so many difficult feelings to work through but it's all it's all part
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of it and it's in this film as well um beautiful we've also got uh so we've got
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four different big horror films dropping in January are you horror you know what
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I'm obsessed with horror I feel like horror has come back and here stay absolutely the big one is Nosferatu who
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which is um Robert igar who did the Witch and um the Northman and those
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kinds of films he's made uh he's remade the classic vampire film um it's getting
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some pretty good notices nice to come with you some Oscar buzz I'm excited for that we've got the wolf man which
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actually shot here in New Zealand leonell who is the director of uh the Invisible Man um so that's uh that one
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actually has a really promising trailer so that one looks quite cool we've got this film presents which is a ghost story by Sten Soderberg who's a master
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yeah totally but I'm just obsessed with what I mean I saw the trailer Lucy L is
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literally one of my favorites and kille anything think she touches um but just I read somewhere that he slipped on his
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slippers and just slid around the house and did single shot takes and he shot on an iPhone which is crazy I mean that's
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him taking his his kind of artistry up and
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I don't need a big thing let's go here my slippers on and apparently it's really scary so that's great yeah and
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then also companion which is quite mysterious is from the makers of Barbarian but there's like literally
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very little is known about what it actually is apparently is something to do a love story is what they're
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advertising it is but we don't know much more than that but it's a it's a really good month for horror the horror genre
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you're horror thing yeah I I used to not be but I've I've uh since embraced it I
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watched smile to and it uh the other day and it completely long sleeps for the
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next like three months but it's um it's a great it's a it's a great gen I'm really into it now the substance was the
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last one I saw she it is bers and Brilliant and just I couldn't stop
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smiling I'm not sure if that's what you're supposed to do with Horrors but just it feels like old school kind of
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monstery esy is coming back you know it feels very berer yeah yeah like classic
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monsters here The Wolf Man Ander and stuff very cool yeah um and then also on the other into of the SP we've got
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Awards hopeful so obviously Oscar season is coming up so we're starting to see those Oscar films um we've got the uh a
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real pain which unites Karen Cen from succession with Jesse eisberg who directs a drama about them reconnecting
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with their Jewish roots um we've got a complete unknown which is um Timothy
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Shel playing Bob D face
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yeah yeah I I mean t is the man of the moment I mean you know he's part of the
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kind of current modern day rap pack right but um and I feel like I feel like
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he like I do to was one of my favorite films of the year and um Timothy so
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she's literally got but um I don't know yeah well you were telling for your
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birth a music fan are you Bob I mean yes uh I mean i' see him live I could barely
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hear anything um and this is like late 90s so yeah right um still going strong
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still going strong but yeah I mean I am I mean I'm curious I'm curious to see it
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and I shall reserve my judgment no fair enough I'll probably try and do the same
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uh I I have a bit of a um I don't know I get I feel put off by these like biop
30:58
piics but um yeah we'll see what happens I'll Reserve judgment until then we've also got um the brutalist which is
31:05
dropping in January this one is uh interesting it's directed by Brady Corvett and it's 4 hours long there's an
31:11
intermission which doesn't happen much these days it's got Adrien Brody and it's drawing comparisons to The
31:17
Godfather so we will see what happens here it's like a grand American story so
31:22
um I'm quite interested interested to see that one I'm also interested to see Maria which is Angel and Jolie returning
31:28
to the big screen um and she's playing uh an opera singer who name I
31:36
forgot yes that's the one and um so she's um drawing Oscar buzz for her
31:41
performance I mean so she sh that woman is just she's she's just like delicious
31:47
I don't care what anyone says you know from Gia to go interruptor like that and
31:54
then turn radar like she can fight and she can be present and she can be you
32:00
know she's brilliant so I will watch it um because she is Maria yeah absolutely
32:05
and the costume and it looks incredible yeah and it's it's Pablo L rain hor to
32:11
Jackie and Spiner so so his of do one I
32:17
guess so uh it's they dress amazingly they dress
32:22
amazing also coming up in the next couple of months we've got Craven the hunter which is another one of the
32:28
Spider-Man villain spin-offs it's got Aaron Taylor Johnson as The titula
32:33
Hunter we've got a Lord of the Rings war of the r heram which is an anime version
32:39
of the story of Helm hamand where the story of Helm's Deep before Lord of the Rings happened uh looks really
32:45
interesting an interesting direction to take Lord of the Rings or we imagine it as light which was at phom Mama really
32:51
beautiful story uh from India by uh uh P karia I believe her name is no that's
32:57
not not right anyway um it's a really really amazing beautiful drama um we've
33:03
got Sonic 3 which is the video game adaptation the third one they are hugely successful Jim Cary is back as the
33:11
villain um we've got the room next door which is Pedro ala's latest film it's got Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore uh
33:19
we've got conclave which was at the British and Irish Film Festival um which is meant to be a very uh delicious
33:26
Thriller um with finds in it set during a Papal conclave and we've got we live
33:32
in time which is a bit of a a weepy with um Andrew Garfield and Florence Pew two
33:37
very cool actors um which is meant to be very good as well so we also have coming
33:44
up two big Oscar buzz films people are thinking it might be down to these two in terms of the big Awards yeah so the
33:51
first one we've got is Anora mhm and Anora is uh the story of a um sex worker
33:58
in America played by Mikey Madison who um gets caught up in a whirlwind
34:03
marriage with a Russ the son of a Russian oligarch so um you got a chance to watch the trailer for this it did oh
34:10
it looks so good yeah it does looks so good menacing and tumultuous and like
34:16
Modern Love and I don't know it feels yeah it almost it gave me a little bit of a feeling of something like uncut
34:22
Gems or something like that that kind of stressful um really on the ground film making that it's about like something
34:30
gry to it yeah yeah yeah yeah and it's from Shawn Baker who um has made the
34:35
Florida projects and red rockets and tangerine um three really cool uh
34:41
American films um have you seen any of those on Tangerine I mean hello you
34:46
haven't seen Tangerine I don't know where you've been hiding yeah um but that alone I mean just for the
34:51
representation but also just like the quality and the was like one of the first films fil um filmed on a phone
34:58
right one of the ones yeah um so very smart and he just lets people you know
35:04
just shows people wats and all I think that's just that totally that energy he's got with his work so I'm really
35:10
excited to see Anora yeah and there's a lot of discussion around it because obviously um we can tell from the work
35:18
that he's done that he's quite interested in the lives of the working class but also specifically he's interested in the lives of sex workers
35:24
and there's been a bit of controversy around that but I think um I mean we will obviously re Reserve our
35:30
judgment until we've seen it but um I think from this standpoint anything that
35:36
highlights that experience is probably valuable in this kind of climate that we're living in at the moment yeah I
35:42
agree we've also got um Amelia Perez which is jacqu orad's uh Extravaganza
35:49
it's a musical um it's a cartel story it's a story about um a
35:58
trans uh gang Lord from Mexico who uh
36:03
leaves the world of of um Mexican cartels by transitioning and uh the kind
36:10
of after impacts of that including what happens to his family or her family once
36:17
once she leaves um so this one has drawn a lot of controversy as well
36:22
particularly I think because jacqu odard has made some great films but he's a you
36:28
know a white Frenchman who doesn't necessarily have much connection to
36:33
either Mexico or the trans experience right so uh I'd be quite interested did you watch the trailer for this one I
36:39
have and it is I I can't wait to see it yeah um yeah I mean it's just been so
36:47
much written about it I've seen so much hype around it um you know they've won a
36:54
ton of awards already you know yeah they uh the the best actress prize was shared by the three leads at KH yeah and um you
37:02
know I think they were all on their a game and I I'm just super excited to see the story I mean it's funny me and my
37:08
flatmate were talking about it the other night and she's like oh I don't know soon as I mentioned that it's also
37:13
musical you know she wasn't like oh that's just made me feel a certain kind of way I sort of thought oh yeah I
37:20
suppose there's all those other elements but I mean I just the the the idea of it
37:25
really fascinates me kept Ates me um and I I'm always a huge fan of of trans
37:32
visibility and representation on screen um and especially showing really nuanced characters I think uh is where we get to
37:39
kind of shift the stereotypes yeah of what's you know I mean media uh film is
37:45
done as dirty for Generations you know like just hovering over these perceptions and stereotypes and so I I
37:52
think any chance we get to kind of see really nuanced lived truthful
37:58
varied kind of versions of ourselves in our lives is really impactful yeah and even if it it generates discussion or it
38:05
generates you know that's part of the visibility right I've heard that it's been compared also to we mentioned them before altiva um and you know films of
38:13
his like all about my mother and that kind of thing which are really beautiful films so um anything that works within
38:20
that framework I think is something worth taking a look at anyway that one is releasing in cinemas and also on
38:26
Netflix I believe have you seen the movie I haven't seen it no not that you'd get a boot leg or
38:32
anything but um yeah no no definitely not
38:37
no no I'm very excited to see it and I want to see it on the big screen yeah absolutely if you're going to see a
38:43
musical you might as well see it on the big screen I know but I don't know about you but I I I find myself like I had all
38:49
these intentions like I wanted to see June 2 on the big screen I'm going to the movies and I was thinking I'll Snak
38:54
KFC chicken into St Luke's one and so sit there and wait for the lights go down and pull out my checken but I
39:00
didn't I ended up getting it on like at home and watching it on the TV so are you got do you go to this mov I'm
39:08
a bit of a purist I if I'm going to see a movie I prefer to see it on the big screen just cuz the experience is so
39:14
much better but it is hard it is hard especially because um oh there's just so
39:20
much that comes out and I'm like oh I've got to go and see that especially like old the films that are being shown again and it's always hard to kind of drag
39:26
myself out and but it's it is worth it most of the time yeah I totally agree yeah yeah um sorry just on the Amelia
39:33
Perez uh Selena Gomez I'm really excited to see her in it um and I love Zoe I
39:40
just love zo Z as well and you know so I just sort of think what three Powerhouse
39:45
women right it's all about them trying to find their happiness isn't it yeah I think it's about yeah trying to make peace with the things that have happened
39:51
and and move forward but um with all these kind of crazy elements thrown in as well it's meant to be quite High
39:57
drama it's musical it's a Gangland story it's it's a queer story it's it's all
40:03
these things mashed into one so that's quite interesting yummy um we've also
40:08
got coming up in uh December we have a special screening at uh the capital
40:13
Cinema it's our last Capital Cinema film club of the year um we're going to be showing GTH Maxwell's Jack B Nimble um
40:21
GTH Maxwell amazing New Zealand filmmaker um Jack B NBO in my opinion is
40:26
one of the greatest of all New Zealand films so uh it's really wonderful that we're going to be able to sit down with
40:32
him and have a Q&A afterwards and and show this amazing film it's it's a really beautiful film how very cool is
40:44
[Music] that over on streaming over the next
40:51
couple of months we've got some uh pretty exciting stuff coming up one of the big ones uh dropping in December
40:57
squid Game season 2 so did you watch squid Game season one during lock down
41:02
yeah it's crazy it's a pretty yeah it's a pretty crazy thing so this is a kind of dystopian comment commentary on
41:10
capitalism from uh South Korea um it's hyper violent it's about a group of
41:16
desperate kind of um working uh South Korean people who get drawn into this
41:22
demonic game show where they're um killed at will and it
41:33
don't iag going get turned up to 11 um there's only one Survivor from the last
41:39
season who's coming back um and then there's going to be a a new cast a new
41:46
game so um we'll see what kind of um crazy things they what do you think's
41:52
going to happen do you think it'll just like the volume volume will be turned up on the types of games or yeah I don't
41:58
really know I mean I imagine the violence will probably get turned up as well um I think there was some Clues
42:05
dropped in or seeded through at the end where um the the main character from the first season is coming back to try and
42:11
disrupt the game so we'll see what happens in that in that sense but um it has been a while it's been what like
42:19
four years almost since the last season dropped so um a lot has changed in that time it was a big lockdown product so
42:26
it's going to be interesting to see see how attitudes have changed to it and what's changed within the series as well
42:31
got it we've also got in January we've got Seance the long awaited return of severance which is an Apple TV show um
42:38
this one is a kind of um futuristic dystopian show did you have a chance to take a look you know what it was on my
42:44
list I have not had a chance to see Apple TV is quite difficult to access as well it's not necessarily the one that
42:51
people go to off the bat um as opposed to like Netflix or neon or something like I do have apple and I do watch some
42:57
of their stuff for some strange reason yeah well Seance is quite a a meaty like
43:03
hiy show um where it's about the medical procedure that people can get where they
43:08
split themselves their their Consciousness into two basically become two different people so in the work
43:15
environment they're one person they can't remember anything of what happens there on the outside um it's got a great
43:21
cast Adam Scott Christopher Walkin John turo a whole bunch of other cool people did you like it I really did yeah I
43:28
really like the first season I remember coming away from the pilot pilot and thinking wow that was quite a special
43:33
hour of Television directed by Ben Stiller who um is more known well known
43:39
as a comic actor but he's actually quite a talented director as well so um it's well worth watching the whole series is
43:45
done by Ben yeah and I think the second season is is all him as well so or I
43:51
might be might be wrong there but he is still definitely a voice in there so um it's it's visually it's very um specific
43:58
it's got a very specific style Great Performances a big concept lots of
44:04
mystery kind of lsh in places um yeah so that's it's a really really cool Series
44:10
so I'm quite excited for the second season well I'm going to watch it now after they so you we're coming to the end of the year um it has been a big
44:17
year for film in television um I in December I release a list of my favorite
44:23
films of the year um so I'm I'm quite interested what what has been what's you've been taken by this year I know
44:29
you mentioned June part two yes June challenges challenges yeah was a really
44:37
really special film is it's so special but what's to me is more special about
44:42
the film is the score like yeah right Trent rner and adus Ross it wasn't just
44:48
what it was it was how it was used and just I mean it gave me so much gorgeous
44:55
anxiety like just when it came up in the middle like but it's like it popped out of nowhere and we're talking dance
45:00
tracks right we're talking like electronic kind of oh you could play them at the club like 1,000% which is
45:06
really interesting because I feel like a lot of people are adopting this type of styling like substance did a be as well
45:11
you know um but it would just a mid scene mid conversation and I'm sure to
45:17
punctuate you know what was going on with the the the emotional kind of volley between the characters which was
45:24
always really fun but then I like how it would quieten then disappear then 2 minutes later come back up again in a
45:31
different scene and so I was just riveted like the score just blew my mind um I just made a short film which was
45:38
screening at the weekend could wait wait now and I said to our editor I was like
45:44
have you seen challenges so they do this thing and I just what I just explained so I'm not saying we wrapped it off but
45:50
we did do like we did do moments where we'd kind of pull it in and take it up and stuff like that so anyway so it was
45:56
that's how good it was because it just inspired me you know fantastic are you you Luka
46:01
guino fan in general uh I mean call me by your name was was really lovely um
46:08
but definitely challenges um was pretty special yeah kind of uh it was like a new level of
46:15
this kind of work right yeah but there's another one of his coming out uh called uh queer which has Daniel Craig um and
46:22
he's getting Oscar buzz for it um it's a it's um uh an adaptation of a book um
46:29
about a uh I believe he's like a journalist or a writer who is on a bit
46:35
of a bender and he gets into this kind of thorny um queer relationship um
46:40
thny yeah something like that it's twisted or something like that um and uh
46:46
it's drawing some great reviews and and it's it's another s to Daniel Craig who is having quite an interesting post bond
46:53
career um yeah it's also been one that's been the topic of some discussion I mean
46:59
w Nino is is queer himself but Craig obviously isn't um where do you land on
47:05
this kind of discussion of of um you know not queer actors taking the roles
47:10
of you know these sorts of roles and Performing them I mean I think queer representation on screen has progressed
47:16
so much yeah right um and I think we can now safely say that non-queer people can
47:23
play queer characters on screen I I think you know they've been on that safe net for a few for a few decades now well
47:30
maybe for the last decade um I know that we live in a world where you know people
47:35
should be played by lived lived experience is really important but I think transvisibility and representation
47:41
is not as progressed so um yeah and we're also heavily politicized
47:47
so uh you know when you think about trans representation on screen quite
47:53
often have been played by non-trans people and you you know and they've been you know rup to shreds and terrorized
48:00
some uh yeah there's been some bad ones totally some bad ones and some backlash and you sort of think oh well it does
48:05
make sense to have a transperson play you know and I think for you know
48:12
someone who loves to act and also has access to a lot of transactors you know everyone everyone
48:18
just wants the opportunity to be able to play a role um and you know playing
48:23
trans characters I think are really crucial for Trans people to play do I think we'll get to a point where we can
48:31
safely feel like anybody can play trans characters I I I don't have whether they here I feel like but I definitely sort
48:37
of think non Queen men can play It's almost like the arguments on the other side where gay men don't always have to
48:45
play gay roles like a a lot of gay men that who are out and proud who playing straight characters AB you know but they
48:53
they have a level of Freedom that the that we've arrived in
48:58
terms of this progress for Gan and and lesbian people to be able to play queer
49:06
or non-queer roles yeah it's almost like that was the first Frontier at some model that hopefully um at some point
49:13
can be replicated by trans awareness but isn't isn't the yeah I know a lot of trans actors also want to play non
49:20
transs roles you know I think it's just going to take a little bit more time for transs people to be able to for
49:27
audiences to feel kind of like we're not duping them or there's some weird stuff
49:33
that some weird political thing going on yeah you know and I just I I hope we get
49:38
to see it in my lifetime but I think it's getting better you know for sure um but I don't have a problem with Daniel
49:44
playing this role do I think I mean I'm excited to see what what he does and I
49:50
hear the six scenes are out the gate which you know you can rely on that for from Luka guino he's pretty he's PR into
49:57
to that sort of stuff yeah but I feel like that even just with not even this one I've heard um there's lots of other
50:03
stories qu stories and qu love six scenes where they've just been really super explosive and I'm just like whoa
50:08
there's no stop sign they're just going for it with all this queer kind of sess yeah absolutely that's a that's
50:16
a that's a huge sign yeah that's a huge sign yeah what are your thoughts on it I
50:22
think I feel I feel the same uh in that it feels like um we have reached a point where there is a
50:29
good amount of saturation in certain areas of that um of of queer
50:35
representation but not all areas and so you know it's it's still an uphill struggle and as long as it's being met
50:43
by an adequate representation on one side then it should be okay especially if the filmmaker himself is
50:50
queer um but yeah as you say there's definitely more room to improve and
50:56
other areas less represented parts of this world yeah I mean you bought it up
51:01
before about the boy the queen and like how one of the things you really appreciated about it was the lived
51:07
experience of the characters and you know like GG and Max in particular weren't actors I mean they've had more
51:15
stage experience than anybody else that was probably on that set um combined and
51:21
individually so you know but we knew that I'd rather I'd rather have lived
51:27
experience over actors you know and at one point I think we did look at
51:33
exploring you know trying to find them in a short amount of time CU I don't know but New Zealand likes to make sure
51:41
we work like in this time frame to make you know Global hits yeah get it done
51:48
get get it done um and so under that pressure we I wasn't sure if we were going to find so we were going we're
51:54
going to actually have to go outside of the community cuz I shoulder tap quite a few people and they were like oh not free um so you know the fear of having
52:01
to have kind of non-queer people play the roles too just really freaked me out but luckily for us with found beautiful
52:07
gig and beautiful Mex yeah um but yeah and I mean the feeling that comes from
52:13
that is that they I mean the fact that some of them are non-actors is remarkable because they feel so at home
52:20
so comfortable um which must come from the kind of the cop up over the whole thing and where it grow grows from and
52:27
and your directing style and that kind of thing that's what I think audiences demand that's what we demand though like
52:33
if we demand to see authentic authenticity then this is what you have
52:39
to do to get it is that you have to cast people because as an audience you want
52:45
to go into there and feel like you're watching something real and Powerful you know cuz that people can sniff now if
52:52
they if they feel duped or if they feel like they're being deceived you know we you don't
52:59
necessarily I mean you can't get away with it now more so than ever but I feel like it's up to us as audience members
53:05
to go into films demanding that what we've seen is comes from a real lived yeah truth because our
53:14
experience as as as an audience becomes so much more meaningful yeah you know absolutely
53:20
we're not getting ripped off yeah totally um uh ronak has been an absolute
53:26
pleasure to speak to you today and to dig deep into all these different aspects of the film scene um um please
53:33
come back and thank you so much you're welcome thanks for having me it's been it's been awesome
53:44
[Music] cheers stuff coming up over the
53:51
Christmas January period over on Rialto channel in December every Thursday we're doing the Sounds of Summer which is a
53:57
music documentary series um with some really really amazing uh stories on offer the big one at the top obviously
54:04
in Restless dreams the songs uh the music of Paul Simon it is a massive
54:10
documentary deep diving into the uh life and the writing of one of America's most
54:17
profound and ingenious songwriters uh We've also got a a film called ego the
54:23
Michael gadinsky story which is about an Australian record executive it looks like a lot of fun we've got Revival 69
54:29
the concert that rock the world this is a PBS documentary uh talking about Revival 69 which was a really high
54:36
stakes Rock and Roll concert that involved John lenon and the plastic Ono band and also stock 8kin Waterman I can
54:43
never say that properly the legends of Pop which is a documentary about stock aten Waterman the songw writing Trio
54:50
over in January don't forget we have uh our Wednesday night every Wednesday
54:56
night we have our retrospective of David ble David ble one of our most special underracer New Zealand filmmakers he has
55:03
such a long and storied career um I was lucky enough to speak to him last month about his new film night freaks uh so
55:10
every Wednesday night we're going to be showing something from his back catalog uh and they are all worth a look uh so
55:17
please stay tuned to rielo channel there's some really good stuff coming up
55:27
we have a few uh really special giveaways uh over the Christmas period we have a little bit of a Christmas
55:33
package coming together uh that you can find out about over at vm. co.nz keep an
55:39
eye on that there's some really good stuff being given away uh in the meantime I will see you guys again in
55:45
February uh a very happy Christmas to you all take care happy New Year toy to
55:50
to TI and Kaki t

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