Creative Business Programme

Operations Manager, Lane Street Studios, NZ

Dan brings 20 years of experience within the film and television production world, with a recent focus on post production and leading teams and projects through to completion. Previously spending 12 years at Park Road Post Production, including 7 years in a leadership role as Head of Picture, working alongside creative and technical professionals.

Dan’s high level technical, logistical and planning background combined with a passion for enabling and empowering people puts him at the forefront of building partnerships and relationships across multiple disciplines.

Programmer, Chinese & East Asian Cinema, New Zealand International Film Festival, NZ

Vicci Ho (she / her / hers) is the Chinese and East Asian programmer at Whānau Mārama: New Zealand International Film Festival. She has worked as a festival curator for a variety of International film festivals, including as Director of Hong Kong Lesbian and Gay Film Festival, Assistant Director of San Francisco Asian American Film Festival (now CAAMFest), Programming Associate for Toronto International Film Festival, and as Asian film consultant for San Francisco International Film Festival, Seattle Film Festival, Zurich Film Festival, and Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival. She has sat on juries at the Berlinale, SFIFF, Outfest and Hawaii International Film Festival. After completing her Masters degree at ITP/NYU, Vicci also worked in tabletop games, and is one of the creators of the tabletop card game "Battle of the Boy Bands".

Producer & Co-Founder, Court Five Productions, LA

Mark Ordesky is an American film and television producer and former Hollywood studio executive. He’s best known for executive producing the Oscar-winning THE LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy –during which Mark spent the better part of five years in New Zealand supporting his friend Peter Jackson’s historic vision. Mark has acquired or executive produced over 60 films, collectively grossing nearly $4 billion at the worldwide box office, earning 38 Academy Award nominations with 18 wins. Currently, Mark owns/operates Court Five with fellow New Line veteran Jane Fleming –fashioning independent film and TV content for Hollywood studios and broadcasters as well as global streamers such as Netflix, Disney+ and Amazon.

Mark is a member of the Producers Guild of America, the Television Academy, and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Additionally, he is a board member of the American Cinematheque.

Textures Head of Department/Creative Art Director, Wētā Digital, NZ

In 1998, Makeup and Creature Effects Art Director Gino Acevedo was asked by Richard Taylor to join Wētā Workshop to supervise the special makeup effects and color designs of the creatures for Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Prior to this, Gino had been working in the Los Angeles film industry for more than 10 years.

During the filming of The Two Towers, Gino was approached by Wētā Digital’s Visual Effects Supervisor, Joe Letteri, who was intrigued by the way Gino had made the skin colouration of a physical silicone puppet of the dead Boromir so believable. Joe then asked if Gino would be interested in texture painting on Gollum.

Although he saw himself as computer illiterate, Gino grasped the new digital challenges, becoming the Art Director for the digital creatures and the liaison between Wētā Workshop and Wētā Digital. Thus, allowing for a continuous design vision from initial illustrative designs through to the final digital effects shots shown onscreen.

Gino’s work at Wētā Digital includes HOD of the textures department and creative art director. On King Kong and The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep, Gino along with Richard Taylor supervised the sculpting of the maquettes for digital scanning, and making the physical silicone puppets used for environment and actor interaction. These were later replaced with the digital creature that is seen onscreen.

As Creature Art Director on Avatar, Gino oversaw 52 Wētā Digital texture artists. They used innovative techniques of life casting, to achieve details such as minute skin pores which were cast in silicone and scanned. They were then applied to the digital models breathing life and colour into the world of Pandora.

Gino has recently finished work on Pete’s Dragon . Before that he was focused on the critically acclaimed summer blockbuster Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, and the final film in Peter Jackson’s epic Hobbit trilogy, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies.

Writer, Producer, Director, NZ

Mia Maramara is a Filipino-born filmmaker with work that has screened both locally and internationally. Her passion for authentic, trailblazing stories has led her to wear different hats in the industry, most notably as a writer, director, and producer.

She most recently wrote and directed Albularyo (Beyond the Veil) for TV2, which earned her the distinction of being the first Filipino director to helm a prime-time drama on New Zealand TV. In the same year, she released Only Human as part of the Loading Docs initiative.

Her upcoming projects include writing for feature films Kāinga, the third film in the trilogy of Waru and Vai, and EDF recipient Do It Just to Please Me with Michelle Saville and Eli Kent.

In the Philippines, she worked under award-winning producer Bianca Balbuena as a production assistant on Pepe Diokno’s film Above the Clouds.

Philippine Country Manager, 108 Media, Singapore

Micah Tadena is a Filipino Producer. She serves as Philippine Country Manager at 108 Media, an IP-focused global company with over 10 offices in the world. Prior to this, she was Head of Business Development of the Cinematografo team in ABS-CBN Global. She produced the Filipino-Singaporean horror film EERIE, which broke box office records locally and was an international hit on Netflix worldwide.

Production, Netflix ANZ, Sydney

With over 24 years experience in the film & television industry, in both New Zealand and Australia, Jonny Kennerley recently joined Netflix in the ANZ Production team in May 2021.

Prior to joining Netflix, Jonny line produced the feature film "Carmen" and TV Series, "Wakefield" for ABC & Showtime, "The Secret She Keeps" for Channel Ten & BBC, and "Reckoning" for AXN (Sony). Although predominantly working in scripted long-form, Jonny has also enjoyed working in various roles on un-scripted, commercials and documentaries.

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Writer & Producer for Film, TV & Documentaries, LA

As a writer/producer for film, tv, and documentaries, Brooks brings a unique and diverse perspective to his work. In 2018 he was the Creator and Executive Producer of the Netflix summer hit HOW IT ENDS. His most recent scripts include the RAMBO: FIRST BLOOD reboot for Millennium Films, and the original FIGHT OR FLIGHT, voted to the 2020 Hollywood Blacklist, and set up with Thunder Road, the producers of Sicario and John Wick. Currently Brooks is working with director Espen Sandberg (Kon-Tiki) and Leonardo DiCaprio’s Appian Way on a radical ecological thriller about saving the Amazon Rainforest. The story is personal for Brooks as prior to his career as a storyteller, he worked in the alternative energy sector fighting climate change.

Commissioner, Drama and Scripted Comedy, TVNZ, Auckland

Steve Barr moved to New Zealand in 2010 after working for 16 years in the Hollywood industry. He has been a studio suit for Universal Studios, a feature screenwriter for Walt Disney Pictures, and the vice president of development for indie production company SMASHfilms. Steve has been hired to write a dozen or so screenplays in the New Zealand, American, and Chinese industries, two of which have been produced - Timeslow and Born To Dance. He has produced nearly 20 short films and two features - Chronesthesia and Hang Time.

Steve has a BFA in Theatre from the University of Southern California, and has taught screenwriting for the New Zealand Film and Television School, the New Zealand Writers Guild, Massey University, and Victoria University. He is a member of the WGA, WIFT, SPADA and served as president of the New Zealand Writers Guild. He is currently the commissioner for drama and scripted comedy for Television New Zealand.

Interactive Experiences Designer, Walt Disney Parks & Resorts, Imagineering & Studios, Orlando

Over the past 30 years as an experience designer, creative innovator and veteran producer, Jason’s career has always been at the heart of The Walt Disney Company. Through “Pocahontas”, “Tarzan”, “Bolt”, “Princess and the Frog”, “Tangled” and many other films, Jason produced and pushed the envelope of computer graphics at Walt Disney Animation Studios. He was then invited to Walt Disney Imagineering R&D where he developed theme park innovations for Disneyland in California & Shanghai Disneyland and implemented new technologies on a number of films including “Disney’s The Jungle Book,” Marvel’s “Avengers: End Game” and Lucasfilm’s “Star Wars: Rogue One.”

Today, Jason lives in Florida with his husband Noel and creates new digital attraction experiences for Disney’s Parks, Resorts, and Cruise Line. His family is hosting their 18th and 19th high school exchange students from Bosnia Herzegovina and Brazil. Past students have come from New Zealand, Argentina, Japan, and across Europe. Their daughter recently graduated with a degree in design at the University of California at San Diego.