Interviewees

Cliff Curtis

Cliff Curtis is one of Aotearoa New Zealand's most famous actors, starring in such films as The Piano, Three Kings, Training Day, Blow, Whale Rider, Runaway Jury, Collateral Damage, The Fountain, and River Queen. We met Cliff at a Marae in his home town of Rotoura our first night in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Videos featuring Cliff Curtis

  • What Would It Look Like?

    What if the world embodied our highest potential? What would it look like? As the structures of modern society crumble, is it enough to respond with the same tired solutions?

    Or are we being called to question a set of unexamined assumptions that form the very basis of our civilization?

    This 25-minute retrospective asks us to reflect on the state of the world and ourselves, and to listen more closely to what is being asked of us at this time of unprecedented global transformation.

    (24 min 54 sec)

  • Two Views

    For actor Cliff Curtis, the notion of oneness evokes both suspicion and hope. Politically and economically, oneness has been used to justify the elimination of diversity. At the same time, achieving a sustainable future requires an awakening to our shared fate as one species on one earth. Can these opposing views of oneness be reconciled?

    (3 min 8 sec)

  • Industrialization, Imperialism and Colonization

    Actor Cliff Curtis offers the perspective that the trinity of industrialization, imperialism and colonialism served an important function by linking humanity closely together. This line of imperialist development has reached its fulfillment, however, and in order to restore balance, we must now adopt an indigenous perspective of belonging to the planet, not vice-versa.

    (3 min 10 sec)

  • Why Not?

    Actor Cliff Curtis asks, If a small group of English could change the world through colonization, what would happen if humanity as a whole decided to choose a different course?

    (51 sec)

  • Indigenous People's Role in Media

    Actor Cliff Curtis explains how global media, a tool developed in service of imperialism, can be a vehicle for indigenous content, for stories that remind contemporary cultures of their own humanity.

    (2 min 14 sec)

  • Storytelling

    Actor Cliff Curtis explains how, from his perspective, storytelling is a form of activism.

    (1 min 40 sec)
"We are all indigenous to this planet."
From
Two Views