Pan-Asian storytelling for Aotearoa New Zealand screens

Shuchi Kothari’s work as filmmaker, academic and advocate for equitable representation in the screen industry has had a wide-ranging impact in Aotearoa New Zealand. But in her own words, ‘we never journey alone’. In this chapter, filmmaker Ghazaleh Gol Baksh and Kothari (a generation apart) engage in a scholarly kōrero (discussion) to unpack thorny notions of representation, diversity, inclusion and the place of multiculturalism within a bicultural country through an interrogation of Kothari’s screen projects, such as Apron Strings (2008), the first Indian feature funded by the New Zealand Film Commission, A Thousand Apologies (2008) , the first Asian show on New Zealand television and more recent collaborations with Gol Baksh, This is Us (2020 ), a documentary short series about Muslim Kiwis, and anthology feature Kāinga (2022 ), the first New Zealand feature made by eleven Asian women). While Kothari reflects upon the volatility of ‘diversity discourse’, Gol Baksh focuses on its volume: the impact of Kothari’s work not just on her own practice but on the larger Pan-Asian screen community in Aotearoa. The chapter concludes with the formation of the Pan-Asian Screen Collective, through which younger Asians mobilize to claim their space on and behind the screen.

Keywords: Aotearoa New Zealand screen ; diaspora ; diversity ; pan-Asian ; representation ; screen inclusion