Chris Graham

The son of a diplomat and a social worker, director Chris Graham was born in Wellington and raised in Wellington, Bangkok, and Canada's capital, Ottawa. He has gone on to direct everything from hit comedies to documentaries — plus a run of music videos that have ranged in cost from $150 to more than $50,000.

Passionate about graffiti art and photography, Graham developed his skills at Wellington's Onslow College, drawing inspiration from influential 1983 documentary Style Wars, about New York graffiti bombers. He says his love of graffiti art gave him "a very early sense of graphic design and balance and composition and perspective and all those basics of the visual arts. I would do it in the middle of the night and sometimes I would get chased by security or police.."

Graham had dreamed of being a filmmaker since seeing Star Wars at age seven. At 18, he was accepted into a filmmaking course at New York's School of Visual Arts. He made documentaries about New York graffiti artists — his foreign accent helped him get accepted. New York took him on some wild rides, including being robbed, and held at gunpoint by four undercover police who "leapt out of a taxi" one night while he was filming a chase scene.

Four years later he graduated with honours in film directing in 1993. His half-hour thesis film Life Before Me was judged best film (and Graham best director) from 100+ works submitted by the school's thesis students. It also won a Best Film Student Jury Prize at the 1994 Tel Aviv Student Festival.

HBO came knocking, and film festivals were calling. "Then the wind changed and another student won some other awards, and I found myself working as a runner." In 1990 he landed a gig directing a video showcasing American hip-hip artist Frankie Cutlass. You & You & You (aka Clap Your Hands) cost US $15,000; the video proved a useful "leverage tool" when Graham returned home a few years later, and began introducing himself to "all the artists I wanted to work with".

Graham joined company Flying Fish, where he began making both music videos and adverts. Sometimes they fed into each other — this rural-themed King Kapisi video got him a job on a Wrightson ad.

Graham became one of the country's most awarded music video directors, including 11 awards over a six year span. Among them are awards for a trio of songs that topped the Kiwi charts: Smashproof's 'Brother', Dei Hamo's 'We Gon' Ride' and the high energy clip for Scribe's 'Stand Up' (2003), the track that arguably dragged Kiwi hip-hop into the mainstream. Graham can be seen working on the Brother video in this making of film.

For Graham, the mid-2000s was a magical "golden age" for Aotearoa hip-hop — one that "was supportive and competitive at the same time". Later he would chronicle the country's hip hop history when he directed multiple episodes of Radio New Zealand documentary series NZ Hip Hop Stand Up.

In 2009 Graham headed to Malibu to make the video for Wild Out — a collaboration by hip hop artists Savage, Angel Dust and Baby Bash — before shooting I Love the Islands with Savage across Samoa. It hasn't all been hip hop; Graham has also done clips for Bic Runga (Something Good), Rhombus (Goodbye Pork Pie tribute Clav Dub) and Fur Patrol (Now). 

En route, Graham has worked with many Māori and Pasifika creatives, including directing award-winning videos for Tha Feelstyle (the Samoan-shot Su'Amalie), band Trinity Roots (Little Things), plus Scribe's second big hit, 'Not Many (Remix)'. In 2022, after falling out of contact with the rapper for a long period, Graham made documentary series Scribe: Return of the Crusader. It won him an NZ TV Award for directing. Graham calls it "a story of inspiration and just getting past trauma and following your dreams".

Part of his motivation in directing Sione's Wedding (2006), his first feature, was that it starred The Naked Samoans, a group of Pasifika comedians. "As a cinemagoer, I was dying to see a New Zealand comedy and leave the theatre with a bounce in my step, in a good mood, feeling optimistic about life."

After an impressive opening weekend, Sione's Wedding went on to become New Zealand's fourth highest grossing local release to date. NZ Herald critic Peter Calder praised it for being "so infectiously energetic, so drenched in joy and so bloody funny that to give it less than a top rating would be churlish. It is, whatever its shortcomings, impossible to imagine it being done better." The film was nominated for 10 NZ Screen Awards, including Best Film and Best Director.

Graham followed it with horror feature The Ferryman, in which a group of tourists sailing the South Pacific encounter a mysterious man with a secret (played by Welsh actor John Rhys-Davies, from The Lord of the Rings). The cast also includes An Angel at My Table discovery Kerry Fox and Julian Arahanga.

Since then, Graham has concentrated mostly on commercials and work for the small screen. In 2010 he directed a matariki special for Māori Television. Tamariki Ora - The Sounds of Hope showcased acoustic performances as part of a campaign to halt child abuse. Later Graham co-directed this documentary chronicling Māori Television's first decade. In the same period he directed the dance scenes for hit movie Born to Dance. He also directed items for award-winning arts series The Living Room.

Graham had an especially big year in 2022: aside from his TV series about Scribe, he completed Kia Ora, Good Evening, which chronicles newsreader Mike McRoberts' journey to learn te reo Māori. Graham was also nominated for his work on music-infused drama The Panthers. The show dramatises the birth of the Polynesian Panthers Party, which in the 1970s began advocating for Pasifika people. 

Graham has written and directed short films Bus Stop (2002) and Water (2004). Bus Stop follows a group of bus passengers thinking upon their lives. Black comedy Water competed at the Sundance Film Festival, and was invited to a dozen more. The tale of a home getting overcome by rising waters is about how people can procrastinate "with our lives, relationships and problems". Graham also made a 42 second short film about narcolepsy for Vodka brand 42 Below; it screened as part of anthology film 42 One Dream Rush.

Profile updated on 26 September 2025

Sources include
Chris Graham 
Chris Graham website. Accessed 26 September 2025
GoodLife Films website (broken link). Accessed 18 June 2018
Russell Baillie 'Chris Graham Keeps it Reel' (Interview) - The NZ Herald, 2004 
Peter Calder, 'Sione's Wedding' (Review) - The NZ Herald, 24 March 2006
Steve King 'Video Star' (Interview) - Pavement 62, Summer 2003, page 68
Emma Philpott, 'Motivating the Video Makers' (Interview) - NZ Musician, April 2003, page 2 (volume 10, no 8)
Chris Schulz, 'Behind the scenes on Scribe's new documentary' (Interview) The Spinoff website. Loaded 27 November 2021. Accessed 26 August 2025
Gareth Shute, 'Scribe' AudioCulture website. Loaded 20 February 2014. Accessed 29 November 2022
Water press kit