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Briar Grace-Smith

Briar Grace-Smith is of Ngā Puhi descent, and is a writer of short fiction, stage plays and feature films. Her plays include Ngā Pou Wāhine, Purapurawhetū and When Sun and Moon Collide. She is an inaugural Arts Foundation Laureate and this year received an ONZM for services to film, television and theatre . She has also worked as a Development Executive for the New Zealand Film commission, taught ‘Writing for Theatre’ at IIML (2015) and continues to work as a story mentor in New Zealand and overseas. Briar is a Sundance alumni and the writer of the feature films THE STRENGTH OF WATER and the horror comedy FRESH MEAT. Her television credits include FISHSKIN SUIT, BEING EVE, KAITANGATA TWITCH and the Australian childrens television series, GRACE BESIDE ME (2017). She was a director and co-writer of the short film, NINE OF HEARTS, and wrote and directed CHARM for the collaborative feature project WARU (2017), which brings together the work of eight Māori women directors. She recently worked with Toi Whakaari’s acting and design students, directing KRYSTAL, a short film by Josephine Stewart-Te Whiu.