TORCHLIGHT FILMS
sustainable local filmmaking telling stories that matter
cast & crew bios
shane loader writer/director/producer
Shane has been working in film since the early 1980s in a variety of roles. For the last ten years he has specialised as an editor. His editing credits include the critically acclaimed landmark documentary features Someone Else's Country and In a Land of Plenty, Sedition and Waves as well as the award-winning short film The Intruder and feature drama Taking the Waewae Express. His 30 minute drama The Terrorist was selected for competition at Clermont-Ferrand in 1994. He was editor and producer of Backroom Troubles which ten years on continues to be screened at international medical conferences and Ethics departments of medical schools. Since 1999 Shane has taught screen acting at the annual New Zealand National Youth Drama School.
andrea bosshard writer/director/producer
Since studying at Swinburne Film School in Melbourne, Andrea has made many short films over the years. These include the award-winning Walking Past Midnight (Cinevex Script Award 1992 / Silver Award for Cinematography from ASC-Australia 1993), The Intruder (Best Cinematography - Ann Arbour 2001) as well as the critically acclaimed documentary Backroom Troubles and feature drama Taking the Waewae Express. Andrea has taught screen performance at the Wellington Performing Arts Centre for nine years and has also lectured in Film Production at Victoria University.
jeremy macey producer
Jeremy worked as a theatre actor and producer before starting in the screen industry in 1995 on Shane and Andrea's short film The Intruder, after which he worked in art department and production on short films and TVCs. On moving to Moscow, he worked initially in advertising, then on documentary and feature projects before returning to New Zealand to study documentary filmmaking. He has produced and directed three documentaries and worked as development co-ordinator at the New Zealand Film Commission before returning to the industry as producer and script advisor.
deane cronin camera / lighting
Deane trained as a photographer and has for the last 20 years worked as a freelance cameraman. Together with Bruno Lawrence, he was founding tutor of the National Youth Drama School which this year celebrates its twentieth anniversary. Deane has filmed most of the Wellington Performing Arts Centre graduation films with either Shane or Andrea directing and this working relationship of nine years lead to his shooting both Taking the Waewae Express and operating first camera on Hook, Line & Sinker.
annie collins editor
You may not be familiar with veteran editor Annie's name or face, but you will certainly be familiar with her work. She began her career as sound editor on what are now considered seminal films of New Zealand's new national cinema - Roger Donaldson's Sleeping Dogs and Geoff Murphy's Goodbye Pork Pie. On becoming a picture editor, Annie cut the late Merata Mita's documentary on the 1981 Spingbok Tour Patu! and the late Barry Barclay's increasingly prescient documentary The Neglected Miracle. She was assembly editor on The Return of the King of the The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Her drama editing credits include Robert Sarkies' Scarfies, Out of the Blue and Two Little Boys. Recent additional credits include Shopping and documentaries Gardening with Soul and Song of the Kauri. go to interview...
plan 9 composers
Award-winning Wellington-based composers Plan 9, consisting of David Donaldson, Steve Roche and Janet Roddick, have scored music for film, television, installation and theatrical projects for almost two decades. In collaboration with David Long, they composed the cultural music and the music/sound of "The One Ring" for Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy. The group has also created ambient music design for Jackson's King Kong and contributed to the soundtrack of Jackson's The Lovely Bones. Other projects include Second Hand Wedding, Predicament and Love Birds.
trixie woodill production designer
A veteran of New Zealand's cinema renaissance in the early 80's, Trixie began her career at TVNZ in 1975. Specialising in art department, including props buying and set-dressing, she made her mark as historical costume designer for iconic New Zealand films Utu, Illustrious Energy and Angel at my Table - works made on a scale previously untried in this country. After many years away from the industry, she returned to work on Hook, Line & Sinker.
rangimoana taylor actor / associate producer
A leader in the Maori renaissance as it occured in theatre and co-founder of Taki Rua Theatre in 1982, Rangimoana has been performing, directing and teaching for 35 years. Named as one of the top ten international storytellers, he tours regularly in this capacity. Since his appearance in Shane and Andrea's first feature Taking the Waewae Express, Rangimoana has made regular appearances in short NZ films.
carmel mcglone actor
Carmel McGlone has performed in most of New Zealand's professional theatres. She received in 2004 the Chapman Tripp Best Actress Award for her role as Lady Macbeth. Her most recent theatre includes playing Queen Elizabeth 1 in Circa's Festival of the Arts (2010) production of the Schiller classic Mary Stuart. Since Hook, Line & Sinker, she has been filming the second series of the Emmy award winning on-line TV drama Reservoir Hill. Carmel is at present a tutor/co-ordinator at the Whitireia Performing Arts campus in Wellington.
geraldine brophy actress
Geraldine is one of New Zealand's best known actresses, a familiar face on both stage and screen. Most recently she has been touring shows of Grumpy Old Women and Party Girls. Audiences will also recognise her as a celebrity contestant on Dancing with the Stars, where she danced for Arthritis NZ, the charity for which she is ambassador and from her three year stint as Moira Crombie on Shortland Street. In 2008 she walked away with the Qantas Film and Television Awards Best Actress in Film for her lead role in Second Hand Wedding and in 2009 won the Chapman Tripp Theatre Award for Outstanding Performance in Blood Wedding at Circa Theatre. She continues to write and perform for her own company Number 8 Theatre.
elizabeth mcmennamin actor
Elizabeth graduated from the Wellington Performing Arts Centre in 2005 where Andrea introduced her to screen performance. Since then she has trained at the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York, Carter Thor Studios in Toronto, Canada, and recently with Mike Saccente in Auckland. She returned from a two year stint in Canada to take on the role of Stella in Hook, Line & Sinker. Since then, she has toured NZ secondary schools as a member of the Ensemble Impact theatre group, and most recently appeared as 'Jean' in Colin McColl's production of August: Osage County with the Auckland Theatre Company.
eli kent actor
Involved in professional theatre since his teens, Eli has performed in numerous shows in Wellington and is the author of several award winning plays, including The Intricate Art of Actually Caring (2008 Chapman Tripp Most Outstanding Playwright of the Year) and Rubber Turkey. His film and television work includes roles in TV series The Investigator and Sensing Murder, and NZ horror-comedy film Black Sheep. He continues to write and perform and was recently honoured with the Bruce Mason Award.
kc kelly actor
As professional actor for thirty-five years and a Kiwi for the past twenty, KC has appeared on and off Broadway, in regional and community theatre and on radio, television and film. Off stage he works as an acting and accent coach, theatre director and dramaturge and for over a decade was Senior Acting Tutor at Toi Whakaari, the National Drama School of New Zealand. Most recently he has been directing the Ensemble Impact theatre group for their tour of New Zealand secondary schools.
matthew chamberlain actor
Matthew graduated from Lincoln University with a Bachelor of Agriculture and Commerce before taking a career U-turn and studying performance at Toi Whakaari, the National Drama School of New Zealand. He has performed many roles on Wellington stages as well as appearing in NZ features In my Father's Den and The Insatiable Moon. Matthew has recently moved to Auckland to play Murray Cooper, the newest arrival to Shortland Street.
alan palmer actor
After working as an actor with the National Youth Theatre of Great Britain, Alan trained at the prestigious Guildhall School of Music and Drama London. In his professional acting career in the UK, he spent two seasons at the Open Air Theatre in Regents Park London with The New Shakespeare Company. He toured the UK in a number of productions and played "Ratty" in the West End production of Toad of Toad Hall at the Piccadilly Theatre. He has also appeared on TV series The Bill and Minder. After immigrating to New Zealand in 1985, Alan founded the Northland Youth Theatre and is currently managing the Wellington campus of Whitireia Perfoming Arts Centre.
kate harcourt actor
Kate barely needs introduction. A veteran of stage, screen and radio, she began her career as an actor in the early 60's on children's radio and television. Honoured with Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for her contribution to theatre in 1995, Kate continues to appear on professional stages around New Zealand, including the critically aclaimed Flowers from my Mother's Garden which she performed with her daughter Miranda Harcourt. In 1997, Kate was named Evening Post Wellingtonian of the Year. Her role as Ambassador for Macular Degeneration New Zealand and her involvement in Hook, Line and Sinker has been a fortuitous coincidence.