Chris Dudman is a highly accomplished and respected writer and director. He has gone on to work extensively in film, television and advertising, collected armfuls of awards and accolades along the way, including Qantas Film and Television Awards, a British Television Society award and numerous short film festival awards. He currently has two feature film projects in development and also wrote and directed major TV drama series HARRY (Oscar Kightley, Sam Neill) in 2012. The series aired on TV3 in 2013.
Chris Dudman’s Royal College of Art (London) film BLACKWATER SUMMER was nominated for an Oscar and went on to win Best European Short Film at Cork, Best Film at the Munich International Student Film Festival, the Young Jury Prize at the Clermont-Ferrand Film Festival, and Best Director and the Public Prize at Tours.
During the 1990’s, based in London, Chris wrote and directed WINGS OF WOOD and SANDMAN, two arts documentaries for Thames Television; the latter nominated for a British Television Society Award. He also directed the documentary LIDO, which became the most popular documentary in the BBC 10×10 series.
Chris also researched and outlined INTIMATE STRANGERS, an original six-hour thriller series about a forensic pathologist, commissioned by BBC Scotland, and co- wrote the pilot episode entitled, THE CONFESSOR
In 1995 Chris returned to New Zealand where he wrote and researched the final two episodes of NEW ZEALAND AT WAR and wrote the feature screenplay THE DOLPHIN OF DINGLE BAY.
In 1998 Chris directed two INSIDE NEW ZEALAND documentaries, ZOO and PROTECTING THE BORDER, for TV3.
Since then Chris has directed numerous award-winning television commercials around the world and now co-owns Robber’s Dog Films, a New Zealand leading commercials production company.
Chris’ love of drama is a strong as ever. The New Zealand Film Commission short film he directed, THE GRAFFITI OF MR TUPAIA, starring Rawiri Paratene, won best screenplay, best actor and best film at the Qantas film and TV awards in 2008, and Best Film against Violence at the Berlin Film Festival in 2010.
Chris’ CHOICE NIGHT, another NZFC funded short film, was selected for last year’s BFI London Film Festival, Valladolid’s SEMINICI, Melbourne’s International Film Festival and Switzerland’s Cinema dus Ecrans Festival. The short was also at Cannes’ Short Film Corner in 2010. in 2013, the short screened at the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival in France and at the Palm Springs International Short Film Festival.
In 2012 Chris developed and wrote TV series HARRY (Oscar Kightley, Sam Neill) with Auckland production company Desert Road. The series debuted on TV3 in 2013.
Chris currently has a feature film in development with the NZFC, WE WILL NOT CEASE, Archibald Baxter’s extraordinary pacifist struggle against the military machine of World War One who were determined to break his will and make him fight.
Case Study: We Need to Talk About Harry
