Michael Bennett
Starring one cow and two elderly guitarists, Michael Bennett's first short film Cow was invited to screen at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival. Since then he has written and/or directed a wide range of projects, from children's television (Kaitangata Twitch) to award-winning shows about Māori architecture (Whare Māori). His feature film work includes ensemble feature Matariki, and the script for Cliff Curtis comedy Jubilee.
Karl Urban
Karl Urban's screen career has included dysfunctional family comedies, epic fantasies and offbeat romances — and that's only the Kiwi projects. Urban was award-nominated for films The Price of Milk and The Irrefutable Truth about Demons, and won for Out of the Blue. In recent years he has appeared in a run of Hollywood projects, including The Bourne Supremacy, Star Trek, and as Judge Dredd in Dredd 3D.
Tim Woodhouse
Tim Woodhouse has cut some of New Zealand’s most celebrated documentaries since crossing from Australia in 1989. Although he won a Best Editing award for drama Staunch, Woodhouse has largely specialised in documentary. En route he has worked with director Leanne Pooley on Haunting Douglas, Topp Twins hit Untouchable Girls, Beyond The Edge (about Hillary on Everest), and animated film 25 April.
Fane Flaws
Renaissance man Fane Flaws has done it all. Since boarding the legendary magic bus of travelling band Blerta in the early 1970s, he has been a musician, graphic designer and artist — not to forget directing a long run of award-winning music videos and commercials, and launching bestselling multimedia project The Underwater Melon Man.
Joanna Paul-Robie
After starting in radio, Joanna Paul-Robie has gone on to stints as an actor, high profile TV3 newsreader, and television executive. From 2002 to 2004 she was General Manager of Programmes and Production at Māori Television.
Riccardo Pellizzeri
Ric Pellizzeri is an award-winning TV director and producer. He has worked extensively both in his native Australia and New Zealand, having partnered with company Screentime on Underbelly NZ and telefilms Siege, How to Murder Your Wife, The Monster of Mangatiti and Rainbow Warrior drama Bombshell. His Aussie credits include hit police drama Blue Heelers and directing the pilot episode of Home and Away.
Don Selwyn
Don Selwyn, ONZM, was an actor, casting director and mentor to a host of talented Māori who went on to work in film and television. Selwyn’s long acting resume includes 1970s historical epic The Governor and police show Mortimer’s Patch. He also directed The Māori Merchant of Venice, the first feature film in te reo Māori.
Rob Harley
Journalist, director and producer Rob Harley has won many awards in a career spanning four decades. He was a high profile investigative reporter on TVNZ’s flagship news and current affairs shows Frontline, Assignment and Sunday from 1990 to 2003, before moving into independent programme making.
Leigh Hart
Since debuting on TV's SportsCafe in 1996 as an Olympic snail trainer, comedian Leigh Hart has donned moustaches, speedos and a variety of serious journalistic expressions. Post SportsCafe, Hart made and presented multiple seasons of Moon TV — two of them nominated for NZ screen awards — plus Leigh Hart's Mysterious Planet. He now co-presents web show Late Night Big Breakfast, with Jason Hoyte.
Rebecca Hobbs
Alongside award-winning front and centre roles in everything from horror movie The Ugly to Shortland Street, lawyer-turned-actor Rebecca Hobbs has tried her hand at directing (short film Tick), writing (children's series P.E.T. Detectives) — and even the cha cha (TV’s Dancing with the Stars).