CREW
WRITER/DIRECTOR
ALEX GALVIN
Alex studied linguistics at Victoria University, then went on to work as a speech writer in the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet crafting the biographies for the Queen’s Birthday and New Year’s Honours. Inspired by these high achieving New Zealanders, Alex followed his dream to be a filmmaker by applying to the New Zealand Film and Television School in 2004.
At film school, Alex was chosen to direct one of only two graduation films that year and, upon completion, was immediately offered writing and directing work at Propeller Productions, a Wellington based video production company. Whilst at Propeller, Alex wrote and directed videos for clients such as Tourism NZ, ANZ Bank, ACC, the National Bank and NZ Post.
In 2007, Alex wrote and directed his first feature film, the horror/thriller When Night Falls. The film received excellent reviews and was released in 25 cinemas throughout New Zealand. It was also distributed by E1 Entertainment in the US and Canada.
In 2008, Alex had his first novel One Endless Day published by First Edition Publishers.
In 2013, Alex wrote and directed his second feature film, the Hong Kong/New Zealand sci-fi mystery Eternity (2014). Eternity was also released in over 25 cinemas throughout New Zealand and screened on Air NZ International flights. It was also nominated for Best Self-Funded Film at the New Zealand Film Awards in 2013.
Eternity screened at ten international festivals including Cannes Cinephiles, Boston Film Festival, Lucerne Festival and the Madrid International Film Festival, winning several awards. Eternity was particularly successful in China, being chosen to have its Asia Premiere at the Shanghai International Film Festival, then screening at the NZ Film Festival in China before going on to be a finalist for Best Foreign Film at the 2014 China Golden Roosters (Chinese Oscars) in Lanzhou, China. Eternity also secured a distribution deal in China through Galloping Films.
Alex has been lecturing in film at Victoria University of Wellington since 2016. Also a trained singer, Alex was a member of the New Zealand Opera Chorus from 1998 to 2015. In 2016, Alex directed his first opera Don Giovanni at the Hannah Playhouse. He has since directed two more operas, The Marriage of Figaro and Madam Butterfly, all to critical acclaim.
PRODUCER
NICOLA PEEPERKOORN
Award winning filmmaker Nicola started out working in the accounts department on numerous local and international productions including Ash vs. the Evil Dead, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon 2, Dear Murderer and Hunt for the Wilderpeople.
While managing the money on bigger productions she continued working in the trenches making self-financed films. She co-produced the feature Crackheads, which won Best Independent Film at the New Zealand Film Awards in 2013. In 2014 she produced NZFC financed short Restoration, which played numerous international festivals including Stiges International and Palm Springs Shortsfest. She also writes and directs shorts usually in partnership with Andrew Cooper. Highlights include Help, which won Best Film and Best Actor at Tropfest NZ 2014, as well as Best Directors at Hollywood Shorts and Xenophobia, her first solo directing credit, was a finalist in Tropfest NZ 2017.
Nicola was a 2018 nominee for the hotly contested ‘WIFT Woman to watch award’, completed a Business Diploma in Marketing Communications from Massey University in 2013 and has also furthered her knowledge of worldwide sales and marketing by attending the American Film Market (AFM) five times and Cannes for the first time in 2017.
Having joined Notable Pictures to production manage Both Worlds Season 5, she went on to producing feature documentary Wilbur: The King in the Ring alongside Julia Parnell. She is currently a Producer/Writer on Julia’s feature documentary Martin Phillips and The Chills which debuted at SXSW 2019 and releases in New Zealand cinemas on 2 May. Julia and Nicola are currently collaborating on a feature documentary on the New Zealand music phenomenon Six60.
CINEMATOGRAPHER
MARK PAPALII
Mark is a Wellington based cinematographer with nearly ten years’ experience shooting and lighting everything from drama to commercials to documentaries.
A graduate of the New Zealand Film and Television School, Mark’s recent cinematographer and gaffer roles in Blind Panic (2018), Portrait of a Knight (2018), PorBreckman Rodeo (2017), Savage (2017), Stolen Senses (2016), The Pissy Tits Gang (2015) and Before the Darkness (2015).
Mark also worked on lighting for the recently completed New Zealand feature film Daffodils.
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
JOHN MCKAY
John is a veteran sound editor, sound designer, and mixer. He abandoned an early focus on directing to build a diverse, respected career in post-production. His credits include significant contributions to iconic films The Quiet Earth, Footrot Flats, Kitchen Sink, and Lord of the Rings. McKay is notable for an approach which combines creativity with a high level of technical craft and organisational rigour.
He is currently Chief Executive Office and partner of Wellington’s premiere sound design house, POW Studios who aim to elevate films by providing top-tier soundtracks, and who also have a production wing focussing on creating its own IP.
John’s many awards include:
2003 Motion Picture Sound Editors Awards (United States)
Nominated for Best Sound Editing in Foreign Features (with 13 others): for The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
2002 Motion Picture Sound Editors Awards (United States)
Nominated for Best Sound Editing in Foreign Features (with 10 others): for The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
2000 New Zealand Film Awards
Best Contribution to a Soundtrack: for Jubilee
1987 Listener GOFTA Awards
Best Contribution to a Film Soundtrack: for Footrot Flats – The Dog’s Tale
Nominated in the same category (with Finola Dwyer): for The Quiet Earth
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
JAMES PARTRIDGE
James has been working in the screen industry for over 12 years, as a producer, promoter, festival director, distributor, script editor and internationally-accredited journalist.
James was an Executive Producer on Alex Galvin’s first two films When Night Falls and Eternity. He also was an Executive Producer on the US thriller Broken Vows, starring Wes Bentley, Jaimie Alexander, and Cam Gigandet.
For the past three years, James has been actively representing New Zealand projects and filmmakers at international festivals and markets, including Cannes, Berlinale/European Film Market, Shanghai (SIFF), Toronto (TIFF) and Los Angeles (AFM). Through his production work and film festival, James has strong connections with international sales agents and investors.
EDITOR
EDWARD SAMPSON
Edward has been in the film and television industry for over 25 years, having produced five short films and two feature films. He edited and co-produced Tim Tsiklauri’s Crackheads (2012) feature and James Napier Robertson’s 2009 feature I’m Not Harry Jenson. Crackheads was officially selected at the Oaxaca Film Festival, Mexico, and the Austin Film Festival in Texas. In 2013, it won best self-funded feature film at the New Zealand Film Awards.
Edward edited the Premiere short film Restoration (2015) (funded by the NZFC) and was nominated for Best Editor for Restoration at the Academy Award-accredited Show Me Shorts 2015 Festival. Edward served as associate producer on the six-part international documentary series the Story of Rugby filmed in 24 countries. The series was broadcast around the world in 2019.
PRODUCTION DESIGNER
DEBBIE FISH
Debbie Fish is an installation artist and production designer, currently working at Weta Workshop. She was Art Director on the short film Behold the Ghost, written and directed by Jesse Taylor Smith, Production Designer on short film Woman in Blue with Ashleigh Flynn and Jack O’Donnell.
Theatre design credits include Jekyll & Hyde at Circa Theatre, adapted by A Slightly Isolated Dog, Revelations by Lori Leigh at BATS Theatre, The Water Station by Otā Shōgo at BATS Theatre and This Rugged Beauty with Binge Culture at BATS Theatre and Downstage Theatre, and in 2015 she was selected as part of the NZ Prague Quadrennial of Theatre Design student team.
Her art installations are inspired by environmental and social concerns and have been exhibited at festivals including Light Nelson Festival, Splore Festival, The Performance Arcade, Taupō Winter Festival and Coastella Music Festival. She has exhibited at galleries including 30 Upstairs Gallery, Artrium Gallery and Matchbox Galleries.
In 2017 she was selected to spend a month in Taiwan as Artist in Residence for the Keelung NMMST (National Museum of Marine Science and Technology) International Art Project, creating a work School of Scales using found and recycled materials and the help of local school children and in 2018 spent a month as artist in residence at the Fish Factory: Creative Centre of Stöðvarfjörður in a remote fishing town in Iceland.
COMPOSER
EWAN CLARK
Ewan Clark is an award-winning film composer and orchestrator based in Wellington, New Zealand. As an orchestrator, Ewan’s recent projects include Tim Prebble’s score for the feature film One Thousand Ropes, which won Best Original Music in a Film at the 2017 APRA Silver Scrolls. He also orchestrated David Long’s score for Beyond the Edge, which was nominated for the same award in 2014.
As a composer, Ewan has scored the feature length docudrama Doubt: The Scott Watson Case (TVNZ1), the feature film Hotspot: Log in At Own Risk, and numerous short films and documentaries that have screened at film festivals around the globe. A recent highlight was collaborating with composer Rhian Sheehan to co-compose the score for Zoe McIntosh’s short The World In Your Window. This film has won various awards, including best fiction short at the Melbourne International Film Festival. Another recent highlight has been scoring award-winning animations by Matasila Freshwater. Shmeat was selected as one of “New Zealand’s Best” at the 2016 NZIFF and appeared at numerous festivals abroad. In addition, Ewan joined with Mata’s team in the HP 48Hours competition, winning “Best Original Score” in Wellington (2016 and 2017) and nationwide (2017). Click here for a list of Ewan’s film and television credits.
Ewan’s compositions and orchestrations have been performed in concert by the Philharmonia Orchestra (London), Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra, Auckland Symphony Orchestra, Christchurch Symphony Orchestra, Dunedin Symphony Orchestra, and Baroque Voices. Ewan holds an MMus in Composition for Screen (Distinction) from the Royal College of Music, London (2012) and a PhD from Victoria University of Wellington (2018). In his spare time Ewan plays trombone with the Wellington Chamber Orchestra, which he has also conducted in 2017.
CAST
‘JULIA’
GREER PHILLIPS
Greer graduated from Toi Whakaari: New Zealand Drama School in 2014. She has worked extensively in theatre since then, performing with Wellington theatre companies Red Scare and Bats Theatre.
She has worked extensively with Jim Moriary’s Te Rakau Hua O Te Wao Tapu Trust, a performing arts organisation that works with at-risk communities, creating and performing theatre in schools, marae and prisons, as well as professional theatres.
Greer’s film credits include the role of Angela in the New Zealand tele-feature How to Murder Your Wife produced by Screentime and the lead role in the 2018 short film The Last Man on Earth, written and directed by April Phillips.
‘MRS GROSE’
JANE WADDELL
Jane graduated from Toi Whakaari: New Zealand Drama School in 1975.
On-screen, she has starred as real-life safe sex campaigner Ettie Rout (Pioneer Women), voiced a parrot (on BBC series Grandad) and directed for youth TV shows Squirt and Oi. Other TV acting credits include Atlantis High, Open House, Gliding On, The Fire-Raiser, Country GP, Inside Straight, and Close to Home. Jane’s big screen credits include Send a Gorilla (1988), Separation City (2009) and the acclaimed 2003 short Dead End.
Jane has directed a number of outstanding productions for Circa Theatre, Wellington including the multi-award winning Home Land, Peninsula, The Tigers of Wrath and You Can Always Hand Them Back. She has also taught at Toi Whakaari and adapted and produced a large number of book readings for Radio New Zealand.
‘THE UNCLE/PETER QUINT’
BEN FRANSHAM
Ben graduated from the New Zealand School of Dance in 1991. Since then he has performed in musical theatre, dramatic plays, vaudeville, puppetry, and sketch comedy shows, with increasing work in film and television.
He is best known for his turn as the ancient and unnerving vampire Petyr in Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement’s internationally renowned What We Do in the Shadows (2014).
As well as featuring in Ash vs Evil Dead (2015), Ben’s previous projects for Rob Tapert and Sam Raimi include the horror feature film 30 Days of Night (2007) and fantasy action series Legend of the Seeker (2008), in which he played a variety of roles.
Ben also has a continuing association with Peter Jackson’s productions, dating back to Heavenly Creatures (1994), and his proficient motion-capture work can be found in most of Weta Digital’s collaboration in The Hobbit Trilogy (2012-2014), The Adventures of Tintin (2011), I, Robot (2004), District 9 (2009), King Kong (2005) and The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (2001-2003).
‘RICHARD’
RALPH JOHNSON
Ralph Johnson is an accomplished New Zealand actor, with vast experience on stage and screen. He has appeared on TV in Legend of the Seeker (2008), and in features films as diverse as Gaylene Preston’s Bread and Roses (1994), Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001-2003) and King Kong (2005).
Ralph played the role of Sherlock in Alex Galvin’s 2013 sci-fi feature film Eternity. For this role, Ralph won Best Supporting Actor at the 2013 Madrid International Film Festival.
Recently Ralph has appeared on the acclaimed Wellington Paranormal TV show (2018), the tele-feature How to Murder Your Wife (2015) and the short films Saved, Rivet and Burst (all 2018). Late this year, he will feature in the upcoming comedy feature film Blind Panic in the role of Prescott.