Toa Stappard
- Director
- Writer
- Producer
Taratoa was born in Aotearoa New Zealand and lives in London U.K.; his mother is Maori (Ngati Toa, Ngati Raukawa, Ngati Tuwharetoa) and his father was English.
He is developing his first feature film with NZ/Aus prod co, Sweetshop & Green, and UK prod co, Zephyr Films:
MARAMA, is a Maori gothic revenge horror set in Victorian England, 1859. MARAMA received early development in the Edinburgh I.F.F. 'Talent Lab' and from the B.F.I. in London before being chosen for the year-long 2020 imagineNATIVE Indigenous Screenwriting Intensive supported by Netflix. Taratoa participated with MARAMA in the 2021 Toronto I.F.F. 'Writers' Studio', the inaugural 2021 Black List New Zealand Project and received further development funding from the NZ Film Commission. In 2022 he was selected with MARAMA to take part in the Zurich I.F.F. 'Academy' for emerging filmmakers. In 2023 MARAMA was selected as an official project for the Berlinale Co-Production Market.
In 2020 Taratoa received a John Brabourne Award from the Film+TV Charity and used the funding to write a spec feature script:
EMKHATSINI (Between) is an alternate afterlife road trip movie that journeys from the Kingdom of Eswatini, aka Swaziland, to the coast of Mozambique. The script is inspired by the world of his short film of the same name, which he made in Eswatini. He was awarded the 'Final Draft' Fellowship to participate with EMKHATSINI in the 2022 'Stowe Story Labs' Writers' Retreat in Cambria, California.
Taratoa is developing a TV series, TAUMANU (Reclaim), that introduces the origin stories and early adventures of the Maori twin sisters in his latest short film, TAUMANU, which he directed in Aotearoa for NZ On Air and TVNZ.
Taratoa's short films have won awards and screened in festivals including Angers Premiers Plans, Aspen, Busan, Edinburgh, Encounters, BFI London and Maoriland - as well as being acquired for broadcast on BBC2, BBC3, Film4 and Canal+.
He is developing his first feature film with NZ/Aus prod co, Sweetshop & Green, and UK prod co, Zephyr Films:
MARAMA, is a Maori gothic revenge horror set in Victorian England, 1859. MARAMA received early development in the Edinburgh I.F.F. 'Talent Lab' and from the B.F.I. in London before being chosen for the year-long 2020 imagineNATIVE Indigenous Screenwriting Intensive supported by Netflix. Taratoa participated with MARAMA in the 2021 Toronto I.F.F. 'Writers' Studio', the inaugural 2021 Black List New Zealand Project and received further development funding from the NZ Film Commission. In 2022 he was selected with MARAMA to take part in the Zurich I.F.F. 'Academy' for emerging filmmakers. In 2023 MARAMA was selected as an official project for the Berlinale Co-Production Market.
In 2020 Taratoa received a John Brabourne Award from the Film+TV Charity and used the funding to write a spec feature script:
EMKHATSINI (Between) is an alternate afterlife road trip movie that journeys from the Kingdom of Eswatini, aka Swaziland, to the coast of Mozambique. The script is inspired by the world of his short film of the same name, which he made in Eswatini. He was awarded the 'Final Draft' Fellowship to participate with EMKHATSINI in the 2022 'Stowe Story Labs' Writers' Retreat in Cambria, California.
Taratoa is developing a TV series, TAUMANU (Reclaim), that introduces the origin stories and early adventures of the Maori twin sisters in his latest short film, TAUMANU, which he directed in Aotearoa for NZ On Air and TVNZ.
Taratoa's short films have won awards and screened in festivals including Angers Premiers Plans, Aspen, Busan, Edinburgh, Encounters, BFI London and Maoriland - as well as being acquired for broadcast on BBC2, BBC3, Film4 and Canal+.
