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Andrea & Shane

ANDREA BOSSHARD & SHANE LOADER have worked together as a filmmaking partnership since 1985, counterbalancing their differing strengths in writing, directing, editing and producing to make a wide range of short and medium length dramas and documentaries. In 1988, they were invited by documentary filmmakers Alister Barry and Russell Campbell to join Vanguard Films. And in 2008, they established Torchlight Films under the umbrella of the Community Media Trust. They are developing a model of filmmaking that takes advantage of the new digital technologies to create a financially sustainable, low-budget but professional film practice that is prolific, vigorous, independent and above all, relevant to our society. The stories they tell are sourced from our communities - stories that are contemporary, multi-cultural, cross-generational and which address the issues which affect us all. They have been particularly inspired by the films of British director Mike Leigh (Life Is Sweet, Secrets and Lies, All or Nothing) and the new Scandinavian cinema which was re-shaped and invigorated by the Danish Dogme’95 group (The Celebration, Brothers, Together, As It Is in Heaven).

A bit about us and the films we love...

WE HAVE BEEN working together as a co-writing/ co-directing team for many years. We both came from very different backgrounds in terms of our cinema experiences. Andrea's parents, culturally understimulated in a small town in the early 70's, set up a film society at which, more often than not, the Bosshard family (children in pyjamas) were the only audience. Thus Andrea was exposed to some of the important films of world cinema at a young age - Nanook of the North, Battleship Potemkin, Salt of the Earth ("We want the formula!") - and sometimes as a treat, she even saw them backwards! Shane, meanwhile, was catching the train with a mass of unsupervised Upper Hutt kids to go to matinee sessions at the Regent in Naenae, as much for the thrill of being part of an anarchic audience rolling jaffas down the aisle as it was for seeing Herbie Rides Again.

What brings us together in our filmmaking pursuits, is our interest in telling character-based stories, stories sourced from our communities where big themes play out in modest circumstances,  stories that explore the human condition and have the power to move and touch us. Without extensive crews, large lighting set-ups, copious amounts of equipment etc. -  all the trappings that are taken as the norm within the Hollywood model - story and performance are for us, our greatest resource and asset. This is where we have chosen to put our energy as filmmakers - into sharpening our abilities to tell a story through characters who bear the stamp of authenticity and truthfulness.

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