Paora Josephs Biography

 is of Atihau-ā-Papārangi and Ngā Rauru descent, from Kaiwhaiki Pa, near Whanganui, which is affiliated to Parihaka through longstanding family and political connections. He was given his Maori name, Te Oti Takarangi, in memory of the ancestor who led his people to Parihaka to support the philosophy of peace practised there.

Paora' s life work as a healer has been to combine his experience in psychology with film. His intimate knowledge of intergenerational trauma is what makes him unique as a healer. Having a Māori father and Pākeha mother, he has made it his aim to facilitate positive change in New Zealand in bringing about a greater appreciation for Māori cultural traditions and understanding of reality.

As a young person Paora travelled to India and Nepal where he met Mother Teresa and studied under numerous Tibetan Buddhist Teachers including His Holiness The Dalai Lama, His Holiness Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, Lama Zopa Rinpoche and Chögyal Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche.

In 1986, his first job was as a youth worker on the streets of South Auckland led him train as a clinical psychologist. His path to filmmaking runs parallel with his path to Parihaka, via Whanganui, where he lived for 10 years.

In Auckland, he worked as an actor with renowned Maori filmmaker Don Selwyn on some plays for theatre. Selwyn encouraged him to become a director and to find a story worth telling, pointing him in the direction of Parihaka at a time when other events in his life were also pointing that way. He moved to Taranaki, met Taranaki Pou Kuia Marge Raumati and Parihaka leader Te Miringa Hohaia. He worked with Te Miringa Hohaia on the Parihaka Peace Festival and the video archive project which grew out of the Festival. Parihaka kuia, Maata Wharehoka, knowing his passion for storytelling, invited him to go with the children on a road trip which was to become the makings of Tatarakihi: The Children of Parihaka. At Parihaka, he met filmmaker Dame Gaylene Preston who became executive producer of the film.

Paora worked in New Plymouth for Waves Youth Health and Development Centre, often taking troubled youth to Parihaka as part of their healing. He made the Documentary Edge Festival award winning short film Hiding Behind the Green Screen about marijuana addiction, based on one of these workshops. He also won the best up-and-coming director award at the same festival and the film was an official selection at the FIFO International Documentary Film Festival and the Duke City DocFest. In 2014 Paora made Te Awa Tupua: Voices from the River (NZIFF) a film which honours the longstanding struggle of Whanganui iwi to reclaim guardianship over their ancestral river.

In 2018, Paora was the Director and an Executive Producer for Māui's Hook, a feature film that used a hybrid narrative genre of both contemporary drama and documentary to change attitudes and provoke action to reduce the rate of youth suicide in New Zealand. He drew on the work of one of his mentors, Byron Katie, as well as Tikanga Māori within the production. Since then he has travelled both in New Zealand and abroad screening the film in communities and holding workshops on suicide prevention. Paora currently lives with his wife and children in Northland, where he was raised. His present focus is Māori traditional healing as well as continuing with creating more films that bring about healing and justice to humanity.