March 27, 2024
Chair-bound doco maker rages against the machine
An acclaimed documentary and film-maker says losing the use of her legs hasn’t stopped her from getting on with life.
Paula Whetu Jones has produced a six-part series, Spinal Destinations, loosely based around her experiences in a spinal unit 14 years ago after being cut down by an auto-immune disease.
She’s gone on to direct films like Whina and Waru, but she says it took her some time to process the diary she kept during the first months of her illness.
“I really wanted to tell the story about being in there and just not existing as an individual and it’s taken me this long to come to terms with putting everything out there warts and all because being a doco maker I tell stories so I am able to tell my story through other people’s stories but this is my story about how vulnerable I felt and how I was raging against the machine,” Paula Whetu Jones says.
Spinal Destinations starts tonight on Sky Open.