DavidBlyth
- Director
David Blyth cemented his place in the Kiwi filmmaking renaissance with two films that left social realism far behind: 1978 experimental feature Angel Mine, and 1984's Death Warmed Up, New Zealand's first homegrown horror movie. Since then Blyth's work has included family friendly vampire film Moonrise, a number of documentaries on war, and varied works exploring sexuality.
Screenography
Biography
Despite a number of excursions into family friendly fare, filmmaker David Blyth has often been drawn towards the edge: whether exploring horror, sexuality or the unconscious. In 2007 book New Zealand Filmmakers, British academic Stacey Abbott calls him "a key director in the development of Kiwi Gothic cinema". She argues that despite having made everything from period dramas to documentary, Blyth's films are preoccupied with concepts of normality and abnormality — and that he has consistently returned to horror.
Awards
1994 Dreamspeakers Film Festival (Canada, Indigenous Festival)
Alanis Obamsawin Award: for Best Film: Kahu and Maia
1993 Fantasporto - Porto International Film Festival (Portugal, Fantasy Festival)
Nominated for Best International Fantasy Film: for Grampire
“Film has been a vehicle for experimenting with emotions and exploring taboos...my main conflict has been the desire to break new ground, personally and artistically, while acknowledging the financial realities involved in surviving as a filmmaker.”
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