Josephine Stewart-Te Whiu (Ngapuhi/Te Rarawa) is an Auckland based writer and actor.
Her play The Black was a personal telling of her own experiences with depression. The piece was named one of Auckland Theatre’s Best Moments of 2015 by The Pantograph Punch. It integrated live animation and projected stop-motion alongside live performance. Her earlier stage works Chalk and Ruby Tuesday, co- written with devising partner Isla Adamson, had seasons in Auckland and Wellington, and won awards at both the NZ Fringe and Auckland Fringe awards.
In 2016 Josephine was one of the nine Māori women filmmakers on Waru, writing the script for Titty and Bash, one of the eight shorts that make up the film. Waru had its NZ premiere in the 2017 NZIFF programme, and its international premiere at TIFF 2017. Waru was awarded Best Screenplay at the Script Writer Awards New Zealand (SWANZ) 2017.
Her play Sean Penn is in his Boat was awarded Runner Up at the prestigious Adam NZ Play Award 2016.
Josephine was one of eight filmmakers selected to participate in Script to Screen’s 2016 FilmUp Mentorship Programme. She is currently working alongside her mentors, Mexican filmmaker Dana Rotberg and New Zealand writer/filmmaker Briar Grace-Smith, developing her first feature film script Lucky.