Meet the Filmmakers
Terence Davies
Terence Davies is a globally respected writer and film director of both original and adapted works. As a filmmaker, Davies is noted for his recurring themes of emotional (and sometimes physical) endurance, the influence of memory on everyday life and the potentially crippling effects of dogmatic religiosity on the emotional life of individuals and societies. Stylistically, Davies’ works are notable for their symmetrical compositions, structure and measured pace. He is the sole screenwriter of all his films, including Distant Voices, Still Lives (1987), The House of Mirth (2000) and The Deep Blue Sea (2011). The calibre of his work lead to Screen on the Green crediting him as ‘Britain’s Greatest Living Director’ in 2009. Armed with a mighty collection of awards and nominations to his name, he attends NZIFF this year to present two films; A Quiet Passion and Sunset Song.
Tuesday 26 July, 6.15pm at the Embassy
Thursday 28 July, 10.30am at the Embassy
Wednesday 27 July, 6.15pm at the Embassy
Taryn Brumfitt
Taryn Brumfitt, mother of three, is a writer, director, speaker and the founder of the Body Image Movement. Taryn rose to fame after she posted a naked picture, post-baby, of herself on Facebook, which went viral. Her debut feature Embrace is a documentary all about body obsession. Her role is to harness and facilitate positive body image activism by teaching women the value and power of loving their bodies, from the inside out.
Sunday 31 July, 11.45am at the Embassy
Sue Brooks
Sue Brooks is an Australian film director and producer. She won the ‘Golden Alexander’ (first prize) for Best Feature-Length Film at the Thessaloniki International Film Festival for Road to Nhill (1997). Her film Japanese Story (2003) was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival and has won a number of awards, including the AFI for Best Film and Best Director. Her latest film, Looking for Grace, has screened and been nominated for a series of film festival awards in Chicago, Venice and Toronto.
Saturday 23 July, 2.30pm at Paramount
Sunday 24 July, 5.45pm at Penthouse Cinema
Molly Reynolds
Molly Reynolds specialises in screenbased storytelling and multiplatform production. Along with extensive management and consultancy experience with Australian state governments, the AFTRS, the AFC and Film Australia, she was General Manager with Beyond Online and has produced, designed and created content and policy across platforms at the ABC. Molly has taught as an adjunct professor and is a published industry commentator/ broadcaster. She has an MA in Commercial Law and an MA in Media Arts & Production, and has worked in print media (Australian Consolidated Press) and radio (2SER FM, ABC Radio). Her documentary Another Country is produced by Rolf de Heer, her co-director on Twelve Canoes.
Saturday 23 July, 1.00pm at Penthouse Cinema
Sunday 24 July, 1.15pm at Paramount
Roger Ross Williams
Roger Ross Williams’ first film as director and producer, Music by Prudence, won the 2010 Academy Award for documentary short subject; he is the first African American director to win an Oscar. Williams next directed the feature documentary God Loves Uganda, which premiered at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival and went on to screen at over 60 film festivals worldwide, winning more than a dozen awards before being shortlisted for a 2014 Academy Award. Prior to moving into independent filmmaking, Williams was an acclaimed television journalist and producer for over 15 years for outlets, including TV Nation, ABC News, NBC News, CNN, PBS, Comedy Central and Sundance Channel. His latest film Life, Animated premiered at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival to enormous critical acclaim, and Williams won the prestigious US Documentary Directing Award. Williams serves on the Alumni Advisory Board of the Sundance Institute. He frequently mentors filmmakers from the developing world and under-represented communities on how to channel personal adversity into their art. Williams splits his time between upstate New York and Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Tuesday 26 July, 6.30pm at Paramount
Wednesday 27 July, 2.00pm at Paramount
Bridget Ikin and Alison Maclean
Bridget Ikin is an award-winning producer in both Australia and New Zealand. In a career spanning over 30 years and committed to producing quality cinema, her feature films include: Jane Campion’s An Angel at My Table; Alison Maclean’s Kitchen Sink and Crush; Clara Law’s Floating Life; Sarah Watt’s Look Both Ways and My Year Without Sex; and most recently Sherpa, which screened at NZIFF15. Along with her feature films and documentaries, Ikin has produced Art + Soul, Warwick Thornton’s landmark documentary series on contemporary Aboriginal art for the ABC, and combined her producing with senior positions at the public broadcaster SBSi and the FFC (now Screen Australia).
Born in Canada, Alison Maclean emigrated to New Zealand in her teenage years. She came to international attention when her short film Kitchen Sink was nominated for a Golden Palm at the Cannes Film Festival and won eight awards at festivals worldwide. Following her success with two feature films – Crush (1992), which was an official selection at Cannes, and Jesus’ Son (1999), which won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival and earned Alison a Best Director nomination – Alison also directed episodes of Sex and the City, Carnivale, The Tudors, The L Word and Gossip Girl, along with music videos. In addition to her narrative work, she has co-directed the documentary Person of Interest, which screened in competition at the Sundance Film Festival. Alison now resides in New York.
The Rehearsal, based on the novel by Eleanor Catton (The Luminaries), was shot in Auckland and reunites award-winning collaborators Bridget Ikin (producer) and Alison Maclean (director).
Saturday 30 July, 9.15pm at Embassy Theatre
Tuesday 2 August, 1.15pm at Embassy Theatre
Wednesday 3 August, 1.45pm at Penthouse Cinema
Heath Cozens
Heath Cozens is a journalist, cinematographer and filmmaker. Raised in New Zealand, he spent 18 years in Japan, where he worked in broadcast news, documentaries and commercial film. He’s earned a crust as a local producer on television shows for Discovery Channel, History, Travel Channel and MTV. He has edited for Bloomberg and shot for the likes of AFP and Al Jazeera. Heath moved to New York late in 2013, where he continues his work. Doglegs is his feature documentary debut, one which he produced, directed, shot and edited.
Sunday 31 July, 1.15pm at Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision
Sunday 31 July, 5.45pm at Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision
Monday 1 August, 1.45pm at Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision
Phil Keoghan
New Zealand-born television personality and multiple Emmy award-winner Phil Keoghan is a producer, director and actor best known for hosting the US version of The Amazing Race since its debut. Keoghan, a known adventurer and bike enthusiast, produced Phil Rides Across America in 2012, a documentary about his 2500-mile pedal in just 40 days benefiting the Multiple Sclerosis Society. Le Ride was born after he read The Mile Eater by New Zealand’s cycling historians, and was introduced to the remarkable story of Harry Watson and his amazing Tour de France journey in 1928. Le Ride pays tribute to our modern day heroes of the road.
Monday 1 August, 8.30pm at Embassy Theatre
Tuesday 2 August, 6.15pm at The Roxy
Babak Anvari
Babak Anvari is a BAFTA nominated, awardwinning British-Iranian filmmaker. From a young age he has been involved in the production of many short films and video art pieces that have screened around the world. At the age of 19, Anvari relocated from Iran to London, where he studied film and television production at the University of Westminster. In 2012 he was selected as one of the eight rising stars in the world of film and media by the Young European Director Forum. He also worked as a director for MTV in the UK and Ireland, directing artists such as Lady Gaga, Florence and the Machine and Tinie Tempah for the MTV Live Sessions. His directorial feature film debut, Under the Shadow, premiered at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival.
Monday 25 July, 9.00pm at Paramount
Tuesday 26 July, 4.00pm at Paramount
Martin Butler
Migrating to Australia in 1981, Martin Butler spent the next 25 years as a current affairs producer at Four Corners, Foreign Correspondent and Dateline. He has produced two Walkley winners and won the New York Film and Television Best Documentary award. Tanna, which was written, produced and directed with long-time collaborator Bentley Dean, won the International Critics’ Week Award and Best Cinematography at the 2015 Venice Film Festival, along with Best Direction in a Feature Film at the Australian Directors Guild Awards.
Friday 29 July, 6.30pm at Paramount
Saturday 30 July, 1.00pm at The Roxy
Head to our Aotearoa section for more information on New Zealand filmmakers in attendance.
