Quinton Hita's broadcasting career has included stints as DJ, writer, actor, Te Reo advocate and producer. In 2004 he set up Kura Productions where he has produced and executive-produced hundreds of hours of television, much of it for Māori Television.
Hita is also well known for his successful collaboration with actor turned director Tearepa Kahi. Their first short The Speaker was released in 2005, and a couple of years later their second short film Taua went on to win the best short award at National Geographic's All Roads Festival.
Their first feature film Mt Zion, about a young man (Stan Walker) trying to balance his ambitions for his band and his commitments to his family, was released this year and has received nine nominations at the Rialto Channel Film Awards 2013.
Quinton kindly found the time to have a chat about Mt Zion.
RC: Mt Zion has had a great year. It’s been well received critically, a commercial success and has just scored 9 nominations for the 2013 Film Awards. What are you most proud of about this film?
QH: No one thing unfortunately (or fortunately I guess). The film had a whakapapa, connected to the land and people of Pukekohe. The particular Māori culture there, although specific to the region, is broadly representative of Māori society at the time. I’m proud to tell those stories.
RC: Producing a feature film is a long, arduous journey. How long did it take from Mt Zion’s conception through to completion?
QH: About seven years. OUCH.
RC: As a producer, what were your biggest challenges?
QH: The staple challenges of course – funding, funding, and funding. On balance, keeping everyone moving forward and in the same direction.
Can you tell us about Tearepa Kahi’s inspiration for this film?
QH: As I understand it, the bro was doing some work at the TVNZ archives and stumbled across footage of Bob Marley receiving a powhiri during his New Zealand tour. Voila (that should probably be the Māori version – Anā). Turei, with a dream to play for Bob Marley and the Wailers, was born.
RC: Did you view the casting of Stan Walker in the lead role of Turei as a risk?
QH: He’s popular with our kids. He sells truckloads of records. He’s a kaupapa Māori boy. No downside really. Of course, we did have to convince ourselves he could act as well, so we worked with him quite extensively on two occasions before casting. Both Tearepa and myself have acting backgrounds. During the second screen test, I read opposite Stan. When you’ve worked with lots of different actors (my Shorty Street days), you get a finely honed sense of who can pull it off. I knew straight away he could do it. Plus, Stan had been through the machinery with Idol, so he had discipline. Stan the man.
RC: You’re an experienced scriptwriter, actor, presenter and producer of television and film – what do you enjoy most?
QH: Without sounding too much like a Nanna, I enjoy developing talent. I got in the industry not so much out of a love of storytelling, but because I was interested in Māori development. Wouldn’t have bothered me which domain it was in, education, health, whatever. Now I’ve been doing it for 20 years, the shoes fit nicely.
RC: You’ve worked before with screenwriter and director Tearepa Kahi on the short films The Speaker and Taua, what next for the two of you?
QH: Another feature. Too tapu to disclose at the moment.
RC: Will you have an acceptance speech tucked away in your pocket?
QH: Gotta find a shirt with a pocket first. Might have to wear my Swandri!
RC: Best of luck on December 10th!