Marcus Lush
Popular and idiosyncratic radio and TV host Marcus Lush chronicled his love affair with the railways on high-rating series Off the Rails, which won him an award for best presenter at the 2006 NZ Screen Awards. Lush followed it with Ice, which saw him spending time in Antarctica, before making further Kiwi excursions South and North.
Melanie Rakena
Melanie Rakena partnered with Jane Andrews in 2002 to create JAM TV, who specialise in popular factual television, much of it involving travel. JAM programmes such as Intrepid Journeys, Off The Rails and Global Radar have managed to achieve both popular and critical acclaim.
Jane Andrews
Jane Andrews founded Jam TV with Melanie Rakena in 2002. The partnership has resulted in a run of award-winning shows that brought fresh energy to local factual programming. Jam shows Off the Rails, South and the long-running Intrepid Journeys achieved high ratings and critical acclaim. In 2010 the Andrews directed and produced Radar's Patch won a Qantas award for Best Information/Lifestyle Programme.
Hugh Macdonald
Hugh Macdonald began his long, award-studded career at the National Film Unit, where at age 25 he directed ambitious three-screen spectacular This is New Zealand (1970). It was seen by 400,000 New Zealanders. In the 1980s he produced Oscar-nominated short The Frog, the Dog, and the Devil and set up his own company, continuing a busy diet of train documentaries, commercial films and animation.
Jacob Bryant
Intrepid cinematographer Jacob Bryant has shot everywhere from Iraq and Afghanistan to the mean streets of Auckland (Super City). His work with leading documentary makers has been nominated for multiple screen awards. An episode of TV show Ends of the Earth shot in Afghanistan won Bryant a 2007 Qantas Award; he also shared a Documentary Edge gong for filming Finding Mercy in Zimbabwe.
Scott Flyger
Auckland-raised Scott Flyger got his first big editing break on high profile documentary Rubber Gloves or Green Fingers, and went on to spend 12 years in London, where he cut a range of high profile dramas, comedies and documentaries. Now based in Christchurch, Flyger runs postproduction house Due South Films.
Shane Loader
Shane Loader has credits as editor, cameraman, producer, and writer/director (including Clermont-Ferrand selected short The Terrorist). Since 2008, alongside partner Andrea Bosshard, he has begun making and distributing feature films through filmmaking initiative Torchlight Films. The pair's third feature The Great Maiden's Blush won acclaim when it was released in 2016.
Geoff Jamieson
Geoff Jamieson was working as a mechanic in Queenstown when he was asked to help out on landmark 70s television series Hunters's Gold. So began a busy career as a camera grip on a run of classic TV dramas, as well as the ambitious shoots for movies The Quiet Earth and The Piano. Jamieson passed away on 24 May 2016.
Harold Kissin
Harold Kissin ran coffee bars, theatres and transport companies, and performed on stage and screen. From 1974 to 1981 he was a key force behind Auckland's New Independent Theatre, alongside acting roles on pioneering Kiwi soap Close to Home, and classic series Winners & Losers. His acting career continued after he moved to Australia in 1982. Kissin passed away on 8 September 2004. Image credit: Joel Kissin
Kate Harcourt
Veteran actor Kate Harcourt was named a Dame Companion of the NZ Order of Merit in 1996, for her contribution to theatre. Her long performing career also encompasses many roles on screen (Plain Tastes, The Dig, Apron Strings), often playing maternal figures. In her ninth decade she won Best Actress at Rhode Island International Film Festival as the plucky rest home rebel in short film Pacific Dreams.