From my grandmother's kitchen on the family farm in Hawke's Bay, New Zealand, I've gone on to find people and stories that I love and can make films about. This is some of that work.
Scroll through, take a watch. I add new work all the time so follow me on twitter and instagram and I will let you know when the next one is up.
ENJOY.
THIS TOWN [Theatrical Trailer]
THIS TOWN is my first comedy as a director which is very exciting. You can find out more information at THISTOWNFILM.com
This film started with me on my parent's farm making a short film where I would literally set up the camera, run in front of it and do some acting. That film played at over 50 international festivals and was the inspiration for this longer version.
MEAT [Theatrical Trailer]
MEAT is my first theatrical documentary as a director which is very exciting. You can find out more information here. Or the website www.meat.film
The films below are shorts and you can see a real theme of my work come through, rural people in worlds. And I KILL and OINK were the genesis of MEAT. It's getting released in New Zealand May 4th, and in North America mid year.
I KILL
I have known Beatle for most of my life, as he would come to our farm and kill cattle beasts for our family. When I was 15, I was fascinated by him. I always wanted to tell his story, and fourteen years later, I was able to make this documentary.
LEX
When you meet a man who has a catapult in his backyard, and you ask him "why did you build it," and he says "I was teaching my children propulsion," you pretty much have to make a film about him.
THE COUPLE
This was one of my first drama's. I was really looking for ways to combine my documentary style and look at very complex issues. THE COUPLE was based around the idea of what would happen if the generation of my parents, when they got sick, didn't talk.
THE CLEANEST PIG
Morgan Spurlock asked 30 directors from around the world to make a three-minute film about something that would change the world. I called my father and asked him – what's the one thing that could change the world? He said he had read something about a cure for diabetes, so this is that story. This film premiered at a special screening at the Sundance Film Festival.
WHO IS LEE HARRIS?
All over New Zealand for many years there was graffiti that would say things like Lee Harris is a Nark and Lee Flea Ball Harris. I was speaking my sister in law about this and we both wondered who Lee Harris was. So I convinced BBC to give me some money and let me go find out. So off Paul Wedel and I went in search of Lee Harris. This is that documentary,
OINK
Commerical piggeries are, it seems from my facebook feed, one of the most villified things in the food industry. Even though I grew up in the country, I had never met a pig farmer. I thought that you would have to be a pretty fascinating person to run something that will make people dislike you so much.
Yet at the same time, so many people don't think about the process and just want to eat the cheap bacon.