James Napier Robertson

The Dark Horse, James Napier Robertson (2017)

James Napier Robertson is a New Zealand screenwriter, film director and producer.  The basis of his second feature film, The Dark Horse, is the real life of Genesis Potini, a Maori speed chess prodigy who suffered from severe bipolar disorder.  After a premiering at Toronto and Rotterdam, and winning six New Zealand Film Awards, The Dark Horse receives its US theatrical release April 1 at the Angelika Film Center.

On the eve of its New York premiere, Filmatique conducted an exclusive interview with James Napier Robertson.

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FILMATIQUE: The Dark Horse has often been hailed as one of the best New Zealand films ever made.  What does it mean to you for the film to finally be released in New York?  What has the journey been like?

JAMES NAPIER ROBERTSON:  The journey has been long and intense!  Many amazing countries and experiences.  But New York represents a kind of creative bastion in many regards.  Many of my favorite filmmakers are from NY.  It’s a very proud moment for the film to screen there.     

FLMTQ:  One of the most interesting aspects of the film is how you’ve provided a lens into the marginalized, and often embattled, contemporary Maori existence.  What are the main challenges you see facing Maori culture?  What was it like to work with the Maori community to bring Genesis’s story to life? 

JNR:  I think a large degree of displacement and cultural disconnection happened in New Zealand when European settlers arrived and competed with the Maori for land.  There are some concerning details of history, but the result was a culture that lost a sense of itself and became consumed by a larger more pervasive— and very different— culture.  This sense of displacement is still being dealt with today. 

My experience working with the Maori community to tell Gen’s story was wonderful.  I had become very close with Genesis before he passed away, and also his immediate friends and family, including his wife, Nat, and the real Noble and Jedi.  When we lost Gen, the community really stepped in and helped, and Nat, Noble and Jedi were on set with us every day while shooting to help make sure we were doing everything possible to portray Gen’s world authentically.

James Napier Robertson with Cliff Curtis, who plays Genesis Potini in the film

FLMTQ:  You’ve expressed a kinship with Proust’s experience of suffering as essential to the creative process.  What has been your experience with getting your projects off the ground?  

JNR:  Two-tiered I guess...  I find I have to utterly give myself over to something to do anything remotely worthwhile with it.  This has often ended up being at the expense of my health and all other aspects of life.  I’m trying to get better; I have a baby on the way now, so I need to try to be more responsible with health at the very least!  But, it seems I don’t really have any other way of working. 

I’m either utterly consumed or completely disengaged, and the former means very long hours and a sole, dedicated focus on something that might ultimately never come together.  My incredible wife has now at least taken it upon herself to make sure I eat regularly, which is something easily forgotten when wrapped up in writing or editing— so it’s getting better!

The other factor is the industry.  It’s immensely hard to create a film and get it financed while retaining your sense of integrity to the story throughout the whole process.  It’s easy to be thrown off course.  Films cost a lot of money to make, and often that means a lot of strong, legitimately concerned opinions on marketability or commercial prospects. 

Bad choices can result, and it’s remarkably easy for it to happen.  You have to be prepared to fight a lot of fights and put yourself on the line a lot, which can be very exhausting.  If you want to retain your ideal of what the film is, you need to be prepared that the film might not get made as a result.  It would certainly be significantly easier to go along with it all and just let go.

You might have a much higher chance of the film getting made (or of being employable), and of having less stress in your life, but that might mean compromising on something that is the very essence of why you wanted to tell the story in the first place.  To me, that’s something I’ve had to always draw a line at.  But, it makes every film quite a process to see through.

FLMTQ:  Can you reflect on the Kiwi independent film industry?  Do you believe that obstacles posed to funding and producing films are as productive as creative challenges?

JNR:  I think the New Zealand industry is in a pretty fortunate position in that there is specific government money to help get NZ films made through the NZ Film Commission.  However, the flipside is many films are trying to get made, and only a finite number can get funded through this system.  And there is nowhere else to go!  There are no studios or other funding bodies in NZ for film. 

The obstacles posed to funding can be productive to creativity, however it really depends on the ability of whoever is placing those obstacles. 

I think the best thing you could do anywhere as an aspiring filmmaker is pull together whatever resources you can and make something outside of the system.  It is very possible these days.  This way you will be able to make something purely driven by your own voice.  Knowing and listening to your own voice will be very important as you go on to make more films in the future (particularly if you move up in budget).

FLMTQ:  What’s up next?  Any new projects in the works?

JNR:  I’m writing and directing a film based on The Conductor, a book set in Leningrad, Russia during WWII.  It’s about a symphony composed by Dmitri Shostakovich and performed by a conductor of the time, Karl Eliasberg, during the Siege of Leningrad, with the hope of giving back some humanity to the people who were suffering so much under Hitler and Stalin.  It’s a remarkable story, and something I’m deeply invested in and thrilled to be making. 

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Interview by Ursula Grisham

Head Curator, Filmatique