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LATEST FILMS |
About
Number 8 Films
| Number 8 Films is a charitable film-making trust
founded by writer/director Christopher Banks and producer Andy Jalfon in late 2009.
Number 8 Films encourages and facilitates the highest standards of artistic achievement in the production of New Zealand films, to increase opportunities for New Zealanders to see locally-made stories and enrich our cultural heritage. Revenues earned by its productions are reinvested into future films to ensure the sustainability of our local film culture.
The charitable purpose of the Trust is to promote growth within and community awareness of film-making culture in New Zealand. In achieving this purpose, Number 8 is committed to: |
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Facilitate, encourage and support the creation of film projects in New Zealand.
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Provide training, support and assistance to people of all ages interested in performing and screen arts by experienced practitioners.
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Promote and explore opportunities for people of all ages interested in performing and screen arts, and enhance the culture of film amongst the wider community through promotional activities and information dissemination.
Number 8 Films is registered charity # CC43680 with the Charities Commission.
About
the Trustees
Christopher Banks
Creative Director
Christopher Banks is an award-winning film-maker, journalist and
songwriter.
His first feature, the camp comedy Quiet Night In, was unleashed
on the international festival circuit in 2005, with an
Australasian DVD release in 2007.
His second film, Teddy, was released in 2009 to critical and
audience acclaim and played at some of the worlds largest gay
film festivals, including Outfest Los Angeles, Frameline San
Francisco, and Inside Out Toronto. |
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It has won three
awards, and became the first New Zealand film to be nominated
for the prestigious Iris Prize for short filmmaking in the UK.
His third film, Communication, was released in 2010 and has won
two international awards.
Banks was the senior writer for New Zealand's leading gay news
and entertainment website GayNZ.com from 2003-06, and was an
occasional contributor to London's Gay Times magazine. He writes
fortnightly for New Zealand's national gay newspaper Express,
and in 2004 he wrote, directed and presented stories for the
award-winning TV2 show Queer Nation.
In the late 1990s, Banks wrote and produced a string of top 40
hits in New Zealand, including three consecutive number ones for
a pop group which he founded, Deep Obsession. It was the first
time a local group had ever achieved such a feat, and the
subsequent album was certified platinum and went on to be
released internationally.
He has worked in public relations for the New Zealand AIDS
Foundation, Mental Health Foundation of New Zealand, and the
Access To Medicines Coalition.
Since 2006 he has been the co-editor of Collective Thinking, a
quarterly magazine for HIV-positive people, their carers and
supporters. His daily blog, Bipolar Bear, chronicles his
personal experience of living with a mental illness.
Banks lives in Auckland, New Zealand, and is married to Dean,
his partner of sixteen years. He is very fond of Orson Welles,
Woody Allen, Stanley Kubrick, the boardgame Cluedo, and the
classic British sitcom Are You Being Served?.
Working with producer Andy Jalfon, he is currently on the
international festival circuit with his fourth film, The
Colonel's Outing, which builds on the bittersweet mix of emotion
which captured the hearts of audiences for Teddy and
Communication, portraying a relationship between two men in the
twilight of their lives in a way which few have cared to
acknowledge or celebrate.
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Andy Jalfon
Head of Production
Andy Jalfon is an award-winning producer, photographer and
cameraman.
He has produced and directed a wide variety of short films,
music videos, documentaries and corporate videos for various
media.
His background is in still photography where his photographs
were used by Virgin Atlantic. He cut his teeth as a camera
operator working in live events at the Waitakere Trusts Stadium,
Eden Park, Mt Smart Stadium and Pukekohe before working at the
New Zealand Racing Board as a camera operator for Trackside. |
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He has been involved with
the biggest shows on New Zealand television, producing the
Shortland Street: Behind the Scenes online documentary series
for TVNZ as well as directing live interactive online broadcasts
with the show’s actors.
He has also produced behind the scenes content for the last
three series of Dancing with the Stars, as well as The Singing
Bee, Top Town, The Amazing Extraordinary Friends and MasterChef
New Zealand.
The lead Content Producer during the creation and redesign of
TVNZ Ondemand, the first online television catch-up service in
the southern hemisphere, he has managed the online properties
for some of the biggest shows on NZ television.
Andy has run filming workshops with the The New Zealand Film
Academy and the Uxbridge Creative Centre. His passion in online
media brings an extensive knowledge of presentation,
distribution and syndication, getting the message out to the
target audience as effectively as possible.
As Head of Production at Number 8 Films, a charitable
film-making trust he founded with director Christopher Banks in
2009, he was director of photography on their international
award-winning short film Communication.
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