Rodney Charters
New Plymouth-bred Rodney Charters borrowed a wind up Bolex camera from his dad to make stylish short Film Exercise (1966). It helped win the Elam student a place at London's Royal College of Art. After two decades of filming adverts and documentaries globally, he began amassing more than 50 credits in Hollywood. Charters has framed high profile US TV dramas from Dollhouse and the remake of Dynasty, to 24 (for which he was twice Emmy nominated). He also shot Michael Caine robbery movie Going in Style. In 2013 Charters won a Career Achievement in TV Award from the American Society of Cinematographers.
Rudall Hayward
Legendary filmmaker Rudall Hayward, MBE, directed seven features over five decades — decades in which the concept of Kiwi movie-making was still an oxymoron, or meant a foreigner was in charge. Inspired by NZ’s cross-cultural history, Hayward remade his own Rewi’s Last Stand in 1940. Later he married Rewi star Ramai Te Miha, launching a filmmaking partnership that lasted until Rudall’s death in May 1974.
Frank Chilton
Using the power of documentary film Frank Chilton made a difference to the lives of disabled children in New Zealand and around the world. The films he directed for the National Film Unit won many awards and he was honoured by the Queen with an OBE for services to the handicapped.
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.
Cyril Morton
Cyril Morton's career began in the 1920s, during New Zealand's first sustained burst of filmmaking. Morton helped create Government filmmaking body the National Film Unit. The former cameraman was later second-in-command at the Unit for 13 years, until retiring in 1963. Morton passed away in 1986.
Andrea Bosshard
Alongside partner Shane Loader, Andrea Bosshard makes and distributes films through indie filmmaking initiative Torchlight Films. Dominion Post critic Graeme Tuckett called the pair's second feature Hook, Line and Sinker “likeable, admirable and hugely enjoyable”. Third feature The Great Maiden's Blush was released to acclaim — and awards — in 2016.
Bridget Armstrong
Dunedin-born Bridget Armstrong has found success in a range of British and Kiwi stage and screen roles. At 18 she joined the touring NZ Players, where she recreated characters as diverse as Anne Frank and Elizabeth I. Later in London, Armstrong showed her comedic talents and played Katherine Mansfield for the BBC. Back in New Zealand she acted on TV's Gather Your Dreams and Roger Hall film Middle Age Spread.
Chris Dudman
Kiwi Chris Dudman studied film at Ilam and London’s Royal College of Art; his graduation short was nominated for a student Oscar. After working on arts documentaries in the UK, Dudman returned to NZ in 1995. Since then he has directed drama shows (the high-rating Harry), documentaries (The Day that Changed My Life), attention-grabbing shorts (Choice Night), and a number of high profile ads for his company Robber’s Dog.
Mike Westgate
Mike Westgate began working in sound in his native England. Since moving to New Zealand in the 1970s, he has contributed his skills to documentaries, drama series, and more than 20 features, and passed them on to a new generation, both on film sets and as a guest tutor at South Seas Film & Television School.
Derek Wright
Dropping in on the Americans at the South Pole for afternoon tea, having driven there by tractor, was one of the most unusual events of Derek Wright's career as a National Film Unit cameraman. In his 40 years with the NFU he filled many other roles, from laboratory assistant to producer: but it is for his filming in the Antarctic that he is particularly remembered.