Photo: Supplied: de Launay Enterprises
In the wind-down to the end of the year, Anapela Polata'ivao probably needs a break more than most.
She's recently returned from South Korea, having directed Tusiata Avia's The Savage Coloniser Show for the Seoul Performing Arts Festival. Earlier this year she directed the stage adaptation of Red, White and Brass for the Auckland Theatre Company.
She's just been at the world premiere in Hawaii of the new film she stars in, Tinā, about a recently bereaved substitute teacher who starts a choir at an elite private school. That film is out in cinemas next year. That'll be when she moves on to direct a new production called The Monster in the Maze with New Zealand Opera.
For her work, Anapela was recognised with a New Zealand Order of Merit in this year's King's Birthday Honours. And this weekend, she'll be taking part in a free one-day festival in Auckland called A Niu Dawn, aimed at showcasing and celebrating the Pasifika community in the wake of the Dawn Raids.
