Budgie takes my experiences with the above and mashes them into a dark comedy about a Māori girl’s accidental decapitation of a Pākehā lady’s dog. The story closely resembles parts of my life. As in I have taken care of someone else's pet and accidentally slammed their head in a door. I was five and the pet was the school bunny. It’s fine! I’m completely over it... 

My experience as a Māori woman who grew up without her language, away from her marae but looking ethnic as hell culminates in a modern view of what it is to be this kind of Māori. There’s quite a few of us and we have some of our stories to tell.  

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The film industry is an affluent and privileged space that people of colour haven’t historically had ready access to. If the production of this short film adds anything to this industry it will be to facilitate a diversified and collaborative storytelling space where everyone is valued for their input.