Susy Pointon
Writer / Director
biography
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Wellington born Susy Pointon originally set out to be a writer and illustrator of children’s books. She studied at Elam School of Fine Arts in Auckland, where she majored in filmmaking and went on to enjoy a long career in film and television in New Zealand, Australia, Europe and the USA. She was awarded a Fellowship to study screenwriting and directing at the American Film Institute in 1976 and went on to a residency at the Australian Film and TV School in Sydney, where she worked on a number of independent films. As a writer, she has been published in numerous literary journals and short story anthologies in Australia, New Zealand and the USA. She has been placed in numerous short story competitions, was three times a finalist in the Australian/Vogel Literary Awards (losing to Kate Grenville and Tim Winton) and won the inaugural Annie Dillard Award for Creative Non-fiction in the USA in 1996. She achieved a Masters in Creative Writing from Ohio University in 2006 while also directing and writing award winning documentaries set in Appalachia and the American South. Since returning to New Zealand in 1997 she served as Executive Director of the New Zealand Writers Guild, tutored in writing at the University of Auckland, Whitireia, Unitec and NorthTec and has had around 30 short stories broadcast by Radio New Zealand. She was awarded a PhD in New Zealand film history by the University of Auckland in 2006. Since relocating to the Hokianga in 2004 she has focused on recording local stories and history. These have been anthologised in Dreamers: Nga Kai Moemoea by Steele Roberts in 2015 andThe Turn of the Tide: Te Huringa o Te Tai in 2018, both published by Steele Roberts. Her latest anthology, Ferry Stories of the Hokianga/Nga Korero o Hokianga Mai I Te Whaka Whakawhiti (2022) has just been published by Hokianga Publishers. It will be followed in 2023 by Resident Alien, a collection of personal essays, many of which have already been broadcast on Radio New Zealand. She is currently working on Redemption Songs, a collection of twelve life histories of whanau who represent the history of the Hokianga and a personal history that traces the fortunes of the descendants of the Treaty of Waitangi in the Hokianga. Susy lives in Taheke in the South Hokianga under the mountain Puhanga Tohora that forms the first pou of Te Whare Tapu o Ngapuhi. She works with local kaumatua and kuia recording local culture and history, and supports teen parents at Hiwa-i-te-rangi in Kaikohe. 
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Whether you’re a farmer, a fisherman or just passing through, life in the Hokianga is ruled by the turn of the tide. With equanimity, the incoming tide ushers in a school of stingray, a pod of whales, a mysterious dolphin that takes children for rides on its back. With equanimity, the outgoing tide carries away the bloated carcass of a drowned cow, a swarm of tuna heading for their breeding grounds in the Pacific, the debris of failed enterprises, broken dreams and unpunished sins. Ignore it or not, the tide is here to remind us that nothing is constant and secure, unless it’s the knowledge that nothing ever turns out the way you plan it. 
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Manifesto Productions presents HOPE:TUMANAKO A film about the power of Community “If you look at the actual scientific statistics at the moment you'd probably say we'll be lucky to have another ten years but if you flip that over the other way you can say, if we can destroy the world in ten years we can save it in ten years - what a prospect!” Tony Watkins Against the backdrop of Northland’s beautiful Hokianga Harbour, Sustainable Architect Tony Watkins and Theologian and Environmental Activist Judy Reinken host a reunion for a group whose only common thread is a commitment to social change. Many roads have led to this melting pot of local iwi, early settler farming families, alternative life-stylers, foreign back packers and cashed-up retirees but the result is a community that accepts each other’s differences in their search for solutions to their common fears and dreams. Over a weekend at Whakamaharatanga marae, they share their stories – from surviving the bombing of Munich and the London Blitz to the loss of traditional land and the Occupation of Bastion Point - and how these roads have led them to the Hokianga, a remote, beautiful and historic part of New Zealand that provides the setting for a text-book example of grass-roots community action. They remember how, in the 1990s, when punitive government economic reforms threatened the future of the local health service, everybody from local farmers, elders, hippies, clergy and medical professionals pooled their labour, skills and expertise to forge a sustainable, people-focused, free health service that remains successful to this day. “Hokianga nui a Kupe that's the name of the place and once you've been here you'll always return. It’s a spiritual returning. Everybody I know who comes here is touched by it and goes through some sort of transformation” – Mani Barr Executive Producer/Writer/Presenter – Judy Reinken Presenter – Tony Watkins Director/Co-producer – Susy Pointon Cinematographer/Editor – Lloyd Latimer Music – Sanguma http://www.hopethemovie.nz/ |
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Documentaries
Te Whare Tapu o Ngapuhi (2019) - (with Hiwa-i-te-rangi and Holly Smith, Arahi Edwards & Amber Latimer)
Hope: Tumanako 2014 - 90 minute documentary on the people of the Hokianga (with Judy Reinken, Tony Watkins & Lloyd Latimer
A Taste of Place 2001 - 60 minute documentary for TVNZ on Immigration and Food in Auckland (with Shuchi Kothari & Sarina Pearson)
Breaking Silence 1994 - 60 minute documentary on the Sisters of de Salles heights West Virginia (with Tommie Smith)
The Image of the Tiger 1993 - 30 minute documentary on Outsider artist Thorton Diall (with Bob Richardson, Bill Arnett & Tommie Smith)
Cher Shaffer Folk Artist 1989 - 30 minute documentary on Appalachian folk artist (with Bob Richardson)
Stages 1981 - 60 minute documentary on Peter Brook & CICT in Australia (Macau Light Company) for BBC Arena & ABC
Hope: Tumanako 2014 - 90 minute documentary on the people of the Hokianga (with Judy Reinken, Tony Watkins & Lloyd Latimer
A Taste of Place 2001 - 60 minute documentary for TVNZ on Immigration and Food in Auckland (with Shuchi Kothari & Sarina Pearson)
Breaking Silence 1994 - 60 minute documentary on the Sisters of de Salles heights West Virginia (with Tommie Smith)
The Image of the Tiger 1993 - 30 minute documentary on Outsider artist Thorton Diall (with Bob Richardson, Bill Arnett & Tommie Smith)
Cher Shaffer Folk Artist 1989 - 30 minute documentary on Appalachian folk artist (with Bob Richardson)
Stages 1981 - 60 minute documentary on Peter Brook & CICT in Australia (Macau Light Company) for BBC Arena & ABC
Publications
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Resident Alien: A Memoir (2024) Hokianga Publishers
Rere Takitahi: Flying Solo (2024) anthology edited by JCL Purchasse & AJ Woolf, Olearia Press (contributor) Ferry Stories of the Hokianga/Nga Korero o Hokianga Mai I Te Whaka Whakawhiti (2022) Hokianga Publishers He Taonga - more stories from the mama at Hiwa-i-te-rangi (2023) with Mary Groom Turangawaewae: Stories from the Mama at Hiwa-i-te-rangi 2021. (With Mary Groom and Michelle Wilson) Losing My Religion: Essay published in Mayhem, Issue 8 2020 https://www.facebook.com/MayhemLiteraryJournal He Taonga Tuku Iho: Stories from Hiwa-i-te-rangi; a school for young parents. (with Mary Groom) 2019 Calamity Jane, Radio Drama for RNZ January 2020 The Language of Recovery, Radio Drama for RNZ, February, 2020. Matangireia: The House of Mareikura - stories from Hiwa-i-te-rangi 2016-2018 (with Mary Groom) 2018 Johnny Donoghue; The Road Less Travelled, article for Audioculture, 2018 Don’t Let it Get You, article for Audioculture, 2018 Te Huringa o te Tai: More Stories of the Hokianga, Steele Roberts, Wellington. 2018 Dreamers/Nga Kai Moemoea: Stories of the Hokianga, Steele Roberts, Wellington, 2015 A Pig Tale - Radio drama for Radio New Zealand, 2013 Cotton-Eyed Joe - Radio drama for Radio New Zealand, 2013 The Holiday of a Lifetime – Radio drama for Radio New Zealand, 2012 Budget Christmas – Radio drama for Radio New Zealand, 2012 Mercenary Territory, Drama series for Radio NZ, 2012 Hard Up (NZ) Ltd – drama series produced for Radio NZ 2011 Hell Hound – story produced for Radio NZ 2011 M.I.L.K. – drama series for Radio NZ, 2010 The Skeleton in the Closet – 4 part story produced for Radio NZ, 2010 The Grullo – story produced for Radio New Zealand, 2010 Rebels and Ratbags: The Story of the NZ Film Industry, 2009 Tipface Bunyan – drama series produced by National Radio 2009 Lazy Boy – short story produced for National Radio, 2005. Watching Vengo – short story produced for National Radio, 2004. The White Rabbit – short story produced for National Radio, 2003. Call of the Wild, 2 part drama produced for National Radio, 2002. The Empire Girls Annual – short story produced for National Radio, 2001. Taste of Place – Co-producer/Director of television documentary for TV1 Authorial series, 1999-2000. Switch –Short Story Produced for National Radio, 2001. Hole – Short story produced for BBC Commonwealth Short Story Competition, 1999. Ring of Fire - Three part drama series for National Radio New Zealand, 1999. Managing Difference Video for EEO Cultural Diversity Training, Point of View Prods , 1999 Cracker Jack. Short story produced for New Zealand National Radio, December, 1998. Ground Zero. Paper on themes of nuclear disaster in Japanese animation National Convention of Semiotics & Contemporary Culture, Macon, Georgia. 1997 Otaku: Ethnography of Japanese Animation Fans in the USA. Paper read at the Film & TV Conference, Ohio University, Athens, Ohio. 1997. Urotsukidoji: Orgasm as Apocalypse. Article for Wide Angle, Journal of Film Studies, published by John Hopkins Press, USA. 1997. Hole Short story published in Woman in the Moon literary journal, USA, 1998 Appalachian Spring Short story produced for Radio New Zealand by Carol Dee, 1998 Witch. Personal narrative essay broadcast on New Zealand National Radio ( Narrator, Cathy Downes, Producer, Carol Dee), 1997. Winner of the First Annie Dillard award for the non-fiction essay, The Bellingham Review, West Washington University, USA 1996. Published in The Bellingham Review. Zen in the Art of Baby Maintenance. Article for Simply Living magazine, Sydney, Australia. 1984. Changing my Shape in Bondi Junction. Article for Simply Living magazine, Sydney, Australia. 1984. Grief & The Passion of Linda Ritchie. Short stories anthologized in New Women’s Fiction published by New Women’s Press, Auckland, New Zealand. 1986. Produced for Radio New Zealand by Carol Dee, 1998. Shark Alert. Short story anthologized in New Women’s Fiction published by New Women’s Press, Auckland, New Zealand. 1985. Published in Sphere Literary Magazine, Ohio University. Produced for Radio New Zealand by Carol Dee, 1998 Framed. Short story anthologized in Home & Away, (Ed: Ross Cresswell) Penguin Books, Melbourne, Australia. 1984. Awards & grants New Zealand Film Commission development award for Tip Face Bunyan, 2010 Creative NZ Literature Board Grant 2003 AND 2007 for NZ Film History Rebels and Ratbags: The Story of the NZ Film Industry Western District Short Story Competition Finalist 2004 – Ghost Town Western Districts Short Story Competition Finalist 2003 – Lazy Boy Sunday Star Times Short Story Competition Finalist 2003 – The White Rabbit David T Wong Short story Competition Finalist 2002 – Watching Vengo Creative NZ Literature Board Grant, 2001 for novel Appalachian Spring Sunday Star Times Short Story Competition, 1999 Highly Commended Switch Commonwealth Short Story Competition, 1999, Runner Up, Hole Auckland University Scholarship, 1998. Creative New Zealand Literature Board Grant, 1998 – Appalachian Spring New Millennium Award for creative non-fiction (USA) – finalist, 1997 Annie Dillard Award for creative non-fiction (USA) – winner, 1996 Ohio University Scholarship, 1994. Margaret Mead Film Festival (USA) – chosen participant, 1995 National Educational Film Festival (USA)– Golden Apple, 1994 Centre for Retirement Research Awards (USA)– Honourable mention, 1995 National Media OWL Awards (USA) – Winner, 1995 CINE Golden Eagle Award (USA)– winner, 1994 CNTV Script Development Award, (USA) 1993 West Virginia Dept of Culture & History – Media Grant 1994 West Virginia Dept for the Humanities – Research Grant 1994 Ohio Arts Council – Media Grant, 1992 Australian Vogel Literary Award – finalist 1984 Australian Vogel Literary Award – finalist, 1983 Australian Vogel Literary Award – finalist, 1982 New York Film Festival – Silver Medal, 1982 Australian Film Commission – script development grant, 1979. American Film Institute – directing fellowship, 1976 New Zealand Arts Council – Study Abroad grant, 1976 New Zealand University Arts Council – Media Grant, 1972 |
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