Briar Grace -Smith is a filmmaker of Ngāti Hau and Ngāpuhi descent and a writer of plays, screenplays and short fiction. Her plays include Ngā Pou Wāhine, When Sun and Moon Collide and Purapurawhetū. Briar was one of eight Māori women filmmakers who created the acclaimed feature film omnibus Waru. She was a writer and co-director of Rūangi S2 and screenwriter, co-director and actor in the feature film, Cousins – an adaptation of the novel by Patrica Grace. She was a writer on the Australian series Grace Beside Me and Swift Street which was in competition at Canneseries 2025. In 2019 she received an ONZM for her services to theatre, television and screen. Briar is an Arts Foundation Laureate, a recipient of the Merata Mita Fellowship and was made a member of the Directors Branch of the Academy in 2022.
