Writing blackness for the New Zealand screen: How Africanising screenwriting practice contributes to black diasporic cinema in New Zealand

Abstract

Writing Blackness for the New Zealand Screen is a practice-led experiment in decolonising screenwriting practice. Situated within Black Diasporic Cinema, Pinky (the screenplay) serves as both research and output, exploring the tension between individual and community, and appearance and reality, especially as pertaining to the image of blackness in New Zealand. Written from a Coloured South African perspective, Pinky navigates the (re)construction of identity intrinsic to the experience of diaspora. Pinky actively upends the image of Africa that has persisted in cinema since its colonial origins, which influences the way Africans are treated in New Zealand today. This is done through Africanisation, Autoethnography as Method, Writing as Method and Script Activation, which allows the spectator to access African subjectivity. Pinky, therefore, is a screenplay that prioritises narrative components attuned to African sensibilities, while also being culturally rich and an expression of authentic representation of the Afro-Kiwi experience.