In the new feature film Uproar, Josh Waaka (Julian Dennison, Hunt for the Wilderpeople, Deadpool 2) is the only Māori kid in a mostly-white 1980s New Zealand high school. He’s also bookish and nerdy, and wants to find his voice and his own path—be it an activist filmmaker, dramaturg or player on the rugby field.

The story is based on the real-life teenhood of co-director Hamish Bennett (Te Arawa, Patuharakeke, Kai Tahu), was brought on to ensure the film’s authenticity as a cross-cultural story. (Josh has a white, English-immigrant mother, played by Minnie Driver, and a Māori father, who is deceased but heard in song via the distinctive voice of actor and musician Troy Kingi.) Uproar is good for a cathartic cry, according to Margeaux, and “fits perfectly under the ‘NZ films that are emotionally charged and raw, yet hilarious and charming that tell stories about real people’ category of film,” in Ang Cariga’s opinion.

Both Bennett and Middleditch have already made impact with previous features, Bennett with the poignant dairy-farm story Rhys Darby as Josh’s arts-positive English teacher, Boy star James Rolleston as Josh’s rugby champ brother and The Changeover’s lead Erana James as a young activist. A potentially predictable coming-of-age plot gives way to interesting twists, as the film weaves a social fabric full of theater kids, old boys’ networks, religious education, solo motherhood, playwriting, land and language dispossession, locker-room bullying, libraries as safe spaces and the drudgery of an after-school paper-round

Talking with the directors, Uproar is as much the story of the coming of age of New Zealand, as it is of a young man growing into himself. The film is set during the 1981 Springbok rugby tour, which tore the small country apart. At the time, South Africa was still deeply under an Apartheid regime, a racist program that spread to its national team. Anti-racist activists in New Zealand saw the tour as an important vehicle for protest, but rugby is New Zealand’s sacred sport and fans were horrified that politics were being inserted into their precious game.

Congratulations, you’ve just had the world premiere of Uproar here in Toronto. How did it go?
Hamish Bennett: It was a lovely experience, Leo. It was really cool. I think as much as we’re telling a story which is unique and specific to Aotearoa [New Zealand] and to our lead character, Josh, it’s [also] a pretty universal story. It was really lovely and really reassuring to see audiences here connect with [the film] in the way that we’d hoped.

Where did the story of Uproar come from?
Paul Middleditch: The genesis of the story was based on my childhood growing up in Wellington during the Springbok Tour, as a kid in St. Patrick’s high school. It was very much about being a misfit and not fitting into the school culture, and in particular to the rugby culture because I was on the outside, in more of a creative world. So that was the inspiration of it in of the journey for Josh, the character, to actually kind of define himself and be okay with not being okay, not the normal thing.

More than that too, [it] was really a story about the country, it was a coming-of-age story for [New Zealand] as well as for Josh. Sonia Whiteman was working on that screenplay for a number of years, and then Julian Dennison, who was going to be cast in another role in the picture, wanted to play the lead, he wanted to play Josh. We went, “Okay, he’s a part-Māori boy. And therefore, this makes the issues in the film about racism and making a stand way more complex and challenging, but way better.”

And then we went, “Let’s see what we can do,” and we found Hamish. I’ve seen Bellbird, a beautiful film. This is exciting. I think he’s got the right feel for it exactly. And that’s where it started, and Hamish went from there.

HB: I came on board around the same time that Julian expressed an interest in stepping into the lead. The script had a lovely foundation that had been laid by Sonia Whiteman’s work. I was also really well aware of the deeply personal connection that Paul had to the story. But I think by the very fact of having Julian, a young Māori man, in that lead, it was going to take it in a certain direction. I feel there was really a willingness and an openness for me to go where I felt the story needed to go. So we worked away at that and developed a story with Julian obviously in mind as the lead character.

I guess the thing for me is that it wasn’t a simple [task]. As you are well aware, Leo, it wasn’t as simple as simply changing the skin color of our character and telling the same story. Being Māori came with an extra layer of complexities that we needed to ensure that we’re addressing with truth and with honesty.

I do feel too, that as much as it does address some pretty heavy issues, I think that the secret for us was to tell a story that both addressed those issues but did it with a light touch, and allowed us to address these themes in a way which didn’t overburden it or weigh it down and stop it from being ultimately, at its heart, the story of a young Māori man looking to find his voice and trying to find his identity.

HB: I that completely. You’ve got Julian, you’ve got James, you’ve got Erana—I couldn’t think of three better role models for Māori. Such wonderful actors. If we can play any small part in giving them a platform to showcase all of their beautiful qualities, then that’s a pretty cool thing to do.

How was it working with Minnie Driver?
HB: I liked working with Minnie. First of all, Good Will Hunting is probably in my top five films, so that’s a slightly intimidating process. For me, there were periods as a director where you aren’t necessarily looking at it from a directing point of view, you’re just watching her perform from a fan’s point of view. Just seeing her ability to shift quite seamlessly between three or four different emotions in the scene, it’s a beautiful thing to watch.

PM: What I really appreciated from Minnie was the depth that she brought. She has a very high standard with what she does and I ire that. She’s an excellent actor. I think in a difficult environment in this world [and] culture that we were creating, to do it right and do it justice, it’s a difficult thing for her in that world. I really ire the bravery she had of what she did.

HB: In that respect, I think acknowledging Minnie’s desire to connect and understand the Māori side of the story was something that really mattered to her. That was something that we obviously really appreciated, her desire to understand the world that she’s stepping into, not just from a nationhood point of view, but from a Māori [world] view.

What were some of the challenges of setting the film during the Springbok tour, a troubled time for New Zealand?
HB: I think for myself and for Paul, and I’m sure for you too, Leo, for my whānau [family] it was a complex time. It wasn’t necessarily about anyone being right or wrong. Everyone had their reasons for feeling the way they felt. I look at my family, both my parents were against the tour, but I had uncles who went to games. I had a granddad who went to the game.

It’s recognizing that whilst many Māori were protesting, not all Māori were protesting. It’s recognizing that there was this kind of cruel irony for many Māori, and that whilst half of New Zealand was protesting what was going on in another country, there wasn’t necessarily that awareness of the injustices that were being faced by Māori within our own country.

All of those things needed to be [included]. [So my task was] trying to put that in there without being didactic, without burdening our audience.

Hamish, what’s it like being a schoolteacher who makes feature films and travels overseas and presents them and then goes back to class?
HB: I reckon it’s just awesome. I love it. I feel that I’ll always teach in some form. I feel that for me it gives me balance in my life. I think writing has an inherent insular nature, you are in your head a lot. In teaching, you’re the exact opposite. It is all about putting yourself out there and looking at what’s going on around you, as opposed to internalizing everything. I feel I need that balance in my life.

I love working with kids, I always have, and I get a lot of value from that. I also feel that it really feeds into my writing, my approach to writing. Probably the other thing is that there is no shortage of good stories from hanging out with kids.