April 13, 2007

A Great Totara Has Fallen

Kua hinga te totara nui o te wao nui a tane!

Waitakere Mayor Bob Harvey today paid tribute to a central figure in this country’s television and film industry.

Donald (Don) Selwyn passed away after a long illness.

He and Mayor Harvey, a former member of the New Zealand Film Commission, had known each other for decades.

“Don was a wonderful character actor- in fact one of this country’s finest. In later years he took to directing and producing and delivered some of New Zealand’s most memorable projects,” says Mayor Harvey.

“He was a mentor and inspiration for a generation of young Maori performers. He pioneered the way for the likes of (actors) Cliff Curtis and Temuera Morrison and I know that he took real pride in seeing young Maori take their culture onto the stage and screen.”

Don Selwyn lived in Massey, in Waitakere City, and in recent years performed with young musicians and performers at the Going West Literary Festival and at other local venues and events.

“Don was central to this City’s Maori Creative Strategy which is still being developed and I am truly sad that he will not see that project through to the end,” says Mayor Harvey.

“Not only Maori, but New Zealand as a whole has today lost a great man.”

ENDS

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