Photo: Supplied.
Actress Ana Scotney's (Ngāti Tāwhaki, Tūhoe) 2021 film Millie Lies Low has been making the rounds at a few film festivals in Tāmaki Makaurau, Sydney, Melbourne, and most recently Edinburgh.
The film is about young professional Millie’s story of a disastrous day having missed her flight from Wellington to New York – missing out on an internship at an architecture firm. Instead of facing the truth, she uses social media to deceive everyone into thinking she’s living her best life in the Big Apple.
Scotney says parts of the character’s trials of trying to be a young wahine in today’s world are her own. Millie’s juggling of her own aspirations and living up to her family’s standards is what drew her in to be part of the film.
“I related to it, I found the script funny and I also found it heartbreaking in equal measure,” she says.
Another normal day -added with missing out on a huge opportunity in the Big Apple.
“I’ve also found it really difficult at times to identify and navigate where I fit in terms of being raised in the city, how to keep connected to te whenua ūkaipō from that environment. That’s something for a lot of people not only cross-culturally in terms of being Māori and Pākehā, but for anyone who is at a cross-culture intersection in their own life can relate to.”
Scotney's on-screen career has seen her on a few films and television shows such as Netflix's God's Favourite Idiot, Shortland Street, Cousins and The Breaker Upperers. She says she's found the notoriety "low-key", especially since, unlike her character Millie, Scotney has no social media.
“It’s that thing that we do in Aotearoa, as a form of endearment people keep it low-key, so I found it had no change,” she laughs.
“It helps with that process of getting on with things day-to-day.”
With her own production company Kōtiro Publishing Giant launched earlier this year, Scotney is keen on having more stories told with “mana motuhake and sovereignty”.
“As tangata whenua, we have the ability to tell our stories in our own way. For me, Kōtiro Publishing Giant is a space where I can continue to mature and tell stories from my own experiences in my community.
“When I have more experience and mātauranga, I think it would be cool to have that space and awhi others coming up and wanting to tell their own stories too.”
