Mark Albiston

Mark Albiston has won a reputation both for arts programming, and for globe-trotting short films.

In 2000 Albiston set up Sticky Pictures with his wife, lawyer Amelia Bardsley. The independent production company worked across a range of genres including arts-based documentaries, short films, music videos and commercials.

Albiston initiated the project, and worked in a range of roles on three award-winning series of The Living Room (2002 - 2006), which brought new life to the sometimes fusty world of Kiwi arts television. Focused on celebrating creative people, the multi award-winning series delved into their art practices and lifestyles.

Several artists presented the show they featured in from their actual living rooms, taking a swipe at the tradition of the extended armchair interview. Presenters ranged from The Black Seeds to comedians The Naked Samoans, and it featured a notable early appearance from The Flight of the Conchords (at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival).

Follow-up show The Gravy began the first of 52 episodes in 2007. The following year it won the Best Information Lifestyle/Magazine Programme award at the Qantas Film and Television Awards. Each episode tended to feature three stories, with every fourth show showcasing one subject. Conceived as “a show about creative people made by creative people, both in front of the camera and behind”, it featured presenters who were all practising artists.

Albiston met the multi-talented Louis Sutherland growing up on the Kapiti Coast in the 70s. They first worked together at now defunct Kapiti Television in the early 90s, when Sutherland got Albiston a gig after he'd dropped out of Ilam film school in Christchurch and was working in a timber yard. Both credit the experience of shooting daily items on a shoestring budget as formative.

After Albiston had returned from a stint in the UK, they co-wrote 2004 short film Dead End. Invited to festivals in Sydney and Spain, this imaginatively-lensed funeral tale showcased students from New Zealand drama school Toi Whakaari.

In 2007 the two colloborated on short film Run, from a script by Sutherland. The film told of  a Samoan brother and sister struggling with an oppressive father. Selected to compete for the Palme d"Or at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival, Run received a special mention from the jury.

Run was picked as the opening film for the French Cesar short film festival, a selection of the world's best shorts that year. Run has gone on to win awards (including NZ Screen Awards for best short and best screenplay) and play at numerous festivals worldwide. 

At the 2009 Cannes Film Festival, Albiston and co-director Louis Sutherland were awarded a special distinction — this time for their short film The Six Dollar Fifty Man, the story of an eight-year-old boy compelled to emerge from his make believe world, after being bullied. Like Run it drew on their shared Kapiti Coast upbringing (this time focusing on Albiston's rather than Sutherland's childhood experiences).

The film was a breakout hit on the festival circuit; its impressive tally includes winning the award for best international short at Sundance, a special mention in its section at Berlin, scooping three awards at the 2009 Qantas Film and Television Awards — including Best Short — and top prize at the 2010 Flickerfest festival in Australia. The Six Dollar Fifty Man made the ten-strong long-list for the Academy Awards, ultimately missing out on the final five.

Working solo, Albiston also directed The Magical World of Misery — about artist Tanya Thompson (aka Misery), for TV One's Artsville series. The stylish doco won the 2006 Qantas NZ Television Award for arts/festival documentary.

Albiston has also directed two films for the Blood Earth & Fire exhibition at Te Papa, documentary War of the Words (about spelling bees), and masterminded award-winning  coverage of X-Air outdoor events (for Sky, TV3 and C4). His music video output includes promos for Little Bushman's 'Mary' and Shihad song 'All the Young Fascists' (featuring a memorable praying mantis).

Latest projects for Albiston include developing his and Sutherland's debut feature, crime tale Shopping. The duo also direct commercials — under the mantle Mark and Louis — for commercials production company The Sweet Shop.

Sources include
'Interview: Run away success' (Interview with Louis Sutherland and Mark Albiston) - Onfilm, May 2007 (Volume 24, No 5, Page 22)
'Margaritas not Meetings'(Interview Louis Sutherland and Mark Albiston)- take magazine, Winter 2009 (Issue 55, Page 3)