David Lowery is a filmmaker from Texas, USA. His films include PIONEER, ST. NICK, PETE’S DRAGON and A GHOST STORY. His most recent picture, THE OLD MAN & THE GUN, starring Robert Redford, premiered at Telluride Film Festival 31 August 2018.

Lowery is known for directing, writing and editing feature films that explore the different essences of humanity. He has worked on both big budget and micro-budget productions saying his goal is to keep working regardless of the scale of the movie or how big its intended audience might be.

He had his breakthrough with his first feature film, ST. NICK (2009), which follows two runaway children abandoned by their guardians. The film screened at the South by Southwest festival. In 2011 Lowery started his own production company, Sailor Bear. That same year, he wrote and directed the short film entitled PIONEER, which played at the Sundance Film Festival that year.

Lowery wrote, directed and edited his second feature film, AIN’T THEM BODIES SAINTS, starring Casey Affleck and Rooney Mara. The film was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival and was selected to compete at the International Critics’ Week section of the 2013 Cannes Film Festival.

In 2016 Lowery reinvented PETE’S DRAGON for Disney. This live-action movie was shot and animated in New Zealand and went on to be a critical and box office success.

Lowery’s new feature, THE OLD MAN & THE GUN utilises a grainy 16mm aesthetic and a period-appropriate soundtrack, Indiwire says “Lowery time-travels to a long-dormant aesthetic so well that the movie may as well be a relic of the era it salutes.”

Born in 1964, Anna Serner is the CEO of the Swedish Film Institute. She took up the post on October 1st 2011.

Her previous position was as Managing Director of the Swedish Media Publishers’ Association (Tidningsutgivarna), where she was active in public debate on freedom of speech and the media’s role in society.

For two years prior to this she ran her own marketing communications consultancy business, and was also CEO of the Advertising Association of Sweden (Reklamförbundet) from 1998-2006.

With a degree in law, Anna has a wide experience of board level appointments, including Berghs School of Communication, Folkoperan, United Minds, Fanzingo and the magazine Dagens Samhälle. She has also served as an expert on various Swedish government commissions, including one on copyright. In addition, she undertook a two-year course in practical filmmaking at the Stockholm School of Film as well as film studies at Stockholm University.

Over the past 20 years Anna has also given lectures and spoken widely on law, advertising, creativity, management and gender equality.

Biography & background:
Anna Serner is the CEO of the Swedish Film Institute, a position she has held since October 2011. Her previous position was as Managing Director of the Swedish Media Publishers’ Association (Tidningsutgivarna), where she was active in public debate on freedom of speech and the media’s role in society, and as CEO of the Advertising Association of Sweden (Reklamförbundet) from 1998-2006. With a degree in law, Anna has a wide experience of board level appointments, and has served as an expert on various Swedish government commissions, including one on copyright (2010). In addition, she undertook a two-year course in practical filmmaking at the Stockholm School of Film as well as film studies at Stockholm University.

The gender equality work carried out by the Swedish Film Institute has received considerable international attention and inspired similar organizations, such as the film institutes in Austria and Ireland, Telefilm Canada and the co-financing fund Eurimages, as well as generating significant press coverage, for example in:

The New York Times: How Swedish Cinema Gave Women Directors a Bigger Role
Buzzfeed: How This Woman Changed Inequality In Swedish Films
The Sydney Morning Herald: The Woman Who Changed A Film Industry

Photo Credit: Marie-Therese Karlberg

Warwick Thornton is an internationally-recognised director, screenwriter and cinematographer. Born and raised in remote Alice Springs Australia, Warwick perfected his trade at Australia’s prestigious film school AFTRS.

Warwick quickly established a strong presence in the industry shooting, directing and writing a series of short films, focusing on contemporary Indigenous Australian stories. Both NANA and GREENBUSH were premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival – NANA winning the Crystal Bear for Best Short Film – establishing Warwick as an important voice in Australian cinema.

Following the success of these films Warwick began work on his first feature SAMSON AND DELILAH- a confronting look at the relationship between two young Aboriginal teenagers in Alice Springs. The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 2009, winning the Caméra d’Or. SAMSON AND DELILAH collected many other awards including best film at the Asia-Pacific Screen Awards, the AFI awards, and the Film Critics Circle awards.

Next, Warwick completed his next feature THE DARKSIDE, a film which presents well know Australian actors retelling Indigenous ghost stories. This became Warwick’s third film invited to premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival. Following this he directed and shot the opening segment of Tim Winton’s THE TURNING, and the opening segment of Guillermo Arriaga’s WORDS WITH GODS– which was invited to premiere at Venice 2014.

In 2016 Warwick Thornton directed Sweet Country which won the Special Jury Prize at the 2017 Venice Film Festival and the Platform Prize at the 2017 Toronto Film Festival as well as many other awards internationally and in Australia.

Although Warwick has solidified a name for himself as director and screenwriter he is also widely regarded for his work as a cinematographer.  His work as DOP on the 2012 hit musical THE SAPPHIRES once again highlighted Warwick’s ability to present diverse and exciting Indigenous stories. He went on to shoot with the same director Wayne Blair on their next collaboration SEPTEMBERS OF SHIRAZ– starring Adrian Brody and Salma Hayek.

See Warwick in the following sessions:

FILMMAKING WITH WARWICK THORNTON – Saturday 27th Oct 3:20PM

Born in Nairobi, Wanuri is part of the new generation of African storytellers. Her stories and films have received international acclaim and screened in numerous film festivals around the world. To date, Wanuri has written and directed six films. RAFIKI, her second feature film, premiered this year in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard section and screened at the New Zealand International Film Festival.

She is the co-founder of AFROBUBBLEGUM, a media company that supports, creates and commissions fun, fierce and frivolous African art. 

 In 2008, Wanuri completed her first feature film FROM A WHISPER based on the real life events surrounding the twin bombings of US Embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam in 1998. The film won awards at the Africa Movie Academy Awards including Best Director and Best Picture, the Golden Dhow award at Zanzibar International Film Festival and Best Film at Kalasha, Kenya Film and TV awards. Shortly after she completed a documentary about the life of Nobel peace Prize laureate Wangari Maathai entitled FOR OUR LAND (2009) for M-Net ‘Great Africans’ Series. 

Her short Science Fiction Film PUMZI (2009) that was partially funded by Focus Features, Goethe Institut and Changa Moto Fund in Kenya, screened at Sundance in 2010.PUMZI won Best Short at Cannes Independent Film Festival, May 2010 and took Silver at Carthage Film Festival in 2010. 

 Wanuri was named a TED Fellow in 2017 and World Economic Forum cultural leader in 2018. Wanuri published her first children’s book, The Wooden Camel, she is currently in post production on a feature length documentary “GER” (To Be Separate) and in pre-production on RUSTIES a near future science fiction film set in Nairobi. 

Wanuri is in New Zealand for Big Screen Symposium and #directedbywomen#aotearoa

AWARDS 

• Citta Di Venezia Award/ Venice International Film Festival/ 2010
  PUMZI – South Africa, Kenya, 21 min/ 2010
• Best Short Film – ARIFF Film Festival/ Port Harcourt/ Nigeria 2010 Silver Prize/
• Best Short – Carthage Film Festival/ Tunisia/ 2010
• Best Short – Cannes Independent Film Festival/ France/ 2010
• Special Jury Prize – Zanzibar International Film Festival/ 2010
  FROM A WHISPER – Kenya, 79 min/ 2008
  
• Best Actor – Tarifa Film Festival/ Spain/ 2010
  
• Best Picture – Pan African Film Festival Los Angeles/ USA/ 2010
• Best Feature – ION International Film Festival/ Nigeria/ 2009 Best E. Africa Film – Zanzibar Film Festival/ 2009
  
• Best Picture/ Best Director/ Best Soundtrack/ Best Screenplay/ Best Editing – Africa Movie Academy Awards/ Nigeria/2009 

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/sep/14/refiki-director-banned-kenyan-film-about-lesbian-romance-sues-government

Emmy award winning director Lynette Wallworth is an Australian filmmaker/artist who has consistently worked with emerging media technologies.

The involvement of the viewer inside the work becomes a metaphor for our connectedness within biological, social and ecological systems.  Wallworth’s works include the interactive video EVOLUTION OF FEARLESSNESS; the award winning full dome feature  CORAL (with its accompanying augmented reality work); the AACTA award winning documentary  TENDER. Her Emmy award winning virtual reality narrative COLLISIONS premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and the 2016 World Economic Forum. Her most recent work, AWAVENA premiered at Sundance Film Festival and was presented in competition at the Venice Film Festival. 

Wallworth has been awarded a UNESCO City of Film Award,  the Byron Kennedy Award for Innovation and Excellence, and in 2016 she was named by Foreign Policy magazine as one of the year’s 100 Leading Global Thinkers. 

Wallworths’ most recent works have been developed at the invitation of indigenous communities with an interest in new technologies to highlight environmental issues. Wallworth is a frequent advisor to Sundance Institute Labs and is a newly invited member of the World Economic Forums’ Global Future Council on Virtual and Augmented Reality.

Jo Porter is Fremantle’s Director of Drama who established and has led its drama team in Australia since 2012. Porter, a multi-award-winning producer, is currently developing a range of returning and stand-alone drama series for local and international audiences. As WENTWORTH Executive Producer, this popular and critical hit now in its seventh season, set new records when it premiered in 2013 and has been sold to over 140 territories and been remade in four languages. Its awards include a Logie Award for Most Outstanding Drama and Most Popular Drama, and an AACTA for Best Drama. For Network Ten, Porter created and executive produced WONDERLAND and was also Executive Producer on MARY: MAKING OF A PRINCESS, along with the HOGES mini-series and forthcoming Olivia Newton John bio mini for the Seven Network. Under her remit is production on Australia’s longest running daily drama, NEIGHBOURS. Porter’s most recent project, PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK has already attracted world-wide attention with sales to premium broadcasters including Amazon and the BBC and a prestigious selection to open this year’s Berlinale Film Festival and to feature at the Tribeca Film Festival.

Prior to joining FremantleMedia Porter was a creator and Series Producer on the Seven Network’s ratings and popular hits PACKED TO THE RAFTERS, ALWAYS GREENER and ALL SAINTS. Porter’s television work has garnered 35 industry awards and 82 nominations to date.

Not everyone can turn online buzz into real-world results, and vice versa. Anna Dean can. By knowing how to make the right noise with the right people, she’s in the business of making corporate cool.

Reason for being? Anna cut her teeth in the art world – helping friends’ projects get the attention they deserved. A Golden Bay girl at heart, she also has a deep connection to the land and is never afraid to plunge into the sea. Social issues, like the gender pay gap, also get Anna fired up.

Claim to fame? TV3’s David Farrier described Anna as a “marketing genius” after she changed Wellington to “Vellington” for the launch of WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS.

Anna was the recipient of a professional development grant from NZFC to attend the final PixelLab in Scotland in 2016 for transmedia storytellers.

Antony Elworthy is a stop-motion animator, animation director and illustrator. He lives in Christchurch with his wife and four boys, but his career has taken the family to Europe and America for extended periods, where he has worked among the very best in the field. His feature film credits include KUBO AND THE TWO STRINGS, CORALINE, TIM BURTON’S CORPSE BRIDE, and FRANKENWEENIE. Each of these films was nominated for an Academy Award in the ‘Best Animated Feature’ category. His most recent role was Lead Animator on Wes Anderson’s ISLE OF DOGS.

Antony is currently directing the animation on KIRI AND LOU, a gently humorous pre-school series voiced by Jemaine Clement (FLIGHT OF THE CONCHORDS) and Olivia Tennet (LORD OF THE RINGS: TWO TOWERS), written and directed by Harry Sinclair and produced by Fiona Copland.

Rachel Larsen is an animator with vast experience in feature film stop-motion animation having worked on many feature films including CORALINE, PARANORMAN, ISLE OF DOGS. She was the Lead Animator on ANOMALISA. Rachel also has unparalleled credentials in animation for children’s television: she was the Animation Director for Amazon’s TUMBLE LEAF, and in that role she set the style for the multi-award winning show.

Rachel is currently working on the animation for KIRI AND LOU, a gently humorous pre-school series voiced by Jemaine Clement (FLIGHT OF THE CONCHORDS) and Olivia Tennet (LORD OF THE RINGS: TWO TOWERS), written and directed by Harry Sinclair and produced by Fiona Copland.

Briar Grace-Smith is of Ngā Puhi descent, and is a writer of short fiction, stage plays and feature films. Her plays include Ngā Pou Wāhine, Purapurawhetū and When Sun and Moon Collide. She is an inaugural Arts Foundation Laureate and this year received an ONZM for services to film, television and theatre . She has also worked as a Development Executive for the New Zealand Film commission, taught ‘Writing for Theatre’ at IIML (2015) and continues to work as a story mentor in New Zealand and overseas. Briar is a Sundance alumni and the writer of the feature films THE STRENGTH OF WATER and the horror comedy FRESH MEAT. Her television credits include FISHSKIN SUIT, BEING EVE, KAITANGATA TWITCH and the Australian childrens television series, GRACE BESIDE ME (2017). She was a director and co-writer of the short film, NINE OF HEARTS, and wrote and directed CHARM for the collaborative feature project WARU (2017), which brings together the work of eight Māori women directors. She recently worked with Toi Whakaari’s acting and design students, directing KRYSTAL, a short film by Josephine Stewart-Te Whiu.

Brita McVeigh’s working methodology has contributed to the development and production of more than 150 feature film, short film, television and theatre projects in New Zealand and Australia. She occupies a unique place in the storytelling industry, working in the space between Story Consultant, Acting Coach and Directing Coach.

Brita began her consulting career collaborating closely with Taika Waititi (THOR) on his films EAGLE VS SHARK and BOY. Most recently Brita worked alongside Cate Shortland (BLACK WIDOW), on the development of her 8-part episodic project, THE MANARO.

Brita has adapted the essence of her working methodology into an ongoing workshop series. Focusing on empathy, embodied listening and authentic expression, Acting for Humans has been attended by more than 800 creative professionals, in New Zealand and Australia.

Jackie is a New Zealand actor/writer/director working in the television and film industries. She has made seven award-winning short films produced in New Zealand, Australia and the UK that have played at numerous festivals including Berlin, London, Palm Springs and MIFF. Jackie won SPADA New Filmmaker of the Year in 2013 and was awarded first prize by WIFT INTERNATIONAL for her short film UPHILL in 2015.  As an actor she is best known for her role as the desperate familiar in Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement’s vampire documentary, WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS, inept television producer, Pauline, in TV3s FUNNY GIRLS and the straight-talking Gloria in Australia’s Channel 7 show 800 WORDS.

Her first feature film, THE INLAND ROAD premiered in competition at the 2017 Berlin Film Festival. Her second feature film THE BREAKER-UPPERERS (made with co-writer/director/actor Madeleine Sami) premiered to rave reviews at SXSW, opened the Sydney Film Festival and has just completed its Australasian cinema release. The film will premiere on US Netflix early next year.

Jackie is currently in production with EDUCATORS, an improvised comedy she co-created with Jesse Griffin and Jonny Brugh. The short form comedy is being produced by SPP for TVNZ on Demand. Jackie is also a director on WELLINGTON PARANORMAL a WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS television spin-off.

See Jackie in the following sessions:

NEW ZEALAND COMEDY PANEL – Saturday 27th Oct  11:55AM

Madeleine Sami has created, co-written and starred in two seasons of critically acclaimed New Zealand comedy SUPER CITY. SUPER CITY was piloted by US network ABC, which Madeleine also starred in. Madeleine directed the second season of the hit sketch comedy show FUNNY GIRLS(named the top NZ TV show of 2016 by The Spinoff). As an actor, Madeleine has starred in SIONE’S WEDDING and SIONE’S WEDDING TWO, Taika Waititi’s EAGLE VS SHARK and WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS, and most recently in the western SLOW WEST. Her extensive TV acting credits include OUTRAGEOUS FORTUNE, THE JACQUIE BROWN DIARIES and Jane Campion’s TOP OF THE LAKE.

In 2017 she co-wrote, co-directed and starred in THE BREAKER-UPPERERS (made with co-writer/director/actor Madeleine Sami) premiered to rave reviews at SXSW, opened the Sydney Film Festival and has just completed its Australasian cinema release. The film will premiere on US Netflix early next year.

Image used with permission from Miss Piki Ltd

See Madeleine in the following sessions:

NEW ZEALAND COMEDY PANEL – Saturday 27th Oct  11:55AM

Paul Yates is an award-winning TV comedy writer and actor who has worked in the industry for nearly three decades, and in recent years has branched out into directing and producing. Paul is currently nominated for Best Director in the 2018 NZ Web Fest for the Teen Comedy Series LUCY LEWIS CAN’T LOSE, is soon to appear as an actor in the TVNZ comedy drama FRESH EGGS, and produced TVNZ’s WELLINGTON PARANORMAL, which proved New Zealand can make a popular scripted comedy in prime time that also sells overseas. As a former stand-up comedian, Paul was one of the founding parents of the Classic Comedy Bar in Auckland. While he has always been committed to comedy, he’s willing to give any format a go having written for children’s TV, drama and scripted factual TV shows. Paul is living proof that you have to be willing to try anything to have a career in New Zealand television. 

Melanie Bracewell is generally regarded as one of the fastest rising stars in NZ comedy, having just won the prestigious Billy T Award at this years’ NZ International Comedy Festival. With multiple appearances on 7 DAYS and THE PROJECT under her belt, she is quickly becoming a household name. When she’s not on stage, Melanie writes full time forTHE PROJECT, and wrote for the very popular television show, WELLINGTON PARANORMAL.

Born in Sydney in 1982, Dustin Feneley is a graduate of the Victorian College of the Arts Film School. His short films as writer and director (NIGHT, SNOW, HAWKER and ESKIMO KISS) have won numerous awards and screened at over one hundred film festivals, including official selections at Cannes, London, Sydney and Melbourne. In 2006, his short film SNOW premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in the Cinéfondation selection. In the same year, SNOW was exhibited at the Pompidou Centre in Paris.

In 2007, Dustin was the recipient of the Qantas Spirit of Youth Award for Moving Image, the leading awards in Australasia for emerging creative talent. In 2011, he was awarded the Filmmaker Grand Prix at the Sapporo International Short Film Festival in Japan for his body of work in short films.

Dustin is an alumni of Melbourne International Film Festival’s Accelerator programme and Script to Screen’s FilmUp programme. He has been a selector and mentor for Script to Screen’s Short Film Lab and has taught undergraduate courses in filmmaking. His debut feature project STRAY was selected for the Directors Lab of the Binger Filmlab in Amsterdam in 2012 and for CineMart at Rotterdam in 2013. Set in the Southern Alps of New Zealand, STRAY had its World Premiere in Main Competition at the 2018 Moscow International Film Festival, where it won the Silver Saint George Award for Best Actor.

STRAY is currently screening in New Zealand cinemas and at numerous international film festivals. Dustin lives in Auckland and is a dual citizen of Australia and New Zealand.

From a Geordie Father, Samoan Mother and Cook Islands step-Mother, Marina is powerfully aware of her cultural heritage, how this affects the way we are viewed and how we view others. She holds an MA in Screen Production (First Class Honours) and is an award- winning filmmaker and teaching fellow at Pacific Studies, University of Auckland. Her academic areas of expertise are Pacific Studies, Pacific Filmmaking, Pacific representation on screen and representations of the Pacific woman.

“One of the most enduring images used to promote Oceania is that of the “Dusky Maiden”. Yet our histories reveal a different reality to this construction. Vai presents an opportunity to visually explore a different Oceanic woman; a much-needed representation that counters the historical and current imagined construction.”

-Marina Alofagia McCartney

Mīria is a poet, and writer, director, producer of theatre. An award-winning playwright, Mīria’s work has toured New Zealand, Australia, Hawai’i, Canada and the United Kingdom. Her plays include And What Remains, Sunset Road, The Vultures and The Night Mechanics. Mīria recently directed the premiere season of Bless The Child by Hone Kouka for the New Zealand Festival & Auckland Arts Festival. In 2017, Mīria was the Fulbright-Creative New Zealand Pacific writer in residence at University of Hawai’i and won the Bruce Mason Playwriting Award. Mīria holds a Masters in Creative Writing from the International Institute of Modern Letters. She is also a published poet, The Wet Season is Mīria’s debut collection of poetry. VAI is Mīria’s film directorial debut.

“Vai is a platform that propels the diverse perspectives of va’ine Pasifika across Te Moana- nui-a-kiva and throughout the world. The kaupapa calls together Indigenous women – artists who are challenged to build creatively together, to present a vision of their whenua.”

-Mīria George

Amberley Jo Aumua is of Samoan and Māori descent from Manurewa, New Zealand. She is a writer/director who holds a Bachelor of Performing and Screen Arts. Her first short film WAITING (2017) won the Jury Prize for Best Film at the New Zealand International Film Festival, Best Student Film at the Show Me Shorts International Film Festival and was in competition at the Toronto International Film Festival. It has currently screened in over 20 film festivals, most recently at the BFI London Film Festival. Her recent short film MOA MA LE PINKO (Chicken & Bingo) made with two other indigenous key creatives, was created as part of the Native Slam film challenge at Māoriland Film Festival where it won the Audience Award and was selected to screen at ImagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival.

She is currently researching and writing her feature film and working on other projects.

“I hope Vai will achieve an insight and understanding into the beautiful, yet conflicting world of Pasifika women.” Amberley Jo Aumua

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 was the Executive Producer of Jackie Van Beek’s debut feature THE INLAND ROAD and 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 production company Field Theory.

Alice Snedden is a member of the hit weekly show, SNORT, on at the Basement Theatre and a 2017 Billy T Nominee, who has quickly established herself as a leading stand up in the New Zealand comedy scene. She is head writer of multi series TV3 shows, JONO AND BEN and FUNNY GIRLS, as well as regularly appearing on 7DAYS and hosting  TVNZ OnDemand series, ALICE SNEDDEN’S BAD NEWS.