Throng

Linwood community constable Stefen Harris may have lost out to Peter Jackson as a 15-year-old film maker in a ‘Spot On’ filmmaking competition, but his Hollywood dream has been revived after being awarded the Air New Zealand Inspiring New Zealanders scholarship in film for 2007.

Harris has scored the opportunity of a lifetime – to receive mentoring from New Zealand’s own LA-based director Martin Campbell and work with Campbell on his next feature film. Martin Campbell is the critically acclaimed director of Bond movies Casino Royale and GoldenEye, and was nominated for an Academy Award and Golden Globe for The Mask of Zorro.

The decision to award the Inspiring New Zealanders scholarship to 44-year-old Harris came after a trip to Los Angeles last week, where Campbell interviewed three finalists. Campbell said Stefen embraced all the qualities that the Inspiring New Zealanders programme was looking for.

“I was very impressed with Stefen's movie "The Waimate Conspiracy". Not only was I entertained, I got very involved in the story and, more importantly, in the characters. The drama was sprinkled with humour and poignancy, and has what so few movies have these days, heart. All this done with a minuscule budget and one camera, shot in a few days. Stefen is clearly motivated, hard working and dedicated to becoming a filmmaker.”

Harris has been making films since he was a teenager, and is also a published novelist going by the name Stefen Lewis.

“I am thrilled to have been awarded the scholarship and I’m looking forward to learning everything I can from Martin Campbell. Working with Martin on his next feature film will give me valuable insight into the international film industry and will create a strong position for me to move forward to greater success in the future,” Harris said.

On top of the 12-month mentoring programme with Campbell, Harris will also take a short course at the UCLA film school, attend a dinner hosted by the New Zealand Consul General where he will be introduced to key industry representatives, and be present at the pre-Oscar party hosted by the New Zealand consulate in Los Angeles.

As part of his application for the scholarship, Stefen submitted his award-winning film The Waimate Conspiracy, a mockumentary about a land claim in Waimate that was shot over six days with a budget of $15,000. The Waimate Conspiracy has been awarded critical acclaim, taking out best film at the Wairoa Maori Film Festival, Best Film at DigiSPAA Australian Screen Producers Association, Best Film at Dreamspeakers Aboriginal Film Festival Canada and Best Digital Film at Air NZ Screen Awards.