An acclaimed artist, comedian, writer, actor and director, WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS marks Taika Waititi’s third feature film, and the first in collaboration with his long time comedy mate, Jemaine Clement who appeared in his first feature EAGLE VS SHARK.

Taika became an international name in 2005 when his short film TWO CARS, ONE NIGHT, was nominated for an Oscar. The concept was eventually expanded to a feature length film, BOY, shot in 2009, which went on to break all box office records in New Zealand, becoming the highest grossing local film of all time.

Session info: The Marketing and Distribution of What We Do in the Shadows with Taika Waititi, Jemaine Clement and Chelsea Winstanley

Alix Madigan produced WINTER’S BONE, directed by Debra Granik and starring Jennifer Lawrence, which was the winner of The Grand Jury Prize for best dramatic feature at the Sundance Film Festival in 2010. She was nominated for an Academy Award in 2011 for best picture for WINTER’S BONE and the film received three other nominations. It also won The Gotham Award for Best Picture and won two Independent Spirit Awards.

Alix most recently produced LAGGIES, starring Keira Knightley, Sam Rockwell and Chloe Moretz and directed by Lynn Shelton and WHITEBIRD IN A BLIZZARD, starring Shailene Woodley and directed by Gregg Araki, both of which premiered at Sundance in 2014 and will debut later in 2014. Also, she produced MAY IN THE SUMMER which was in the Dramatic Competition at The Sundance Film Festival in 2013 and starred Hiam Abbass, Bill Pullman and Alia Shawkat, directed by Cherien Dabis. She released THE AUTOMATIC HATE, directed by Justin Lerner. in 2015.

She has served in various producing capacities on films such as the cult comedy SMILEY FACE, directed by Gregg Araki and starring Anna Faris, MARRIED LIFE, directed by Ira Sachs and starring Rachel McAdams and Pierce Brosnan, CLEANER, directed by Renny Harlin, starring Samuel L. Jackson and Ed Harris, Neil LaBute’s YOUR FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS, starring Ben Stiller and Natassja Kinski, CASE 39, directed by Christian Alvert, starring Renee Zellweger and GIRL MOST LIKELY starring Kristen Wiig and Annette Bening and directed by Shari Berman and Bob Pulcini, which was released in July, 2013.

Alix’s first produced movie was SUNDAY, directed by Jonathan Nossiter, which won The Grand Jury Prize for best dramatic feature and the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award in the 1997 Sundance Film Festival.

Currently, Alix is a staff producer for Anonymous Content, a multimedia company based in Los Angeles which produces a range of context including series TRUE DETECTIVE starring Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson. She has served at various companies before her current position at Anonymous Content, including Propaganda Films, Skouras Pictures and Avenue Entertainment. She serves on the board of Film Independent.  She graduated from Dartmouth College and has an M.B.A. from The Wharton School of The University of Pennsylvania.

Session info: In Conversation with Alix Madigan (US)

Session info: Producing masterclass with Alix Madigan (US) From Inception to Audience – Becoming the Engine

Peter Mullan is an award-winning Scottish actor, writer and director who is known both for his hard-hitting performances in front of the camera, and the powerful execution of his stories behind it.

In 1995 his gritty short film FRIDGE won the Jury Award for Best Drama at Palm Springs International Film Festival.

After appearing in BRAVEHEART and TRAINSPOTTING Peter broke out as an actor in 1998, with his performance in Ken Loach’s MY NAME IS JOE winning him the prestigious Best Actor award at Cannes. In the same year his writing and directing debut ORPHANS was selected for the Venice Film Festival and won four awards.

Peter’s popular reception at Venice was to be revisited in 2002, where he won the Golden Lion for his second feature film THE MAGDALENE SISTERS, which depicts the treatment of ‘fallen women’ in convent laundries around Ireland. The film also won “the discovery award” at Toronto Film Festival.

His Cannes-winning performance in MY NAME IS JOE (1998) led to numerous roles across film and television in the UK and US including: MISS JULIE (1999), cult horror SESSION 9 (2001), opposite Brenda Blethyn in ON A CLEAR DAY (2005) and on popular children’s television show SHOEBOX ZOO (2004-2005).

Later roles on blockbusters like WAR HORSE (2011) and HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS (2010-2011) have always been balanced with award-winning performances on critically acclaimed and independent films and television including TYRANNOSAUR, BOY A and THE FEAR.

Peter has also had a large theatrical career, particularly involved in the political theatre scene in Glasgow but also with theatre companies 784, Wildcat Theatre and the Moscow State Theatre. He was also a nominee for Best Newcomer at the Shakespeare Theatre Awards and co-wrote an anti poll tax show which played to 40,000 people in ten weeks.

Peter’s feature film NEDS (2010) won him the Scottish BAFTA Awards for Best Writer and Best Director and also Best Film at St Sebastian Film Festival.

Most recently, Mullan appeared in Jane Campion’s critically acclaimed mini series TOP OF THE LAKE (2013). For his performance as Tui’s father Matt he received international acclaim and awards and was nominated for an Emmy.

Session info: Masterclass with Peter Mullan (Scotland)

Session info: In Conversation with Peter Mullan (Scotland)

Lee Aronsohn has been making memorable television for over thirty years.

Beginning in 1978 as a writer on THE LOVE BOAT – for which he created the character of the Captain’s bastard daughter, Vicki – he went on to contribute to such 80’s classics as CHARLES IN CHARGE and WHO’S THE BOSS.

In the 90’s, as writer and producer, Lee helped shape some of the decade’s most popular sitcoms such as MURPHY BROWN, GRACE UNDER FIRE and CYBILL. In 2003 he co-created TWO AND A HALF MEN, which quickly became TV’s number one comedy and the anchor of CBS’s Monday night line-up.

In addition to writing and executive producing TWO AND A HALF MEN for 9 seasons (as well as directing several episodes), from 2007 to 2011 also served as a writer and executive producer of THE BIG BANG THEORY, another CBS hit.

Currently exhausted, Lee lives in Sherman Oaks, California.

Aronsohn is visiting New Zealand courtesy of Film New Zealand as the winner of a Film New Zealand 2014 competition. The NZFC is supporting this visit through working with Aronsohn’s fellow LA-based colleague, New Zealand actor/producer, Fleur Saville to provide Aronsohn with strong exposure to filmmaking talent and opportunities within New Zealand.

Session details: Comedy Writing with Lee Aronsohn: What Doesn’t Kill Us Makes Us Bitter

Australian score composer Burkhard Dallwitz is most known for his scores for THE TRUMAN SHOW (Golden Globe for Best Original Score, 1999), award-winning Australian TV series UNDERBELLY (2008 ~), AUS/UK mini-series FALSE WITNESS (2009) and more recently Peter Weir’s feature film THE WAY BACK (2011).

German-born Burkhard travelled to Australia in 1979, where he became a permanent resident a year later. In Melbourne he studied music at Latrobe University where he majored with Honours in Composition. Since 1984, he has worked as a composer for feature films, television and commercials. Over the years Burkhard has been the recipient of several APRA/ AGSC Screen Music Awards and nominations and in 1999, he was awarded the Golden Globe for Best Original Score in a Motion Picture for THE TRUMAN SHOW. This score also won the Chicago Film Critics’ Award and the ASCAP Film and Television Award, and the soundtrack reached number two on the Billboard charts.

In 2001 Burkhard won the APRA award for Best Television Theme for the Sydney Olympics in 2000. The world-renowned 385-voice Mormon Tabernacle Choir performed and recorded his 2002 theme for the Salt Lake Winter Olympics. He also composed the theme for the Seven Network’s coverage of the Beijing 2008 Olympics (in addition to the 2000, 2002, 2004 and 2006 compositions).

In 2004 he won the APRA/AGSC Screen Music Award for Best Music for a Television Series for CRASHBURN. Burkhard also received two nominations in the 2006 APRA/AGSC Screen Music Awards for the Australian feature film THE CATERPILLAR WISH. In 2008 he was awarded the APRA/AGSC Screen Music Awards for Best Music for a Television Series for Underbelly and Best Television Theme for IT’S A JUNGLE OUT THERE. Other recent scores have included the European feature film MANIPULATION, starring Klaus Maria Brandauer (OUT OF AFRICA, MEPHISTO) and Sebastian Koch (THE LIVES OF OTHERS, THE BLACK BOOK), and the international Mini-Series False Witness, a Screentime Production for UKTV starring Dougray Scott, Claire Forlani, Rachel Blake and Richard Roxburgh.

In 2009 Burkhard scored the second series of UNDERBELLY: A TALE OF TWO CITIES and then composed the score for Peter Weir’s feature film THE WAY BACK starring Colin Farrell, Ed Harris, Jim Sturgess and Saoirse Ronan. He received two APRA/AGSC Screen Music Awards nominations for his work on FALSE WITNESS and UNDERBELLY: A TALE OF TWO CITIES. In 2010 Burkhard received an ARIA nomination for UNDERBELLY – Original Television Soundtrack Album and an APRA/AGSC Screen Music Award for Best Music for a Television Series for UNDERBELLY: THE GOLDEN MILE.

In 2011 he has been nominated for Feature Film Score of the Year for Peter Weir’s THE WAY BACK and won the Screen Music Award for Best Music for a Mini Series or Telemovie for his score for UNDERBELLY FILES: TELL THEM LUCIFER WAS HERE. 2011 saw him complete several overseas and local productions, among them the 4th series of UNDERBELLY: RAZOR.

In 2012/13 Burkhard scored two 8 part Television Mini-Series, UNDERBELLY: BADNESS and UNDERBELLY: SQUIZZY, as well as the feature length documentary RED OBSESSION. He also won the 2012 Screen Music Award for Best Music for a Television Series for UNDERBELLY: RAZOR, making it his fifth award in as many years for the UNDERBELLY franchise.

In 2013/14 Burkhard scored the new 9 part Television Drama Series FAT TONY & CO as well as receiving an AACTA award nomination for RED OBSESSION (best sound for a documentary) and two Screen Music Award nominations for his work on RED OBSESSION and UNDERBELLY: BADNESS.

Burkhard has several soundtracks out on general release and lives with his family in Melbourne, Australia.

He continues to work on local, European and U.S. film and television productions.

Session details: Score Composing with Burkhard Dallwitz (AUS): Using Music as Voice

Jennifer Kent graduated from NIDA (National Institute of Dramatic Art) as an actor and has worked extensively in theatre, film and TV in Australia. In 2002, Jennifer undertook a directing attachment with Lars von Trier on the feature film DOGVILLE, starring Nicole Kidman.

She has since been writing and developing her own film projects. Jennifer’s award-winning short film MONSTER was screened at over forty international festivals including Telluride and Aspen Shortsfest. She was one of the directors on TWO TWISTED, a series of TWILIGHT ZONE style thrillers produced by Bryan Brown for Channel Nine Australia.

Jennifer completed the five month intensive script program at the Binger Filmlab in Amsterdam (2010), where she developed her psychological horror feature script THE BABADOOK. THE BABADOOK was completed in 2013 and premiered at Sundance Film Festival in January 2014. It has traveled to many festivals around the world since including New Directors/New Films (New York City), Gerardmer Fantasy Film Festival in France (where it took out 4 of the 5 awards presented), Puchon Fantastic Film Festival (Korea), and Frightfest (UK) where the film picked up best actress, best director and best film. Other upcoming festivals include Fantasy Fest (US), and Sitges (Spain.)

Jennifer is currently working on two new feature scripts, continuing her commitment to telling stories she feels passionate about. Aside from her writing and directing work, Jennifer is a highly regarded acting/directing teacher, working both in Australia and Paris.

Session info: The Power of Voice – Jennifer Kent

Producer Matthew Metcalfe has worked in film and TV for the past seventeen years. In that time he has produced over NZD 100 million worth of production, representing nine feature films, ten tele-features and numerous other TV shows, TVC’s, documentaries and music videos.

Matthew’s most recent film, THE DEAD LANDS, screened at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2014. THE DEAD LANDS is a NZ/UK co-production being produced in association with LA-based XYZ Films. Matthew is also in production with 25 APRIL, an animated feature film about the Australasian experience at Gallipoli in World War I, and ATOMIC LOVE a NZ/German/Israel co-production that tells of mismatched love in the Middle East through biting political satire.

In 2013 he had theatrical releases with BEYOND THE EDGE 3D, the true story of the conquest of Everest by Sir Edmund Hillary and the 1953 English expedition and GISELLE a feature co-production with the Royal New Zealand Ballet directed by multi award winning director, Toa Fraser. Both BEYOND THE EDGE and GISELLE were invited to screen at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival.

Matthew’s film THE DEAD LANDS, which released in New Zealand in late 2014 following its world premiere via a Special Presentation at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival, was Matthew’s fourth film at the ‘A’ list festival.

Previous films produced by Matthew have been nominated for thirty NZ Film Awards and have won thirteen as well as being recognised at festivals such as Cannes, Toronto and London. Films produced by Matthew have also been long-listed for two BAFTA’s and nominated for a London Critics Circle Award. Matthew also received a Tui Award at the 2002 NZ Music Awards for producing the iconic music video for FADE WAY by Che Fu.

Matthew has extensive experience in co-productions and was the first New Zealand producer to carry out a tri-partite or three way co-production between New Zealand, Canada and the United Kingdom with the US funded feature film, NEMESIS GAME. Produced in association with Lions Gate, NEMESIS GAME has sold to over 30 territories including the US, Canada, the UK, France, Germany, Spain, Australia and most of Asia.

In 2008 Matthew produced DEAN SPANLEY, a NZD 15 Million co-production between New Zealand and the United Kingdom that starred Peter O’Toole, Bryan Brown and Sam Neill. Released in Australiasia by Paramount and domestically by Miramax, the film was nominated for thirteen New Zealand Film Awards and won seven. It was long-listed for two BAFTA awards and nominated for a London Critics Circle award.

In 2009 Matthew successfully worked with Polyphon Films in Germany to create, finance and produce the EMILIE RICHARDS series for German network ZDF. Regularly drawing an audience in excess of seven million viewers EMILIE RICHARDS has become a smash hit in Europe and is the most successful New Zealand/German co-production venture of all time. Matthew also acted as co-producer on the German mini series for ZDF, BIRD OF PARADISE and associate producer on the ZDF series THE DREAMBOAT.

In 2010 Matthew produced LOVE BIRDS a NZD 11 Million romantic comedy starring Rhys Darby (FLIGHT of THE CONCHORDS) and Golden Globe winner Sally Hawkins (HAPPY GO LUCKY).  International sales are handled by Icon.

Matthew also produced and appeared in the top rating TVNZ documentary VIETNAM – MY FATHERS WAR and the groundbreaking TV3 documentary for Inside New Zealand, SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE. Other TV credits include producing and writing the top rating prime time series for TV One, AIR FORCE and the CanWest TV 3 series, STERIOGRAM – WHITE TRASH TO ROCK GODS.

Matthew has also contributed to the New Zealand screen sector by serving for three years on the New Zealand Film Commissions SPIF Committee (SPIFCOM) and as a member of the 2012 Government Steering Committee for the Screen Sector Review. In 2014 he was appointed to the NZ SPG Significant Economic Benefits Verification Panel.

Matthew holds a Bachelor of Commerce Degree from the University of Auckland and an Advanced Diploma in English History from the University of Oxford.

Session info: Financing with Matthew Metcalfe

With a background in documentary directing, Chelsea Winstanley began producing television and short films with business partner Desray Armstrong in 2008.

Since then she has gone on to make some of the most successful NZ short films of the last 4 years, including having films in competition at the Cannes Film Festival two years in a row – NIGHTSHIFT by Zia Mandviwalla, and MEATHEAD by Sam Holst respectively. She graduated from EAVE in 2011 with a focus on co-production.

WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS is Chelsea’s first theatrical feature film. In 2018, MERATA a feature documentary about Aotearoa’s pioneering Maori filmmaker Merata Mita was released. Future projects include Taika Waititi’s upcoming World War 2 drama JOJO RABBIT, and the feature documentary SPRAY OF PLENTY.

Panel: The Global Indigenous Network – Empowering Makers & Communities, Sat 10th October, 11.20am

Michael Eldred started his career in 1994 with Dendy Films in Australia, shortly before that company launched the highly successful ONCE WERE WARRIORSto Australian audiences. He went on to roles with Polygram Filmed Entertainment, Dendy Cinemas & Hoyts Distribution before relocating to New Zealand in 2005.

In that territory he set up the local office of Dendy Films & is currently employed by the entertainment outfit Madman NZ. Amongst the many films he has released in NZ are successful local films OUT OF THE BLUE, smash hit BOY, acclaimed THE ORATOR, and recent success THE DARK HORSE.

Session info: The Marketing and Distribution of What We Do in the Shadows with Taika Waititi, Chelsea Winstanley and Michael Eldred

Toa Fraser, born in Britain in 1975, of a Fijian father and a British mother, is a playwright and film director. His first feature film, NO.2, starring Ruby Dee won the Audience Award (World Dramatic) at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival. His second, DEAN SPANLEY, starring Sam Neill, Jeremy Northam and Peter O’Toole, premiered in September 2008. His third film GISELLE was selected to be screened in the Contemporary World Cinema section at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival. His fourth, THE DEAD LANDS, a Maori action-adventure film, released in 2014.

In 1998 he picked up awards for Best New Play (Bare) and Best New Playwright at the Chapman Tripp theatre awards. The two-hander saw Ian Hughes and Madeleine Sami playing an array of 15 characters. Metro magazine called it “an instant classic“. In 1999 he won the Sunday Star Times Bruce Mason Award.

It was his second play, NO.2 (1999) that catapulted him (and Sami) to fame, winning the Festival First Award at the 2000 Edinburgh Fringe Festival, alongside performances in Europe, Canada, Jamaica and Fiji. Set over the course of one day, as an elderly Fijian matriarch demands a family feast so she can choose her successor, the play saw Sami playing every role.

In 2000, Fraser worked for a year with director Vincent Ward on the screenplay for Ward’s film RIVER QUEEN. In the same period, he co-wrote a one-hour TV drama STAUNCH, with director Keith Hunter. It’s the story of a young Maori woman (ONCE WERE WARRIORS’ Mamaengaroa Kerr-Bell) defending herself against an unfair police prosecution, with the help of a social worker.

In 2001, Fraser was awarded the University of South Pacific’s Writer in Residence Fellowship. There in Fiji, he began work on the film adaptation of NO.2, a process that would take four years and an estimated 20 drafts.

He had never directed a play or film before, but was determined to direct NO.2 – partly “out of a sense of responsibility to the Pacific community” – particularly the working class suburb of Mount Roskill, where most of the film was shot. He also directed the video for the film’s hit song “Bathe In the River” sung by Hollie Smith at the Mount Roskill house of relatives.

When NO.2 debuted at the Sundance Film Festival in 2006, it won the Audience Award (World Cinema Dramatic). Re-titled Naming Number Two in some territories, the film won selection in the Panorama section of the Berlin Film Festival and won the Audience award at the Brisbane International Film Festival. The late Ruby Dee, who played family matriarch Nanna Maria, was awarded Best Actress at the 2006 Atlanta Film Festival. In the same year at the New Zealand Screen Awards NO.2 was nominated in 12 categories, including best film and best director, and won four awards, three of them for performance, including Best Actress for Ruby Dee.

In 2008, Fraser directed his multi award-winning second feature, DEAN SPANLEY, produced by Matthew Metcalfe and starring Sam Neill, Jeremy Northam and Peter O’Toole. A whimsical tale of fathers, sons, dogs, and other lives set in Edwardian England, it received critical acclaim and premiered at a Gala Screening at the 2008 Toronto Film Festival.

DEAN SPANLEY was nominated for 12 awards at the 2009 Qantas Film and Television Awards. It went on to win seven, including best director, best film costing more than $1 million, best screenplay, and best supporting actor (Peter O’Toole).

Next, Fraser wrote and directed GISELLE, also produced by Matthew Metcalfe, an acclaimed filmed ballet starring world-renowned dancers Gillian Murphy and Qi Huan. Fraser’s interpretation of the Royal New Zealand Ballet’s production of Giselle, featuring a score performed by the Auckland Philharmonic Orchestra, Giselle premiered at the 2013 New Zealand International Film Festival, followed by an international premiere at the Toronto Film Festival.

His fourth film, THE DEAD LANDS, released in 2014. Starred James Rolleston, Lawrence Makoare and Te Kohe Tuhaka, folowed the story of a young boy who seeked revenge for the slaughter of his family. Entirely in the Maori language, the film was produced again by Matthew Metcalfe and marks Fraser’s fourth collaboration with cinematographer Leon Narbey.

After twelve years abroad in the UK and US, Tanya Phegan, has recently returned to Australia to join Porchlight Films as their Head of Television.

Having previously held roles at BBC Films and DNA Films, Tanya has extensive international experience in development, production and acquisitions. As the Head of Development and Acquisitions at DNA Films she developed projects with some of the UK’s top creative talent, working on films including THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND, 28 WEEKS LATER, DREDD, NEVER LET ME GO, SUNSHINE, NOTES ON A SCANDAL and FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD. 

At BBC Films, Tanya shepherded several films through production including WEST IS WEST, 360, and THE FIRST GRADER. Tanyaʼs extensive production experience dates back to her early work on international commercials and Australian films MOULIN ROUGE and MULLET.

Porchlight Films is an independent Australian Production company producing premium cinema and television. Porchlight is the company behind the internationally acclaimed ANIMAL KINGDOM (2010) and director David Michôd’s sophomore film THE ROVER staring Guy Pearce and Robert Pattinson (World Premier Official Selection Cannes Film Festival 2014). Porchlight also produced the THE HUNTER (2011) staring Willem Dafoe and LORE (2012) the anticipated second film from director Cate Shortland as a co-production between Australia and Germany. Porchlight, in association with See-Saw Films, produced the film adaptation of Christos Tsiolkas’ novel Dead Europe, directed by Tony Krawitz (The Tall Man, 2011). Porchlight produced two seasons of the hit-comedy series LAID for Australia’s ABC TV. LAID has been sold as a format and a UK version is currently in production for ITV. Porchlight recently produced THE KETTERING INCIDENT, an eight part high end drama series set in Tasmania for Australia’s Foxtel network which stars Elizabeth Debicki (The Great Gatsby, Macbeth, Everest) and Matthew Le Nevez (Offspring, Howzat! Kerry Packer’s War).

Session info: The Precarious World of Development with Tanya Phegan (AUS) and Katherine Thomson (AUS).

Katherine Thomson is a multi-award winning Australian playwright and screenwriter. Her television credits include SCHAPELLE, MR AND MRS MURDER, AUSTRALIA ON TRIAL, DARWIN’S BRAVE NEW WORLD, ROGUE NATION, KILLING TIME, EAST WEST 101, SATISFACTION, BLACKJACK, WILDSIDE, GRASS ROOTS, HALIFAX F.P. and was the co-writer of the Australian and Canadian co-production ANSWERED BY FIRE which received the Gold AWGIE in 2006.

Katherine wrote the documentary UNFOLDING FLORENCE – THE MANY LIVES OF FLORENCE BROADHURST which was directed by Gillian Armstrong. It screened at Sundance Film Festival and won the AWGIE Award for Best Documentary and Best Television Script at the Queensland Premier’s Literary Awards in 2006.

Katherine’s numerous and critically acclaimed theatre credits include King Time, Harbour, Diving for Pearls, Barmaids, Fragments of Hong Kong, Navigating, Kayak, Mavis Goes to Timor, Wonderlands and Darlinghurst Nights. In 2006, Katherine was awarded the Australian National Playwrights Centre Award for her substantial contribution to the Australian theatre industry.

In 2010 Katherine’s play KING TIDE was adapted for ABC Radio Airplay. It won an AWGIE for Best Radio Adaptation. She is currently in development on numerous film and television projects including a feature documentary with director Gillian Armstrong about the acclaimed costume designer Orry Kelly, which is due for release later this year.

Session info: Excavating the Story – Screenwriting masterclass with Katherine Thomson (AUS).

Session info: The Precarious World of Development with Tanya Phegan (AUS) and Katherine Thomson (AUS).

Tom Hern is a New Zealand producer best known for his recent feature films THE DARK HORSE (2014) starring Cliff Curtis, and EVERYTHING WE LOVED (2014), directed by Max Currie.

Starting his career in the screen industry as an actor on various TV productions, Tom eventually followed his yearnings to tell stories that he believed in, and in 2007 co-founded production company Six String Pictures with his old acting buddy (turned writer-director) James Napier Robertson. Together the pair independently developed, financed and produced their debut feature, the micro-budget, whodunnit thriller I’M NOT HARRY JENSON. INHJ was released theatrically in New Zealand to strong reviews, off the back of sell out screenings at the New Zealand International Film Festival, and went on to play at a number of other festivals.

In 2010 Tom co-founded Four Knights Films Ltd, again with Napier Robertson, and Australasian entrepreneurs Tim and Sasha Wood. That year, Tom produced a short film entitled LAMBS, written and directed by Sam Kelly, which was invited to screen at a number of prestigious international film festivals including Clermont Ferrand, Berlin, Melbourne and Raindance, and won the Madman Grand Jury Prize and the Peoples Choice Award at the 2012 New Zealand International Film Festival.

2013 ad 2014 have been huge for Tom and Four Knights with the release of two feature films. The micro-budget arthouse drama EVERYTHING WE LOVED, written and directed by Max Currie, and THE DARK HORSE, a drama inspired by the colourful life of bipolar-suffering Maori speed-chess-genius Genesis Potini. The film was directed by James Napier Robertson and stars Cliff Curtis and James Rolleston.

Tom is a passionate, creative-producer who loves cinema.

Session info: Secrets of The Dark Horse with Tom Hern and James Napier Robertson

Session info:  In Conversation with Alix Madigan 

James Napier Robertson is a New Zealand writer/director best known for his most recent feature film, THE DARK HORSE (2014) starring Cliff Curtis.

Initially an actor by trade, James landed leading roles in a number of local and international TV shows before making a conscious move behind the camera in his early twenties.

James garnered respect for his discerning direction of performances and mood in his debut feature, the micro-budget, noir-thriller I’M NOT HARRY JENSON, which he wrote, directed and edited.

I’M NOT HARRY JENSON premiered at the Shanghai and New Zealand International Film Festivals and was released theatrically on 30 screens in its home territory to strong reviews in 2010, before selling into a number of foreign territories. Despite its budget, the film generated much buzz around the newcomer director and caught the eye of many industry players, including national film-funding body the New Zealand Film Commission.

His fascination with dysfunctional, outsider characters, social disorientation and personality disorders underpinned the dramatic tension of the film – a theme he continues to explored in his latest work THE DARK HORSE, an evocative drama based on the true life story of Genesis Potini.

Session info: Secrets of The Dark Horse with Tom Hern and James Napier Robertson

Maryanne Redpath is the director of the Generation section of the Berlin International Film Festival.

She began her career at the festival in 1993, working as director’s assistant at the Berlinale Kinderfilmfest and in 2002 she became the section’s co-director. In 2008 she was appointed head of the section, which had been re-labelled Generation in 2006.

Maryanne has been the official Berlinale Delegate for Australia and New Zealand since 2004. In this capacity, she travels every year to both countries to refresh her overview of production and to pre-select films for the various Berlinale programmes. Maryanne is a member of the Asian Pacific Film Academy (APSA) and was also involved in setting up the inaugural Young Audience Award for the European Film Academy. Furthermore, she is the head curator of the Berlinale special series “NATIVe – A Journey into Indigenous Cinema”, which was launched in 2013.

Maryanne was born in New Zealand in 1957 and has been living and working in Berlin since 1985. After gaining a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Classical Studies and a Post-Graduate Diploma in Drama in New Zealand, she moved to Sydney where she deepened her knowledge of theatre at the Drama Action Centre. During the 1980s and early 1990s Maryanne: worked intensively as a multi-media performance artist; was a theatre technician; taught drama to handicapped people and to children; gave art lessons to Aboriginal children in Central Australia; wrote scripts for and directed experimental 8mm and 16mm films; conceptualised and co-presented the Australian children’s television series about health matters, ‘GO HEALTH’; taught English, and translated books and diverse texts. From 1991-1994 Redpath qualified as an authorised teacher of the Feldenkrais method.

Session info: Navigating the Circuit with Maryanne Redpath and Al Cossar

Al Cossar is currently Programmer at the Melbourne International Film Festival, one of the Southern Hemisphere’s largest and longest running film festivals.

He has worked across a number of screen culture organisations in Australia, as Program Director for the Portable Film Festival, Festival Manager for Flickerfest, as a Programmer, and subsequently Board Member, for the Human Rights Arts and Film Festival, and within Public Programs at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image. He is also currently a film critic on ABC television in Australia, and has a previous background within editing and post production for film and broadcast.

Session info: Navigating the Circuit with Maryanne Redpath and Al Cossar

Gaylene Preston has been celebrated as one of New Zealand‘s leading filmmakers, having made some of the most enduring popular classics of New Zealand cinema. Gaylene is a storyteller whose work has a distinctive flavour; that entertain while presenting serious subjects with humour and warmth. Her compassion and understanding of real life, and real people, combined with her talent for portraying on film metaphoric stories, has contributed to Gaylene’s reputation as a distinct local voice. 

Her career has spanned three decades, and her generosity of spirit and her powerful mentorship and advocacy skills have been central to the development of New Zealand’s filmmaking community.

Gaylene’s feature films include MR WRONG (1985), RUBY AND RATA (1990), WAR STORIES OUR MOTHER NEVER TOLD US (1995), PERFECT STRANGERS (2003), and HOME BY CHRISTMAS (2010).

Her documentaries include ALL THE WAY UP THERE (1978), LEARNING FAST (1980), MAKING UTU (1982), KERI HULME – KAI PURAKAU (1987), HONE TUWHARE – NO OTHER LIPS (1996), GETTING TO OUR PLACE (1999), PUNITIVE DAMAGE (Co-producer, 1999), TITLESS WONDERS (2001), COFFEE, TEA OR ME? (Producer, 2003), LANDS OF OUR FATHERS (Executive producer, 2004), EARTHQUAKE! (2006), TIME OF OUR LIVES (2007), LOVELY RITA (2007), STRONGMAN THE TRAGEDY (2011).

Her television series include BREAD AND ROSES (1993) and HOPE AND WIRE (2014), a three-part drama focused on the social and psychological upheaval during the Christchurch earthquakes.

Gaylene’s films have been in official selection for most major international film festivals including Venice, Sundance, Toronto, London, Sydney, Melbourne and New Zealand and have won awards in the USA, Canada, France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Switzerland, Russia, Australia and New Zealand.  

In 2001 she was honoured by the New Zealand Arts Foundation, becoming New Zealand’s first Filmmaker Laureate. In 2002 Gaylene was appointed an Officer of the NZ Order of Merit for her services to filmmaking.

Gaylene is currently working on a feature documentary for international distribution following one of the most powerful New Zealanders in the world.

Chris Hampson has been working in feature film and television production for more than 30 years, with a prior background in publishing, theatre and broadcasting. In that time he has worked as a script editor, writer, (occasional) actor and, largely, as a producer of feature films and television drama.

In the past few years he has produced the award-winning series KAITANGATA TWITCH, the tele-movie STOLEN, the feature film WHITE LIES and the television miniseries HOPE AND WIRE. He has been a member of the board of the NZ Film Commission since 2010.

Session info: News, Drama and Life – Hope and Wire with Gaylene Preston, Chris Hampson and Angela Boyd

Angela Boyd is an archival footage researcher with an eye towards how multiple formats impact post-production workflows.

Originally starting her career at TVNZ Archive, Angela has a unique insight into how film archives operate and how this works with the tight deadlines that film and television production demands.

She started her long-standing affiliation with Gaylene Preston back on LOVELY RITA, and has since worked with Gaylene sourcing archival footage for HOME BY CHRISTMAS, STRONGMAN: A TRAGEDY, ILLUMINATE, and the recent TV3 drama series HOPE AND WIRE.

Angela has also worked on the recent WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS, BILLY T: TE MOVIE, TANGIWAI: A LOVE STORY and the International Emmy Award nominated THE GOLDEN HOUR.

Session info: News, Drama and Life – Hope and Wire with Gaylene Preston, Chris Hampson and Angela Boyd

Charlotte Purdy is a producer/director of factual television and feature documentary, with a career in New Zealand and abroad spanning 20 years.

Her television work includes television documentary and docudrama, reality formats, and current affairs programming including 60 MINUTES and SUNDAY.

2014 saw the release both locally and internationally of feature documentary EREBUS: OPERATION OVERDUE co-directed with Peter Burger.

Session info: Giving Voice to those Unheard: Erebus Operation Overdue with Charlotte Purdy and Peter Burger

Peter Burger’s early work in the screen production industry was in commercials. He was the recipient of a bunch of local and international awards, of which he is proudest of Best Commercial for Fair Go.

Peter’s first drama FISH SKIN SUIT won Best Drama in the 2002 New Zealand Film and Television Awards. His short film TURANGAWAEWAE was selected for Critic’s Week at the Cannes Film Festival.

From there he honed his craft in serial television drama from GO GIRLS to HARRY and made his first feature THE TATTOOIST, which his cousin said was “awesome”.

More recently Peter has been directing a string of award-winning telefeatures for the Sunday night slot for TVNZ – UNTIL PROVEN INNOCENT, BLOODLINES, BILLY, WHAT REALLY HAPPENED: WAITANGI and VOTES FOR WOMEN, and FIELD PUNISHMENT NUMBER ONE.

EREBUS: OPERATION OVERDUE is his first docu-drama.

Peter Burger is of Ngai Tahu, Rangitane and Pakeha descent.

Session info: Giving Voice to those Unheard: Erebus Operation Overdue with Charlotte Purdy and Peter Burger

Simon Coldrick is an award winning editor that graduated through the evolution of television in London facilities. He has plied his craft on projects around the globe for Networks including The BBC, Channel 4, PBS and National Geographic. He has been flown across the world after an eleventh hour request, created post production workflows for major US networks and worked for the Beatles.

After moving to New Zealand in 2005 he set up The Bigger Picture Post Production.

Simon has edited a number of locally produced docu-dramas that include EREBUS: OPERATION OVERDUE, the International Emmy nominated GOLDEN HOUR and award winning STRONGMAN THE TRAGEDY.

He recently edited the documentary series NIGEL LATTA as well as THE DAY THAT CHANGED MY LIFE, a riveting and intense documentary that follows a group of people at the centre of the 2011 Christchurch earthquake.

Session info: Giving Voice to those Unheard: Erebus Operation Overdue with Charlotte Purdy and Peter Burger

Rene Naufahu is one of New Zealand’s most outstanding acting talents. He is best known to audiences in this country for his role as Sam Aleni on SHORTLAND STREET, and has appeared in television series and films as diverse as HERCULES, ALL SAINTS, WATER RATS, SEA CHANGE, MATAKU, POWER RANGERS, THE MATRIX REVOLUTIONS and THE MATRIX RELOADED.

Rene is also a successful screenwriter and director. In 2003 he attended the prestigious Maurtiz Binger Institute in Amsterdam. In 2004-2005 he was a writer and a director on TVNZ’s THE MARKET.

His debut feature film THE LAST SAINT is currently screened in New Zealand cinemas in 2014.

Sophie Henderson works as a writer and actor in the film, television and theatre industries in New Zealand. Her first screenplay, FANTAIL was nominated for 8 NZ Film Awards, including Best Picture, Best Screenplay and Best Actress and was invited to have its International premiere at Rotterdam Film Festival. FANTAIL had a nationwide cinema release this winter and traveled to the Melbourne International Film Festival in August where it picked up a People’s Choice award.

Sophie’s other writing includes her play, I ♥ CAMPING, collaborating with Theatre Beating on MILK and RUMPLESTILTS and devising BASED ON AUCKLAND with Silo theatre. Her first short film, $1 RESERVE is currently in post-production.

Sophie can also be seen in a number of local film and television productions including; THE BROKENWOOD MYSTERIES, FANTAIL, UNDERBELLY, AUCKLAND DAZE, THE MOST FUN YOU CAN HAVE DYING, PIECE OF MY HEART, THIS IS NOT MY LIFE, THE JAQUIE BROWN DIARIES and the short films DANCERS and HAURAKI. Sophie is best known for playing, Cheryl’s lawyer, Bailey Wilson in the final season of OUTRAGEOUS FORTUNE.

A finalist in the 2014 SWANZ awards, Sophie was nominated for Best Feature Film Script for FANTAIL.

Sophie also works as the Programming and Artist Development Manager at The Basement theatre.

Gerard Johnstone is the writer/ director of the NZ haunted house comedy HOUSEBOUND which has received rave reviews here and abroad.  He also wrote and directed THE JAQUIE BROWN DIARIES which won best comedy at the NZ Film & TV awards in 2009 & 2010. Prior to this he was a promo producer for TV. Before that he worked in a meat factory.

Georgia Duder-Wood is a songstress and teacher of voice who specialises in the Art of Song and human sound. A graduate of the University of Auckland and Toi Whakaari, and as a trained yoga teacher, she performs and teaches holistically, believing the integration of mind body and spirit essential for authentic expression. As a singer she has over two decades experience of a wide range of genre both internationally and nationally, and as a vocal specialist trains actors, corporates and people in the mental health system in free self-expression.

After graduating from drama school Toi Whakaari in 1987, Robyn Malcolm worked extensively in theatre for the first 5 years, performing in over 30 plays. In 2003 she won an International Actors Fellowship to study Shakespeare in performance with Mark Rylance at the Globe Theatre in London.

Malcolm first came to the attention of television audience in 1995 when she joined the staff of SHORTLAND STREET. As nursing manager and mother Ellen Crozier, she quickly lost a husband, accidentally burnt the house down, and soon found herself caught up in a complicated love-life – not to mention the complications which ensued when an ex-boyfriend got married to her psychotic sister. The writers of the show lovingly called her “the slut in the cardy” Malcolm earned her first screen nomination for Best Actress at the 1998 Television Awards.

In 1999 Malcolm founded the New Zealand Actors’ Company with Tim Balme, Katie Wolfe and future OUTRAGEOUS FORTUNE director Simon Bennett. The company produced and toured successful stage productions of Shakepeare adaptations and NZ works throughout the country to huge audiences.

She gained another nomination 3 years later for the film for television CLARE, based on the cervical cancer experiment at National Women’s Hospital. The film’s inspiration was Clare Matheson, whose book Fate Cries Enough chronicles how over 15 years she became an unwitting participant in a medical experiment where carcinoma in situ was often left untreated.

Over this time Malcolm had smaller roles in movies PERFECT STRANGERS, ABSENT WITHOUT LEAVE, THE LAST TATTOO, and LORD OF THE RINGS: THE TWO TOWERS.

In 2004, Malcolm travelled to France to front her documentary OUR LOST WAR: PASSCHENDAELE. She followed her Great Uncles footstep’s from the hills of Central Otago, to the UK and France to then Belgium where he eventually was killed in 1917.

She would score her first actual screen award in 2005 for a show which surely drew some inspiration from SHORTLAND STREET: satire SERIAL KILLERS, in which she played a stressed out scriptwriter.

2005 was also the year that she first played Cheryl West, in OUTRAGEOUS FORTUNE. The show would go on to become the longest running and most successful drama in New Zealand TV history.

Bringing her substantial experience to the part, Malcolm helped created an iconic character on New Zealand television: feisty, flawed and cleavaged to the hilt, the straight-talking Cheryl tried to keep the West whanau on the straight and narrow, while trying to sort her affections for her criminal husband Wolf (Grant Bowler) and policeman Wayne Judd (Kirk Torrance). By the show’s third season, women were turning up in Kiwi hair salons asking for a “Cheryl West”. Malcolm argued in 2007 that audiences liked the character “because she’s so fallible… no one wants a two dimensional hero. We want messed up struggling people.”

The final episode of OUTRAGEOUS FORTUNE aired in November 2010 and rated better than any in the show’s six season run. Over those 5 years Malcolm has stacked up an unprecedented run of awards for her role.

In 2010 Malcolm took another centre stage role with THE HOPES AND DREAMS OF GAZZA SNELL, the first feature from award-winning INSIDERS GUIDE director Brendan Donovan. She was nominated again for best actress for this role. She then went to Australia for feature films DRIFT starring Sam Worthington, and THE BURNING MAN. She also began her association with the much acclaimed and loved Aussie TV series RAKE. Her recurring character the mad and hilarious Kirsty Corella, wife of jailed gangster gained her much praise in Australia.

Malcolm pitched her idea for her “tragi-comedy” AGENT ANNA, which debuted on television in January 2013. She was intrigued by the idea of basing a show around a middle-class mum “with no hint of hero about her,” who is forced to enter the highly competitive world of selling real estate whilst in a state of growing internal collapse.

She features in Jane Campion’s acclaimed mini-series TOP OF THE LAKE as a messed up American chimpanzee owner seeking healing down under and was voted Best Supporting Actress by Indiewire at the Berlin Festival.

Robyn featured in the hugely popular Melbourne comedy UPPER MIDDLE BOGAN and the second series of critically acclaimed political thriller THE CODE.

Through these years of film and television she has kept up regular theatre work. Most notably in recent years as the buried Winnie in Samuel Becket’s in HAPPY DAYS for Silo Theatre, the title role in Auckland Theatre Company’s production of MARY STUART and again for that company the roles of Shen Te and Shui Ta in Brechts THE GOOD SOUL OF SZECHUAN.

Robyn’s most recent work has included her role in the feature film HOSTILES (2017) starring Christian Bale, and as the star of the 2017 short film GOODNESS GROWS HERE. She has been kept busy with her roles in various new television series including Season 1 and 2 of WANTED (2015/2016), WAKE IN FRIGHT (2017) and HARROW (2017).

She is slowly becoming a fixture at the Big Screen Symposium as a regular interviewer of guests because “I love talking to people about this business, it’s a never-ending treasure trove of experience and story.”

See Robyn in the following session:

Case Study: THE CHANGEOVER – Sunday 1 October, 1.20pm.

Timothy White is one of Australia & New Zealand’s most experienced producers. He is a graduate of University of Canterbury’s School of Fine Arts.  His credits include: Nadia Tass’ MALCOLM(AFI Best Film 1986); SPOTSWOOD, starring Anthony Hopkins and Russell Crowe; COSI, starring Toni Collette and Rachel Griffiths; Michael Rymer’s ANGEL BABY (AFI Best Film 1995); DEATH IN BRUNSWICK, starring Sam Neil; Vincent Ward’s MAP OF THE HUMAN HEART and Gillian Armstrong’s OSCAR AND LUCINDA, starring Ralph Fiennes and Cate Blanchett.

Timothy executive produced Gregor Jordan’s TWO HANDS  (AFI Best Film 1999), starring Heath Ledger and Bryan Brown, before heading up Working Title Films’ Australian arm. Under this banner he executive produced , NED KELLY starring Heath Ledger, Geoffrey Rush, Orlando Bloom and Naomi Watts. He also produced GETTIN’ SQUARE, starring Sam Worthington and David Wenham.

In 2005 he produced Toa Fraser’s NO2. The film won the World Cinema Audience Prize at The Sundance Film Festival. This was followed by Robert Sarkies’ OUT OF THE BLUE (Best Film 2008 NZ Film Awards) and THE WARRIOR’S WAY, starring Kate Bosworth, Danny Huston and Geoffrey Rush.

In 2009 Timothy produced Scott Hicks’ THE BOYS ARE BACK, starring Clive Owen. He then executive produced Julia Leigh’s SLEEPING BEAUTY, which premiered in Competition at Cannes in 2011.

Most recently, Timothy executive produced MR PIP, an adaptation of the Booker short-listed novel, directed by Andrew Adamson and starring  Hugh Laurie. He has just completed producing Julius Avery’s debut feature SON OF A GUN starring Ewan McGregor and Brenton Thwaites and served as executive producer on James Napier Robertson’s debut THE DARK HORSE and Robert Sarkies tele-feature CONSENT.

Session info: Conversation: Navigating the Film Festival Circuit with Maryanne Redpath and Al Cossar

Tainui Stephens (Te Rarawa) is an independent film and television producer, director, executive producer and presenter. He lives in Otaki.

Tainui was raised in Christchurch. He started his working life in 1980 as an investigating officer for New Zealand’s Race Relations Conciliator, Hiwi Tauroa. He commenced his broadcasting career on contract to Television New Zealand in 1984. For the next 17 years he acquired extensive training and much production experience with over 500 hours of programming. In 2000 he went independent and established his company Pito One Productions. He expanded his work into film production, cultural consultancy, governance, and writing. Tainui’s first short film (as a director) THE HILL was selected for the Sundance and Berlin Film Festivals in 2002. He was a producer for the Vincent Ward features RIVER QUEEN and RAIN OF THE CHILDREN. He continued to make a wide range of documentaries like HE WHARE KORERO, LET MY WHAKAPAPA SPEAK, and HITLER & THE GUMDIGGERS. His entertainment shoes have included ITS IN THE BAG and MY COUNTRY SONG.

Tainui and his wife Libby Hakaraia have a wide range of film and television projects in development and production. Tainui sits on the Maori film development body Te Paepae Ataata, and was a producer for Toa Fraser’s latest feature THE DEADLANDS.

Tainui is committed to the role of the Maori storyteller in all modern media. He is comfortable working in a wide range of genre and content, and is personally attracted to compelling stories that critique and celebrate the human condition.

Philippa Campbell is the producer of Jane Campion’s Emmy and Golden Globe award-winning series TOP OF THE LAKE. She has produced six feature films, including the acclaimed RAIN, which premiered in competition in Cannes, Sundance award winner NO.2, comedy-horror hit BLACK SHEEP and Florian Habicht’s genre-busting RUBBINGS FROM A LIVE MAN. She is currently Executive Producer of Jackie Van Beek’s debut feature THE INLAND ROAD and in prep for UK/NZ co-production CROAK. In 2015, she was dramaturg of Emily Perkins’ first play, a contemporary reimagining of Ibsen’s A DOLL’S HOUSE, directed by Colin McColl for Auckland Theatre Company. Philippa is a partner in the new production company Field Theory.

Waihoroi Shortland has had a wide and varied career in television, radio, print and film media with roles in journalism, acting, script writing, and as a cultural advisor. This was prefaced by 13 years in public service mainly with the Maori Affairs Department, he left with the devolution of the department in 1984 to join a fledgling Maori News programme scrambling to make its place felt in mainstream television.

During the 90s an interest in Maori theatre fed by its doyen of directors, Don Selwyn, led to film and television drama. Significant among these was the role of Shylock in the stage production of THE MAORI MERCHANT OF VENICE, a role Waihoroi reprised in the film production that won him New Zealand Best Actor in 2003.

Being invited to be cultural advisor on Jane Campion’s 1993 film THE PIANO sparked an interest in script writing that culminated in the 2004 film CROOKED EARTH. Cameo roles in Vincent Ward’s RAIN OF THE CHILDREN and Taika Waititi’s BOY were two differing roles of cultural integrity that mark what Wairohoi considers very pertinent signposts in the evolution of Maori storytelling in the 21st century.

But to date, nothing can top the 2012 opportunity to be part of the first all Maori cast to tread the board of The Globe in the first play of the Shakespearean Olympiad of TROILUS AND CRESSIDA.

Session info:  Te Reo and Tikanga Māori, Whose Voice is it? With Tainui Stephens, Waihoroi Shortland and John Barnett

Carthew Neal graduated from the Ingenious Media and National Film and Television School’s Creative Producing Course covering six royalty based entertainment industries and championed by Sir Richard Branson.

Carthew has fourteen years experience in producing content and building communities online. In 2014, he produced transmedia series, HOOK UPS with writer Jessica Hansell, Madeleine Sami’s comedy series, SUPER CITY and environmental format WA$TED.

Session info: The Marketing and Distribution of What We Do in the Shadows with Taika Waititi, Jemaine Clement and Chelsea Winstanley

Since training at Auckland’s influential Theatre Corporate, Jennifer Ward-Lealand has worked extensively in theatre, film, television, musical and radio for over 30 years.

In 1989/90, Jennifer toured NZ and internationally with The Front Lawn and in the early 90s moved to Australia to appear in the comedy TV series FULL FRONTAL, and played Viola in the Adelaide International Festival’s production of Twelfth Night.

On stage her work includes The Goat, That Face, Berlin, Brel (Metro Magazine’s #1 Cultural Experience 2012) for Silo Theatre, Twelfth Night, Le Sud, August: Osage County, The Heretic for Auckland Theatre Company, Rita and Douglas for Armstrong Creative and most recently Between the Sheets and Luncheon at the Basement.

Jennifer’s film work includes THE FOOTSTEP MAN, DESPERATE REMEDIES, THE UGLY, FRACTURE and Linda’s BODY. Television includes FULL FRONTAL, XENA: WARRIOR PRINCESS, HERCULES: THE LEGENDARY JOURNEYS, SHORTLAND STREET, DUGGAN, INTERROGATION, AUCKLAND DAZE, THE ALMIGHTY JOHNSONS and THE GOOD WORD.

Jennifer devised and performed the cabarets Falling In Love Again featuring the songs of Marlene Dietrich, and The Look of Love which she has toured extensively throughout New Zealand, and in Australia. She works regularly as a voice over artist and can be heard as the character of Dorable Duck on the children’s television series BUZZY BEE.

Jennifer was a founding board member of the Watershed Theatre and a co-founder of The Large Group and The Actors’ Program. She is currently President of New Zealand Actors Equity, Patron of Q Theatre, and serves as a trust board member of Arts Regional Trust, Silo Theatre, and Actors Benevolent Fund. In the 2007 New Years Honours List, she was named an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to theatre and the community.

Session info:  Te Reo and Tikanga Māori, Whose Voice is it? With Tainui Stephens, Waihoroi Shortland and John Barnett

Session info:  In Conversation with Peter Mullan (Scotland)

As a producer and content creator, Oliver Sealy has enjoyed a career in broadcast media and content development spanning 15 years.

The majority of this career was with TVNZ where he worked on the development, launch, and production of five linear television channels and numerous programme formats.

He currently works in the development team at Augusto and can often be heard as the technology commentator on Newstalk ZB on Sunday mornings.

Session info: Platforms and Partnerships with Brent Kennedy, Maria Mahony, and Joel Kefali

Maria Mahony is the Head of Programming and Local Content at Lightbox.

She has the job all her colleagues envy – she watches TV for a living (well, almost), scanning networks around the world to secure content for Lightbox.

With more than 15 years experience in international and domestic broadcasting, Maria has held leadership and management roles at MTV, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, and TVNZ, where she was channel manager of youth and preschool channels.

She’s also gained digital media management experience in a number of commercial areas. These include the launch of U Live, the first official Facebook social TV experience, and establishing TVNZ’s youth platforms across Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

Maria has wide strategic, marketing, sales and programming skills from launching MTV in Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark and Comedy Central, TVNZ U and TVNZ Kidzone24 in New Zealand.

In her free time she enjoys hanging out with friends and family and watching TV.

Session info: Platforms and Partnerships with Brent Kennedy, Maria Mahony, and Joel Kefali

Brent Kennedy has developed innovative marketing campaigns for some of the world’s most successful brands.

He has headed up global communication agencies in Japan, Australia, and New Zealand where he and his teams won numerous awards including Cannes Lions.

In 2013 Brent completed his Bachelor’s degree in Film, Television and Media at Auckland University. In partnership with Images & Sound, he has established Camaraderie, which is focused on fostering collaboration between content creators and brand marketers.

Session info: Platforms and Partnerships with Brent Kennedy, Maria Mahony, and Joel Kefali

Jessica Hansell is a writer, musician and artist. Under the name Coco Solid she has toured internationally, charted on student radio and collaborated with artists and labels from all over the world.

With a long history in comics and zines, last year Hansell wrote the cult cartoon HOOK UPS, a webseries about musical Maori twins trying to socially survive in the problematic suburb Aroha Bridge.

Hansell completed her MA in creative writing at the International Institute of Modern Letters in 2012, she currently writes for Mana Magazine, is writing a comic-poetry book ‘Foodcore‘ and began working on her debut film with Taika Waititi’s company Piki Filmsin 2014.

Session info: Digital Soapbox – Getting Heard Online with Kerry Warkia, Brenda Leeuwenberg, Julia Parnell and Jessica Hansell

Anthony Healey is the Head of APRA AMCOS New Zealand.

APRA, the Australasian Performing Right Association represent over 73,000 New Zealand and Australian music writers and publishers and through a system of reciprocal relationships with similar overseas societies, over 2million music writer’s worldwide.

APRA work to ensure that composers, songwriters and publishers are rewarded whenever, and wherever, their musical works are played, performed or reproduced and we help Australian & New Zealand music consumers get access to the world’s musical repertoire. They also play an important advocacy role on behalf of their members ensuring that creator’s rights are recognised, supported and protected.

www.apra-amcos.co.nz

Julia Parnell is an award-winning producer and documentary director. In her 12 year career as an independent producer she has created a diverse range of projects including the renowned comedy WAYNE ANDERSON: SINGER OF SONGS and documentaries and documentary series RESTORING HOPE, BOTH WORLDS, PRIME ROCKS: THE EXPONENTS, PRIME PRESENTS: DRAGON and DRUG COURT.

In recent years since launching Notable Pictures, Julia has expanded into producing drama with four NZFC-funded theatrical shorts HITCH HIKE, FRIDAY TIGERS, DIVE and RISING DUST. FRIDAY TIGERS, won the New Zealand International Film Festival’s Best New Zealand Short Film for 2013, and DIVE went on to win best film and screenplay at Show Me Shorts Film Festival in 2014.

Notable Pictures also founded the online short documentary platform Loading Docs, which presents ten distinctive and original three-minute documentary shorts exploring the same theme. The platform aims to provide local documentary makers with a platform to promote their creativity and talent.

Brenda Leeuwenberg is the Digital Strategist for NZ on Air where she is responsible for the Digital Media Fund and digital strategy across the organisation.

Prior to this she was the project director for the award-winning website NZ on Screen.

Brenda has been on the internet scene for many years, and her recent work has brought her into the space where story-telling and interactivity intersect.

Session info: Digital Soapbox – Getting Heard Online with Kerry Warkia, Brenda Leeuwenberg, Julia Parnell and Jessica Hansell

Irene Gardiner began her career as a journalist at Wellington’s Dominion newspaper. In 1984, she became a publicist at the TVNZ publicity department at Avalon. An interest in television production developed from there, and in 1986 she became a trainee producer/director, working in Avalon’s music unit on such shows as READY TO ROLL, RTR NEW RELEASES, HEARTBEAT CITY, TRUE COLOURS and RADIO WITH PICTURES.

In 1989, Gardiner set up an Auckland branch office for the music unit, then in 1990 moved from directing music shows to producing children’s television, with 3.45 LIVE! (1990) and THE BUGS BUNNY SHOW (1991). Short stints at the independent production companies Communicado (programme development and corporate videos) and The Gibson Group (arts series The Edge) followed.

Gardiner returned to TVNZ in 1994 to launch the TV2 late night news programme NEWSNIGHT. This irreverent news show featured the unusual talents of a young Marcus Lush, and became something of a cult favourite.

The following year, 1995, Gardiner took over the running of TVNZ’s internal production unit in Auckland. With the trend towards independent production at that time, the TVNZ production unit consisted of just two programmes  – MAGGIE’S GARDEN SHOW and OPEN HOME. Gardiner produced both shows, and also worked on programme development.

Over time, she built the TVNZ production unit up from just two programmes to around 30 titles a year, including popular series such as TASTE NEW ZEALAND, HOME FRONT, UNITED TRAVEL GETAWAY, JO SEAGAR’S REAL FOOD FOR REAL PEOPLE, MOUNTAIN DEW ON THE EDGE, HAVOC AND NEWSBOY’S SELL-OUT TOUR, and MUCKING IN, as well as many one-off specials and documentaries.

The TVNZ production unit had a particular focus on lifestyle programmes, and one of the lifestyle titles Gardiner herself devised while running the unit was the long-running gardening make-over series MUCKING IN.

After six years running the internal production unit, Gardiner took up the job of TV ONE Commissioning Editor, later moving on to Head of Commissioning across TV ONE and TV 2. Noteworthy commissions during her time include the prestige documentary series CAPTAIN’S LOG, GIVE IT A WHIRL, and FRONTIER OF DREAMS, as well as more populist titles such as PIONEER HOUSE, BORDER PATROL and PIHA RESCUE, and one-off documentaries including 1951, CHILDREN OF GALLIPOLI, and NO MEAN FEAT.

Gardiner left TVNZ in 2003 to work freelance as a television consultant and executive producer. Since then she has worked on the series HOW’S LIFE?, GIVE IT A WHIRL 2, EYE TO EYE WITH WILLIE JACKSON, and Prime’s 50 YEARS OF NEW ZEALAND TELEVISION, as well as many one-off documentaries.

She has also begun a sideline career as a radio and television media commentator. In January 2009, Gardiner took up her role as Content Director of NZ On Screen.

Session info:  Giving Voice to those Unheard: Erebus Operation Overdue with Charlotte Purdy and Peter Burger

Kerry Warkia is an actress, producer and writer with several successful projects under her belt in the web format.

In 2011 Kerry acted in and produced the successful NZ On Air funded web series AUCKLAND DAZE which was then commissioned by TVNZ for a second series on television. She and partner Kiel McNaughton utilised the skills and experience working with the web format to develop, fund and distribute an internet-only Halloween special of the series, END OF DAZE in 2013.

Kerry is also a driving force behind another leading kiwi web series, FLAT3, acting in and producing the second and upcoming third and final season.

Last year Kerry created and produced and created NZ’s first children’s web series NIA’S EXTRA ORDINARY LIFE – a twelve part web series that was NZ On Air funded and aired on YouTube and Maori Television and is available for download on Gumroad. The series has been commissioned for a second season under the joint Te Māngai Paho/ NZ on Air web series fund. Both this, and a reversion of the first season will be made available in both English and Te Reo.

Kerry has several projects in development including more web ventures, television content and a feature film. She is sought after for her expertise in the realm of web content and was awarded Woman to Watch at the 2014 WIFT Awards.

Session info: Digital Soapbox – Getting Heard Online with Kerry Warkia, Brenda Leeuwenberg, Julia Parnell and Jessica Hansell

Dominic Corry has been one of New Zealand’s most vocal and enthusiastic film critics for over ten years.

His reviews, columns and features appear in the NZ Herald, Flicks.co.nz, Herald on Sunday and nzherald.co.nz. He introduces New Zealand films every Friday night on TVNZ Heartland, and talks about movies on TV ONE Breakfast, George FM and Radio Hauraki.

His favourite New Zealand films are THE QUIET EARTH and HOUSEBOUND.

Session info:  Digital Soapbox – Getting Heard Online with Kerry Warkia, Brenda Leeuwenberg, Julia Parnell and Jessica Hansell

Jodie Molloy is a screenwriter with a penchant for comedy. Involved in many successful projects both on the screen and stage, her most well known television work to date is the cult hit THE JAQUIE BROWN DIARIES, inspired in part by her early career as a publicist for the likes of TVNZ, TV3, MTV and EMI Records.

She’s currently a freelance script consultant for major production companies both here and in Australia, and has worked on many of the successful primetime shows that have graced our screens in the last decade. Her personal development slate includes a new half hour comedy with the ABC Australia and TVNZ, and a new feature film with Libertine Pictures amongst other things.

When Jodie’s not writing comedy, she’s passionate about producing, which she does through her company Perendale (www.perendale.tv) which she runs with media satirists Jeremy Wells and Paul Casserly.

She’s also a weekly pundit on Graham Hill’s Radio Live program with her segment MEDIASTICK and is about to embark upon a Masters of Screenwriting at Cambridge University.

Session info:  Writing Comedy with Lee Aronsohn: What Doesn’t Kill Us Makes Us Bitter

Joel Kefali is an award winning music video director, television commercial director and general maker of stuff.

He co-founded the creative studio Special Problems with Campbell Hooper running from 2007 -2012. As one-half of Special Problems Joel has worked with critically esteemed artists the world over, including The Naked and Famous, Wolfmother, Flying Lotus, Alicia Keys, Mint Chicks, Tame Impala and The Presets.

Since parting ways with Special Problems he has directed music videos for Lorde and Katy Perry, picking up a MTV VMA for the Lorde Royals video.

Session info: Platforms and Partnerships with Brent Kennedy, Maria Mahony, and Joel Kefali

John Barnett is Chairman of South Pacific Pictures, NZ’s leading film and TV producer. South Pacific Pictures is dedicated to telling New Zealand stories to New Zealand audiences and to the world.

It would be hard to find any New Zealander who hasn’t watched a South Pacific Pictures’ production – from SHORTLAND STREET to OUTRAGEOUS FORTUNE, GO GIRLS to ALMIGHTY JOHNSONS, from NZ IDOL to the CAPTAIN COOK documentary series, and from SIONE’S WEDDING to WHALE RIDER.

South Pacific Pictures is proud to present audiences with New Zealand stories that resonate with all of us.

Session info:  Te Reo and Tikanga Māori, Whose Voice is it? With Tainui Stephens, Waihoroi Shortland and John Barnett