Jess Feast
Jess Feast is a documentary maker whose work covers everything from Berlin and ballet to the Flight of the Conchords. Cowboys & Communists examined cultural conflicts in post-cold war Berlin via a US-themed bar and residents of the tower block it’s housed in. 2013 breakout hit Gardening with Soul follows a year in the life of a vivacious nonagenarian nun and won the Best Documentary Moa (NZ Film) award.
Kirsty Cameron
Kirsty Cameron started in short film and art installation, before costume designing the first of around 20 feature films — including the acclaimed Whale Rider, Slow West, and No. 2. Her list of awards also includes The Orator and TV movie Jean, about aviator Jean Batten. Cameron's third short as writer/ director, teen fable The Lethal Innocents, was invited to festivals in Sweden, Germany and the USA.
Waka Attewell
Cinematographer Waka Attewell has been shooting images of New Zealand for over 30 years. He began his career at John O' Shea's Pacific Films and later established his own production company Valhalla Films, where he has filmed and directed a run of commercials, films and documentaries.
Julie Christie
Julie Christie, DNZM, is one of New Zealand's most successful television producers. She built her company, Touchdown Productions, into the country's leading producer of entertainment television and exporter of programme formats. In 2006 she sold Touchdown to global company Eyeworks in a multi-million dollar deal; she stayed on as managing director until 2012.
Sylvia Rands
Actor and vocal teacher Sylvia Rands’ first big television role was playing Polly Hanlon, wife to the legendary barrister in Hanlon. Nominated again for movie Bonjour Timothy, Rands has gone on to act in Go Girls, Homeward Bound and cult comedy The Neighbourhood Network, inbetween a busy stage career.
Chris Harrington
Chris Harrington began in local television in 1976, reporting and producing current affairs and news. Highlights of his career include award-winning Sunday stories about allegations of police pack rape by Louise Nicholas, and another on treatment of Porirua Hospital inmates. In 1989 he was awarded a QSM for services to journalism. In 2007 Harrington moved into private production and public relations.
Jack Body
Jack Body, OMNZ, composed for everything from gamelan orchestras to the Kronos Quartet, and was a leading figure in awakening local interest in Asian and Pacific music. His soundtrack work ranged across children’s tales, te reo dramas and nature films. His collaborations with director Vincent Ward include classic film Vigil, and (with John Gibson), 2008’s Rain of the Children. Body passed away on 10 May 2015.
Vincent Ward
Vincent Ward has won an international reputation as an original and visionary filmmaker. Vigil and The Navigator played in competition at the Cannes Film Festival (the first New Zealand features to do so). Docudrama Rain of the Children (2008) revisited people from his 1980 documentary In Spring One Plants Alone. Ward also directed Robin Williams afterlife drama What Dreams May Come.
Jim Mora
With his likeable, easy-going and erudite style, Jim Mora's career has spanned current affairs, entertainment and lifestyle shows. His TV profile alone reaches back more than 30 years and his time in radio stretches even further: from The South Tonight and Holmes, to Mucking In and hosting Radio New Zealand's Afternoons.
Dave Mason
After a career producing a range of TV programmes in the United Kingdom and Germany, Dave Mason relocated to New Zealand in 1999. He began working with Julie Christie at Touchdown Productions on cooking show Ready Steady Cook, then started producing Jim’s Car Show for TVNZ, hosted by weather presenter Jim Hickey. Working on this and further shows with Hickey (A Flying Visit, The Real Middle Earth) he formed Dave Mason productions in 2004, and in 2007 launched long-running careers show Just the Job. Mason has also directed and written further TVNZ shows, including Ellerslie and Maggie’s Garden Show.