The following filmakers will appear at Reel Earth:
Justin Pemberton
Justin Pemberton, founding director of the successful New Zealand documentary company The TV Set along with fellow filmmakers Pietra Brettkelly and Megan Jones.
His most recent film, The Nuclear Comeback, is a feature length documentary questioning whether nuclear power can save the world from climate change, and it has recently been acquired by the Sundance Channel in the US. Justin documentary Love Speed and Loss - the story of a widow retracing her love affair with a World Grand Prix legend - screened at the 2005 New Zealand International Film Festival and Real Life on Film, Melbourne 2006.
The film also had a New Zealand cinema release through Rialto Cinemas. The documentary won Best Documentary & Best Director at the 2007 NZ Screen Awards & Best Festival Documentary at the 2007 NZ Television Awards. Aside from documentary, he is also an established music video director. He holds a degree in psychology and has a Post Graduate Diploma in Broadcast Communication from the University of Auckland.
His recent film ‘Death on the Beach’ premieres as an Official Selection at Reel Earth. This intimate film traces the story of mass whale strandings on the shores of Aotearoa New Zealand, and visits the people and communities touched by the bittersweet visits from our storied friends of the deep.
Justin visits Reel Earth on Saturday 24 May.
Claudia Babirat
Since 2004 Claudia has been working as an independent filmmaker, on numerous productions for NHNZ and Pickled Possum Productions, as well as producing music videos, adverts, and an animated film.
In April 2007 Claudia was the first student to complete the Masters in Natural History and Science Filmmaking at the University of Otago by producing a half hour documentary. The film, Calici: A Rural Conspiracy, examines New Zealand’s biggest biosecurity breach, providing an intimate, behind-the-scenes look at how and why farmers introduced the illegal rabbit-killing calici virus a decade ago. The film was a finalist in the short documentary section at the 2007 DOCNZ film festival.
Claudia has recently moved across the Tasman, where she is currently working at natural history specialists Absolutely Wild Visuals in Sydney. She will be returning to New Zealand to visit Reel Earth at the Globe Theatre on Saturday 24 May.
Carlos Valdivieso & Ana Bravo-Perez
Carlos Valdivieso and Ana Bravo have a longstanding passion for humanitarian and environmental issues. In New Zealand since 2004, their passion for film took them to Waiheke Island where they got involved with the community cinema. They eventually started screening political documentaries on Colombian humanitarian crises. Alongside, they worked on indigenous filmmaking and community based media in the global south, participating in several international events. With a filming crew from the University of Auckland and AUT, they went back to South America last summer to work on a documentary on the explosion of community media in Venezuela during the Chavez period. Ana and Carlos have a background in economics from the National University of Colombia, which gives them a wider perspective about community and film. ‘Kaimoana’, a film about sustainable fisheries management in New Zealand is Ana and Carlos’ first documentary film. They will introduce its premiere on Friday 23 May at the Globe Theatre.
Carlos and Ana visit Reel Earth on Friday 23 May.
Dave Dawson
Dave Dawson was born in Wellington, but spent much of his adult life living away from New Zealand, mostly in central Europe. On his return visits, he soon came to realise that discovering and investigating the natural landscape was hugely important to him. And so, with a background in still life and landscape photography, film workshops in the US and several years collaboration on documentaries in France and Germany behind him, it was natural that he should feel the urge to combine image and perspective into a documentary commentary on his native land.
Dave Dawson visits Reel Earth to introduce his film ‘An Alchemy in Green’