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Patrick Gillies

Writer, Director

Christchurch-based Patrick Gillies hit his stride as a director after training to be a news cameraman and editor. His work has been selected for 40+ film festivals worldwide; comical short films Admit One (1999) and Kitty (2002) were both nominated for awards at the Montréal World Film Festival. Gillies put money from an AMP Scholarship towards "warped action comedy" Offensive Behaviour (2004), his debut feature. He also wrote and directed follow-ups The Holy Roller and My Name is Heather. The latter film explores starting over in Christchurch after the quakes. Gillies works as a film tutor at the Southern Institute of Technology.

I used to think 'hope' was merely a carrot, a means to anaesthetise us from our own inevitable mortality. Now I realise it's also a survival instinct, a powerful source of motivation when surrounded by helplessness. Patrick Gillies on completing movie The Holy Roller amidst the Christchurch quakes, The Sunday Star-Times, 18 September 2011