Merata Mita

Filmmaker, producer and actor Merata MITA (1942, New Zealand) is a prominent figure in the development of Māori cinema. She worked on television shows and as a sound recordist and sound assistant. Mita was the first woman in New Zealand to solely write and direct a dramatic feature film: Mauri (1988). Her influence also sparked the creation of the Sundance Institute's Merata Mita Fellowship for native or indigenous filmmakers globally at any stage of their career or production. She died in 2010.