KathleenMantel
- Director
Kathleen Mantel began directing TV documentaries in the late 1990s. She went on to win awards in the United States for Kiwi-made docos on problem gambling (It's Not a Game) and the Exclusive Brethren. In 2012 The Green Chain won the NZ TV Award for Best Popular Documentary. She went on to direct award-winning series Chatham Islanders: Tchakat Tchatam Airani.
Screenography
Biography
Kathleen Mantel has made her name with a series of documentaries, often touching on social issues (including problem gambling, parenting and smoking). Mantel has a strong belief that documentaries matter. "They give us an opportunity to see through other eyes into different worlds," she says. "Documentaries open up new ways of seeing. They bring people together."
Awards
2025 New Zealand Screen Awards/Ngā Taonga Whakaata O Aotearoa
Best Director - Documentary/Factual Series: for Motuhaketanga
Best Documentary - Series: for Motuhaketanga
2022 New Zealand Television Awards
Best Factual Series: Chatham Islanders: Tchakat Tchatam Airani
Nominated for Best Director - Documentary/Factual: for Chatham Islanders: Tchakat Tchatam Airani
“It's an honour to go into a person's house for an interview as a stranger, and leave with an intimate knowledge of someone, of something, or of an idea you didn't have before.”