Bill de Friez

Bill de Friez is a documentary filmmaker and screenwriter. With partner Veronica McCarthy, he founded Raconteur, a film and television production company based in Christchurch in 1996. He also teaches film at Canterbury University, School of Fine Arts. 

De Friez has worked in film and television for most of his adult life and has considerable experience in live multi-camera direction. He specialises in mainstream documentary production, and is also interested in short film drama.

In 2004 De Friez directed the award-winning documentary Between the Lines: Denis Glover 1912-1980 about the life and work of New Zealand poet Denis Glover. In 2006-07 he was involved in directing documentaries for Al-Jazeera International's English-language channels. This included two programmes for the Every Woman series Growing up Muslim, the story of a teenage Muslim girl living in a Christian city (Christchurch); and Sister Tui, the life of a Māori nun in a catholic order.

Nuclear Warrior celebrates New Zealand's 40th anniversary of nuclear free status through the experience of Kate Dewes, the woman who took the original United Nations case to the world court to have nuclear weapons declared illegal; and One Smo Bag shot in Vanuatu follows the experiences of a drama troupe that grew out of the Blacksands squatter camp on the outskirts of Port Vila.

De Friez was born on the West Coast of the South Island and lives in Christchurch.