Grant Lahood
Grant Lahood made his name with a trio of short films featuring speedy snails, troublesome mice and squabbling animal activists. After taking The Singing Trophy and Lemming Aid to success at the Cannes Film Festival, Lahood has gone on to direct documentaries, commercials and two feature films — one of which (Kombi Nation) features an all human cast.
Joel Haines
Joel Haines has composed screen music for over two decades, including soundtracks for TV shows Outrageous Fortune, Westside, The Brokenwood Mysteries and Mercy Peak— plus movies This Way of Life and After the Waterfall. Haines has also created themes for dozens of high profile brands (Air New Zealand, McDonald's), and channel music for TV2, Māori Television, and Sky Sports.
David Gunson
David Gunson has dozens of screen credits in a role that requires both vision, and anonymity: as a storyboard artist, who draws pictures of key shots as a guide for the filmmaking team. Gunson’s own credits as a short filmmaker often touch on war: from ANZAC Short Film award-winner Boots, to the self-funded, Tropfest-nominated Foreign Fields. Gunson has also helmed music clips for Darcy Clay and Hayley Westenra.
Ross Jennings
One of NZ’s most experienced and prolific TV producers, Ross Jennings cut his teeth at Avalon in the late 1970s on dramas like Close to Home and Moynihan. After stints as Head of Drama at TVNZ and at Crawfords in Melbourne, he began a long association with Screentime Communicado where he created early reality TV series Middlemore, and Police 10-7. Jennings passed away on 25 March 2016.
Victoria Kelly
Composer/arranger Victoria Kelly studied music at Auckland University, and film composition at LA's University of Southern California. Since then her eclectic, award-nominated CV of soundtracks has tended to the dark or fantastical (Out of the Blue, The Ugly, Black Sheep). In 2007 Kelly won a NZ Screen Award for TV's Maddigan's Quest; in 2011 she was appointed musical director for the Rugby World Cup opening ceremony.
John Keir
John Keir began his career as a TV reporter, and from the late 70s on was producing and directing an extended slate of documentaries. His CV includes docos about air crashes (Flight 901: The Erebus Disaster), war (Our Oldest Soldier), gender (Intersexion) crime (First Time in Prison) and the Treaty (Lost in Translation). His many collaborations with director Grant Lahood include two short films that won acclaim at Cannes.