Film producer Chelsea Winstanley is ticking off some career milestones heading into her 50th birthday.
She’s currently writing the script for her first drama, making a documentary about prisoners on remand, and is making her directorial debut in the feature documentary ‘TOITŪ Visual Sovereignty’, which opens in theatres on August 6.
“I’m quite terrified because it’s one thing to be a producer for a longer time and support somebody else’s vision and craft and story and perspective, it’s another thing to actually be ‘this is my perspective and it’s me’”.
It’s been a hectic five years since Winstanley left Hollywood and came home to film a behind-the-scenes look into the largest exhibition of contemporary Māori art in Auckland Art Gallery’s 133-year history, Toi Tū Toi Ora art exhibition.
The exhibition featured 110 Māori artists and showcased more than 300 artworks from the 1950s to the present day.
TOITŪ Visual Sovereignty is Winstanley’s feature film following the curation of the massive show, which then turned into a stoush between Toi o Tāmaki Auckland Art Gallery’s director and curator.
“There’s a whole lot of drama going around that I hadn’t expected, and I didn’t want that to trump the actual overall message of what this was”.
The five-year project took on a life of its own, with challenges both on and off camera.
“I’m all about stories of hope, and I truly believe that we can do better as a society.”
