Sima Urale

Sima Urale is a New Zealand filmmaker who has won national and international awards. Her films explore social and political issues and have been screened worldwide. She is one of the few Polynesian film directors in the world with more than 15 years in the industry. Her accolades include the Silver Lion for Best Short Film at the Venice Film Festival for O Tamaiti (The Children) (1996).

Urale was born on the island of Savai'i, Fagamalo in Samoa. She grew up in a village with two brothers and three sisters. Her family immigrated to New Zealand in the 1970s where they lived in Wellington. Her mother was a teacher and her father, a fisherman and a planter from a village, worked night shifts in a factory. Urale's siblings are also creative in the arts and media industry, an unconventional career for Polynesian people in New Zealand. Her youngest brother grew up to become a well known rap artist in New Zealand, King Kapisi, the first hip hop artist to be awarded the prestigious APRA Silver Scroll (New Zealand). Her sister Makerita Urale is a playwright, producer and documentary filmmaker. Another brother Tati Urale is a senior producer at ONE News, Television New Zealand. Urale has collaborated creatively with her siblings. Urale directed the King Kapisi's first music video Sub-Cranium Feeling which was produced by her sister Makerita Urale. Filmed underwater, the music video won a number of Best Music Video awards including Flying Fish, BFM and TVNZ Mai Time. In 2003, Urale was presented with an award by New Zealand On Air for contribution to music video making.

In 1989, Urale graduated from Toi Whakaari New Zealand Drama School where she had studied acting. She played the lead role of Ranevskaya, the matriarch in Chekov's The Cherry Orchard in the final year graduation production. After two years acting in professional theatre in New Zealand, she studied filmmaking in Australia at the Victorian College of the Arts in Melbourne. At film school, she won Student of the Year Award. In 1994, she graduated with a B.A. (Film & Television).

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