John O'Shea

John Dempsey O'Shea was a dedicated cinephile and consummate practitioner of film. He championed an independent New Zealand film industry from the beginning of his career until his death, age 81, in 2001.

O'Shea started as an assistant to the Censor in the 1940s and in the early 1950s joined the film company, Pacific Films. There he wrote, directed and produced his first feature, Broken Barrier.

Broken Barrier premiered in 1952 and dealt with issues of racism and cultural difference.  It was the first NZ feature to be made after World War II. Only two other features were made between 1945 and 1970 and both were produced by O'Shea and Pacific Films.

By the 1960's O'Shea's name was synonymous with that of Pacific Films. The company produced: newsreels, training films, sponsored documentaries, road safety films, television commercials and sports events; including every All Black test between 1956 and 1962.

With O'Shea as mentor, raconteur and research historian, Pacific Films became a fertile training ground for young filmmakers, "a sort of alfresco film school" (John O'Shea, 1992). Many of the permanent staff -  Gaylene Preston, Michael Seresin and Barry Barclay, went on to become renowned NZ filmmakers.

In 1974 John O'Shea and Pacific Films produced the six-part television documentary series, Tangata Whenua (The People of the Land). The landmark series, written and presented by historian Michael King and directed by Barry Barclay, was hugely significant in terms of sophisticated representation of Māori culture on NZ television.

In 1987 O'Shea produced Ngati, the first feature to be written and directed by a Māori filmmaker, Barry Barclay. The film received national and international critical acclaim.

O'Shea continued to play a part in the evolution of NZ film and television.  He was a founding member of the New Zealand Film Archive, the Wellington Film society and the New Zealand Film Commission.

In 1990 John O'Shea received an OBE for his services to film and in 1992 he received the first Lifetime Achievement Award presented by the NZ Film Commission.