Producer Catherine Fitzgerald, ONZM, founded Blueskin Films in 2002. Her latest film, the thriller Coming Home in the Dark (dir James Ashcroft) premièred in the Midnight Section at Sundance this year. She currently has two films in post-production: Punch (dir Welby Ings) shot in New Zealand November – December 2020 and Returning Home, a Chinese/NZ feature documentary. Blueskin Films’ acclaimed features include One Thousand Ropes, The Orator (both NZ’s nominees for Best for Foreign Film) and Bellbird amongst its extensive international award-winning slate. Its features, shorts and documentaries have screened worldwide, and have been selected for the Berlinale, Venice, Cannes, Sundance, Toronto Film Festivals as well as the Academy Awards. Catherine has a strong slate of films by women, Māori and Polynesian and other under-represented voices. Recent releases include Bellbird and Helen Kelly. Short films The Meek and Coming Home in the Dark will be hitting the screens in 2021.
She also Chairs the NZ Film Festival Trust and Playmarket and is a founding Trust member of the Screen Women’s Action Group. Catherine has consulted for the Berlinale for the NATIVe strand, and served on Generation, NETPAC and Adelaide Festival Juries. Her other governance roles include the founding Chair of WIFT NZ, NZ Film Commission Board, the Board of the Dunedin College of Education, and SPADA among others.
The Asia Pacific Screen Academy expresses its respect for and acknowledgement of the South East Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. We pay our respects to the Traditional Owners of country, including the custodial communities on whose land works are created and celebrated by the Asia Pacific Screen Awards. We acknowledge the continuing connection to land, waters and communities. We also pay our respects to Elders, past and emerging. We recognise the integral role Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and First Nations peoples continue to play in storytelling and celebration spaces.
