Jonathan Dennis
Described by author Emma Jean Kelly as a flamboyant "champion of New Zealand culture", Jonathan Dennis was the founding director of The Film Archive in 1981 and led the organisation into a bicultural era. Dennis, who headed the Film Archive for nine years, was praised for making films more accessible. He also made documentaries (Mouth Wide Open, Mana Waka) and presented Radio New Zealand's Film Show.
Jillian Ewart
Jillian Ewart worked in television as a producer and director from 1976 until 1987. She was the originating producer of Pacific Viewpoint, worked on five seasons of Kaleidoscope, and developed the format for the live Benson and Hedges Awards for Fashion Design. Ewart was also the first producer of travel series Holiday. These days Ewart has returned to journalism.
Lala Rolls
Director and editor Lala Rolls has made short films, music videos and documentaries (Tupaia's Endeavour, Children of the Migration). She has gone on location throughout the Pacific Islands, and had her work invited to festivals in New Zealand and overseas.
Peter Coates
If director and producer Peter Coates was a superhero, he’d surely be ‘Renaissance Man’. His contribution to championing the arts on television is arguably heroic, and his career multi-faceted. From 1971 to 2004 Coates produced, directed or scripted hundreds of TV productions covering a smorgasbord of topics, from operas to soap operas, and from portraits of New Zealand artists to rugby coaching films.
John Hutchinson
National Film Unit cameraman John Hutchinson was well known for his films of royal tours and rugby. An early highlight of his 20 years behind the camera was filming the fire that destroyed Ballantyne’s store in Christchurch, but he quite literally reached new heights with his thrilling short film Jetobatics (1959).Image credit: Archives New Zealand, ref AAQT 6401 A39924
Kathleen Gallagher
Kathleen Gallagher began writing plays after discovering how few women playwrights there were. Politicised by the kindness of (often poor) strangers met on travels overseas, she has gone on to write 15+ plays, poetry, and a novel. Gallagher has also directed a number of documentaries reflecting her interest in the environment, spirituality, and the peace movement. In 2009 she began her trilogy of Whisperer environmental films. In 2017 Gallagher and colleague Gaylene Barnes completed their Canterbury rivers film Seven Rivers Walking - Haere Mārire. It was invited to debut at the 2017 Christchurch Film Festival.
Peter Morritt
During a broadcasting career spanning more than three decades, versatile producer/director Peter Morritt produced and directed a run of shows for state television, from current affairs to talk shows, including the first two seasons of Fair Go. London-born Morritt retired in 1996.
Graeme Wilson
Graeme Wilson began working in New Zealand television in the 1960s. Later he was one of the very first members of TVNZ's Natural History Unit (now NHNZ). Wilson stayed on in state television through many changes, revamps and alterations — a number of which he was asked to introduce— before heading up an international broadcasting network Jupiter Television in Japan.
Rod Cornelius
In the course of a 32-year career, Rod Cornelius experienced seismic changes within New Zealand’s television industry firsthand. From his first job with the NZ Broadcasting Corporation through the turbulent remakings of state television in the late 80s and 90s, Cornelius held several key management roles — including TVNZ Controller of Programming and Managing Director of Avalon Studios.
Marton Csokas
Actor Marton Csokas came to fame in the early 90s, playing the bumbling Dr Dodds in Shortland Street. Since then he has appeared in interracial romance Broken English and coming of age story Rain, before starting a run of international roles — often as the villain — in everything from xXx to The Bourne Supremacy.