Paul Maunder is a film director, playwright

Playwright

A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...

 and "cultural activist" from New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

. He is best known for his 1979 film of the Albert Wendt

Albert Wendt

Albert Wendt, CNZM is a Samoan poet and writer who also lives in New Zealand. Among his works is Leaves of the Banyan Tree .-Biography:...

 novel Sons For the Return Home, and his 1983 play Hemi, about the life of James K. Baxter

James K. Baxter

James Keir Baxter was a poet, and is a celebrated figure in New Zealand society.-Biography:Baxter was born in Dunedin to Archibald Baxter and Millicent Brown and grew up near Brighton. He was named after James Keir Hardie, a founder of the British Labour Party. His father had been a conscientious...

.

Biography

Maunder was born in Palmerston North

Palmerston North

Palmerston North is the main city of the Manawatu-Wanganui region of the North Island of New Zealand. It is an inland city with a population of and is the country's seventh largest city and eighth largest urban area. Palmerston North is located in the eastern Manawatu Plains near the north bank...

 and attended Palmerston North Boys' High School

Palmerston North Boys' High School

Palmerston North Boys' High School is a state secondary school for boys located in Palmerston North, New Zealand.-Location:Palmerston North Boys' High School is located on Featherston Street, between the intersections of Rangitikei Street and North Street....

. He studied at Victoria University of Wellington

Victoria University of Wellington

Victoria University of Wellington was established in 1897 by Act of Parliament, and was a former constituent college of the University of New Zealand. It is particularly well known for its programmes in law, the humanities, and some scientific disciplines, but offers a broad range of other courses...

, the National Institute of Dramatic Art

National Institute of Dramatic Art

The National Institute of Dramatic Art is an Australian national training institute for students of theatre, film, and television, based in the Sydney suburb of Kensington. It is supported by the federal Office for the Arts, Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. NIDA is located adjacent...

 in Sydney and the London Film School

London Film School

The London Film School is a private film school in London and is situated in a converted brewery in Covent Garden, London, close to a hub of the UK film industry based in Soho. The LFS was founded in 1956 by Bob Dunbar as The London School of Film Technique...

.

Returning to New Zealand, Maunder worked for the state-owned National Film Unit

National Film Unit

The National Film Unit was a state-owned film production organisation in New Zealand. Founded in 1941, it mostly produced newsreels, documentaries and promotional films about New Zealand, and for many years was the only significant film production facility in the country...

. In addition to directing a number of the documentaries the unit was best known for, he directed three drama productions which were screened on television: Gone up North for a While, One Of Those People That Live In The World and Landfall (the film debut of Sam Neill

Sam Neill

Nigel John Dermot "Sam" Neill, DCNZM, OBE is a New Zealand actor. He is well known for his starring role as paleontologist Dr Alan Grant in Jurassic Park and Jurassic Park III....

).

In 1971, Maunder formed Amamus theatre troupe in Wellington, staging protest plays.

He played one first-class cricket

Cricket

Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...

 match for Central Districts in the 1961-62 season.

Paul Maunder currently lives in the small town of Blackball

Blackball, New Zealand

Blackball is a small town on the West Coast of the South Island of New Zealand, approximately 29 km from Greymouth.Blackball was named after the Black Ball Shipping Line, which leased land in the area to mine for coal. It was formerly known as Joliffetown and Moonlight Gully.Blackball is a centre...

 on the West Coast.

Filmography

• Gone up North for a While (1972) NFU
• The Seal Hunters (1973) Short film
• One Of Those People That Live In The World (197?)
• Landfall (1975)
• Sons for the Return Home (1979)

Plays

Most of Maunder's plays are on subjects related to politics, class, activism or the history of the labour movement.

• Hemi (1983) - Depot Theatre, Wellington.
• State of Play (full length - no date or production listed)
• Ngati Pakeha (1-act, 1983) - Depot Theatre, Wellington
• 51 (full length, year unknown) - documentary on the 1951 New Zealand waterfront dispute
  1951 New Zealand waterfront dispute
  The 1951 New Zealand waterfront dispute was the largest and most widespread industrial dispute in New Zealand history. During the time, up to twenty thousand workers went on strike in support of waterfront workers protesting financial hardships and working conditions. Thousands more refused to...
  
  
• Desire in a New Age (full length, year unknown)
• Prophets from the Margins (2002)
• Death (and Love) in Gaza (2006) - BATS Theatre, Wellington.
• Big End (2007) - no known production yet.