- Marina was born and raised in Manukau City, New Zealand. From a Geordie Father, Samoan Mother and Cook Islands step-Mother, she is powerfully aware of her cultural heritage, how this affects the way we are viewed and how we view others. After just over a decade in the fashion industry, as Miss New Zealand and one of the few fashion models of Pacific descent, she returned to the University of Auckland to study film and graduated with a MA (First Class Honours).
She is an award-winning filmmaker with films featuring in numerous festivals, including Palm Springs ShortFest, NZ's Best Short Film in the NZ International Film Festival, ImagineNATIVE, Hawai'i International Film Festival and the NZ Script Writer Awards. Her latest film Vai, an award-winning portmanteau feature film made with 8 Pacific female writer and directors, opened the NATIVe section at the 2019 Berlinale, and has screened at many festivals including SXSW, Edinburgh Film Festival and Melbourne International Film Festival.
Marina is an experienced Teaching Fellow, formally based at the University of Auckland, and her academic areas of expertise are Pacific Studies, Pacific filmmaking, Pacific representation on screen and representations of the Pacific woman. She is a PhD candidate and Vice Chancellor's Doctoral Scholar exploring Pacific filmmaking at AUT University, proud mother to her daughter, Alena Sevai and is developing a range of projects including her next feature film, The Return.
- IMDb mini biography by: Marina McCartney
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