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JohnBates

  • Director
  • Producer
John_Bates_Key_Profile.jpg

John Bates is an award-winning documentary director whose natural modesty belies his talent. His documentaries range across iconic New Zealand themes and events, including the 1951 waterfront dispute, the 1975 Māori Land March, the arts — and the history of local television itself. 

 

Screenography

Hikoi - The Land March
2016 Director Television
Inconceivable
2016 Editor, Story Editor Series
Murupara Dreaming
2015 Director Television
Keeping it Pure
2014 Director, Producer Series

Biography

John Bates was born in Saltcoats, a town in Scotland where Glaswegians used to take many seaside holidays. Travel is a continuing theme for Bates: his father's job in an oil company resulted in a number of relocations. John spent time near Manchester, in London and in the Turkish capital of Ankara. At boarding school, a rugby injury saw him excused from sport, and he began twice-weekly trips of another kind: to the local cinema.

Awards

2011 Aotearoa Film and Television Awards
Nominated for Best Director - Documentary: for 50 Years of Television

2008 Qantas Film and Television Awards
Nominated for Best Director (with Rupert McKenzie): for Beyond The Darklands

“Documentaries that search for (and stay loyal to) the truth are essential in a world that gives credence to 'alternative facts'.”

— John Bates