The Top 10 NZ Television Ads
Great adverts are strange things: mini works of magic, with the power to make viewers smile, cry, and even buy. Kiwi directors have shown such a knack for making them, they've been invited to do so across the globe. But this collection is about local favourites; dogs on skateboards, choc bar robberies, ghost chips. NZ On Screen's Irene Gardiner backgrounds the top 10 here.
The Flying Nun Collection
Record label Flying Nun is synonymous with Kiwi indie music, and with autonomous DIY, bottom-of-the-world creativity. This collection celebrates the label's ethos as manifested in the music videos. Selected by label founder Roger Shepherd: "A general style may have loosely evolved ... but it was simply due to limited budgets and correspondingly unlimited imaginations."
Artists on Screen Collection
For this screen showcase of NZ visual arts talent, critic Mark Amery selects his top documentaries profiling artists. From the icons (Hotere, McCahon, Lye) to the unheralded (Edith Collier) to Takis the Greek, each portrait shines light on the person behind the canvas. "Naturally inquisitive, with an open wonder about the world, they make for inspiring onscreen company."
The Tony Williams Collection
This collection is a celebration of the eccentric, exuberant career of NZ screen industry frontrunner Tony Williams. As well as being at the helm of many iconic ads (Crunchie, Bugger, Spot, Dear John) Williams made inventive, award-winning indie TV documentaries, and shot or directed pioneering feature films, including Solo and cult horror Next of Kin.
Wayne Leonard: The art of multi-camera directing...
Wayne Leonard began his career as a sound operator, but later moved to directing, where he made his name helming sports and live shows that require multiple cameras. Leonard has directed some of the biggest events on television from the Olympic Games and America’s Cup, to Christmas in the Park. He has also produced or directed primetime TV shows This is Your Life, My Kitchen Rules and Game of Two Halves. In 2013 he was part of the team nominated for multiple Emmy awards for coverage of the America’s Cup in San Francisco.
Simon Bennett: On producing and directing the big TV dramas…
Simon Bennett's extensive CV includes producing and directing episodes of long-running successes Shortland Street and Outrageous Fortune. He has also spent time in executive roles at South Pacific Pictures, the production house behind these shows, and directed SPP feature film Sione's 2: Unfinished Business.
Katie Wolfe: Moving from acting to directing...
Katie Wolfe made her small screen acting debut in the early 90s. Fresh from drama school she played the daughter of Andy Anderson's character on TV series Marlin Bay. Many acting roles later, Wolfe moved into directing, including well-travelled short film This is Her and TV movie Nights in the Gardens of Spain.
Murray Keane: From acting to directing in primetime…
Actor and director Murray Keane's first big acting role on screen was in 80s TV series Peppermint Twist. Since then he has appeared in Away Laughing, and movies Braindead and Chunuk Bair. In the 1990s, Keane expanded into directing, working on popular drama series Shortland Street, Outrageous Fortune, The Almighty Johnsons and Go Girls.
Mike Smith: On directing drama and passing on Russell Crowe...
Versatile director Mike Smith has made an enormous amount of New Zealand drama. Highlights of his lengthy television CV include Radio Waves, Duggan, Serial Killers, The Almighty Johnsons, Nothing Trivial, tele-movie Siege and docu-drama Nancy Wake: The White Mouse. Smith also had a big hand in creating Heroes (80s pop band on-the-make show), yokels comedy Willy Nilly, children’s drama The Lost Children and 2013 comedy Sunny Skies. He was also one of the key players in the launch of Outrageous Fortune.
Peter Salmon: Directing on both sides of the Tasman…
Peter Salmon is a Kiwi drama director with a trans-Tasman career. He began with a series of well-received short films: Playing Possum, Letters About the Weather, and Fog. Since then Salmon has directed a number of TV dramas in both New Zealand (Being Eve, Outrageous Fortune, This is Not My Life, Nothing Trivial); and Australia (Mr and Mrs Murder, Secrets and Lies, Offspring).