Rhonda Kite
Producer Rhonda Kite founded company Kiwa Media Group, which developed a successful programme to aid dubbing and dialogue recording, and made long-running Māori Television arts series Kete Aronui. Kite's award-winning slate of documentaries includes films on the Ōtara community, gangs, whāngai, and squeegee bandits. Kiwa Digital went on to focus on creating interactive books for mobile devices.
Mark Hadlow
From an early role as a teen bully in Children of Fire Mountain, Mark Hadlow, ONZM, has gone on to work beside Billy T James, Peter Jackson, talking hedgehogs and mutant huhu grubs. The veteran actor/comedian is fondly remembered for playing a wide-eyed farmer on hit TV series Willy Nilly; in Jackson’s three-part adaptation of The Hobbit, he was grey-bearded Dori the dwarf.
Stefen Harris
Stefen Harris faced off against Peter Jackson in a Spot On short film contest, while both were teenagers. In 2006, after various efforts to film his debut novel had failed, Harris hired a small crew and turned it into multi-awardwinning mockumentary The Waimate Conspiracy. The longtime policeman followed it with small-town ecological comedy No Petrol, No Diesel! After winning a 2007 scholarship, he was mentored in the United States by Kiwi-born director Martin Campbell (Casino Royale). His third feature, 2018 petrol station thriller Blue Moon, was shot on an iPhone. It debuted at the 2018 Christchurch Film Festival.
Jed Brophy
Alongside a notable theatre resumé, actor Jed Brophy’s wide-ranging screen career has seen him wrangling horses and scaring hobbits for Peter Jackson, undergoing relationship trauma for Gaylene Preston, and playing South African in District 9.