David Madigan, Chair
Elected Chair of the Board of Trustees in July 2004 and reconfirmed in December 2006, David Madigan also serves as Chair of the Trust's Finance & Audit Committee established by the Board at the July 2004 meeting to provide oversight on the organisation's expenditures against budget and financial delegations.
David has been a production sound mixer in the film and television industry since 1977 beginning with the ABC in Australia and then Television New Zealand.
Since 1985 he has worked for himself and has worked on numerous feature films including recently Perfect Creature, No 2 and most recently 30 Days of Night, as well as television drama series and more than 100 television commercials.
He has been a board member of the New Zealand Film and Video technicians Guild since 1994 and was its President from 1998 until 2001.
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Sue Thompson, Deputy Chair
Sue Thompson's career in the New Zealand and Australian film industry began in Australia where she worked as manager for programmes and promotion for the Valhalla Cinema chain before moving up to manager, Valhalla Distribution. Crossing the Tasman in the early 1990s to work in international sales, film financing and production, Sue joined Avalon Studios as Studio Executive and Film Investment Manager.
In 1995 she was made General Manager of The Film Unit which was then under the ownership of Television New Zealand. Her progression of the laboratory's work achieved such a standard it was the first in the world to receive total quality management accreditation from Kodak called Imagecare.
In 1999 Peter Jackson purchased The Film Unit from TVNZ and Sue was made CEO initiating a substantial upgrade of the facilities that made The Film Unit the most comprehensive post production facility in the Southern hemisphere. She oversaw the development of and managed the new state-of-the-art Park Road Post facility in Miramar that replaced The Film Unit and, following completion of Peter Jackson's King Kong at the new facility in December 2005, resigned to return to work in production and financing.
Sue served as Chair of Film New Zealand from 2001 until July 2004, building on her involvement as either a director or advisory support for the organisation over the previous five years. In addition to serving as Deputy Chair, reconfirmed in December 2006, Sue has been a member of the Finance and Audit Committee since February 2006.
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Peter Avery
Peter Avery has been involved in the creative industries since graduating with a Diploma in Visual Communication in 1973.
He was an Advertising Creative Director until 1980 when he joined the film industry, initially in Australia as an Art Director, and then in 1983 as a film director specialising in TV Commercials.
Peter has worked throughout the world and has received numerous international awards including both the New York and London Art Director's hall of fame.
In 2001 he joined Venture Taranaki to set up Film Venture Taranaki, the regional film office. That initiative helped persuade Warner Bros to base its Last Samurai shoot in Taranaki.
He is the regional film office representative on Film New Zealand's Board of Trustees, having been re-elected in 2006. Peter also served as a member of the Trust's Finance & Audit Committee from July 2004 through to December 2006.
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Julie Elstone
Julie Elstone joined the Board of Trustees in October 2006 bringing extensive experience working as a supervising and executive producer of television commercials, most recently with Silverscreen.
Having started her career in still photography, Julie moved into television as a facilities manager in 1981 and from there into film and television production as a production manager before concentrating on television commercials with Silverscreen Productions. Her TVC career has involved production and marketing work in Australia, South-east Asia and throughout New Zealand with a wide range of national and international clients. Based in Wellington, Julie is now a consultant producer. She is also a member of the Screen Production and Development Association (SPADA) and WIFT.
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Murray Francis
Murray Francis set up the first stand at the Locations Expo to promote New Zealand in the 1990s. He has been a strong advocate of New Zealand as a location and New Zealanders as crew ever since.
He comes from a Quantity Surveying background and has been involved with the film industry for most of his working life.
He has line produced feature films, including most recently The World's Fastest Indian and as Supervising Producer on the New Zealand location shoot for Roland Emmerich's 10,000 B.C. Through his company Film Business, Murray has produced numerous television commercials for clients throughout the world.
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Julian Grimmond
Producer and director Julian Grimmond joined the Board of Trustees in October 2006. Based in Queenstown in the South Island, Julian is an Emmy ® Award winning producer and brings extensive production experience in numerous countries around the world.
Julian's companies include Mountain Film Unit Ltd, an international focussed production company and Global Film Solutions Ltd, a screen risk management company. Having produced with partners in the USA, United Kingdom, Europe, North and South Africa, Central and South Asia, South America and the Middle East, Julian understands international production and New Zealand's competitive advantage.
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Ruth Harley
Ruth Harley represents the New Zealand Film Commission where she has held the position of Chief Executive since 1997. During her time the Commission has financed more than 40 features.
Ruth Harley's responsibilities at the Commission involve her directly with the growth of the New Zealand film industry. She has reshaped the Commission's vision, restructured the organisation, increased the number of films in which the Commission invests, and also led moves to establish the New Zealand Film Fund which provides new opportunities for experienced New Zealand filmmakers.
Prior to joining the Film Commission, Ruth held various positions in the screen production sector including head of independent production at TVNZ and inaugural CEO of New Zealand On Air.
As a Film New Zealand Trustee, Ruth Harley represents the Large Budget Screen Production Grant Scheme. She also serves on the Finance & Audit Committee.
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Keith Mackenzie
Based in Wanaka in the South Island, Keith Mackenzie joined the Board of Trustees in October 2006 contributing his wealth of experience in production budgeting and accounting. In December 2006, Keith joined the Board's Finance and Audit Committee.
Keith worked as Production Accountant on numerous domestic and international productions including Never Say Die and The Piano before moving on to the Xena/Hercules TV series as Production Accountant, Controller and Supervisor. More recently, he has brought his skills to Boogeyman as financial consultant, assisted numerous producers with feature film budgeting, and provided New Zealand On Air with financial assessments on television dramas. Keith's financial expertise is widely employed in relation to the Large Budget Screen Production Grant scheme.
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Cheryll Sotheran
Dame Cheryll Sotheran, Sector Director Creative Industries at New Zealand Trade and Enterprise, joined the Board of Trustees in December 2006 representing Investment New Zealand, an agency of Trade and Enterprise.
Dame Cheryll has had a long career in the cultural and tourism sectors, including university teaching and management and governance roles such as directorships of public art museums and membership of the Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council. She was the founding CEO of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa from 1993-2002 - Australasia's largest tourism attraction.
Since 2002, Dame Cheryll has held the position of Sector Director Creative Industries at Industry New Zealand in December 2002 and more recently with New Zealand Trade and Enterprise, with responsibility for ensuring the delivery of a growth strategy for New Zealand's creative sector, including screen production.
She replaces Paul Voigt, Investment Manager – Investment New Zealand, who served on Film New Zealand's board since the Trust's inception.
