Andrew Whiteside
Andrew Whiteside made his name as a reporter, director and producer on Queer Nation, one of the world's longest running queer television programmes. After nine years with the show, Whiteside went on to set up his own company, Roll Tape Productions.
John A Givins
John A Givins is a television producer and director. His company Livingstone Productions produced the award-winning historical series Captain’s Log, and eleven seasons of Queer Nation. Givins has gone on to produce programmes and develop formats for Māori Television.
Max Currie
Max Currie began his screen career in his early 20s, after joining the reporting team on groundbreaking LGBT show Queer Nation. He developed his scriptwriting skills during extended time in New York. Fresh from directing short films and writing for Shortland Street, Currie's feature debut was Moa-nominated for best director, writer and film: Everything We Loved, a psychological family drama featuring two magicians and a child.
Lynda Topp
Lynda Topp is half of the Topp Twins, the singing sisters who have plucked their way across the country and the globe with their unique brand of comedy and country music. 2009 Topp Twins documentary Untouchable Girls is the most successful local doco released to date in local cinemas. In 2014 the twins presented TV series Topp Country, which became the third most watched local programme of the year.
Robyn Paterson
Robyn Paterson won attention in 2012 for directing award-winning film Finding Mercy, in which she headed back to her Zimbabwe birthplace to find a best friend from childhood. Feature documentary In the Zone followed in 2018, which explored a man's efforts to transform educational outcomes for disadvantaged youth in Auckland and Chicago. Paterson has worked in numerous roles: from directing factual TV shows (Grand Designs, Attitude) to writing (The Simon Eliot Show, Facelift) and casting. She has also faced the camera as a Queer Nation presenter and occasional actor, and is a published author.
Christopher Banks
Christopher Banks has worked in journalism, music, and film. In the 90s he wrote and produced songs for chart-topping band Deep Obsession, before reinventing himself as a journalist, directing and reporting for TV's Queer Nation. In 2005 he wrote and directed feature comedy Quiet Night In, the tale of a writer whose night descends into disaster. Banks followed it with a series of award-winning shorts, which have been invited to gay and lesbian festivals in both New Zealand and North America. In 2012 he completed feature-length documentary Men Like Us, based on interviews exploring the lives of nine gay men.
Brough Johnson
University of California (Santa Cruz) graduate Brough Johnson cut her cutting room teeth editing news reports down under. After getting a break editing doco Children of a Nation, she has accrued a diverse slate of Kiwi credits, and is at home crafting stories from fact (Both Worlds, Queer Selfies) and fiction. Johnson’s dramatic credits include episodes of primetime TV (Step Dave, Go Girls), Power Rangers and short films.
Jools Topp
Jools Topp is half of performing duo The Topp Twins. The sisters have taken their songs and comic characters to stages across the world, plus successful television shows The Topp Twins and Topp Country. The duo's story was told in 2009's Untouchable Girls, the most successful local documentary released in New Zealand cinemas to date.
Peter Wells
Peter Wells broke ground as one of the first New Zealanders to tell gay stories on-screen. Aside from his work as an author, he explored gay and historical themes in several acclaimed drama and documentaries — including pioneering TV drama A Death in the Family, colourful big screen melodrama Desperate Remedies and Georgina Beyer documentary Georgie Girl. Wells died on 18 February 2019.
Annie Goldson
Annie Goldson, NZOM, is probably New Zealand's most awarded documentary filmmaker. Her work — including the feature-length An Island Calling, Brother Number One and Kim Dotcom: Caught in the Web — often examines the political through the personal. Goldson's films have played widely overseas, and won awards in New Zealand, England, Spain, France, the Philippines and the United States.