Ainsley Gardiner (Ngāti Pikiao, Ngāti Awa, Te Whānau-a-Apanui, Whakatōhea), has produced more than a dozen short and feature films, documentaries and television drama series. Her latest film, Cousins, which she co-directed with Briar Grace-Smith and also produced, was released by ARRAY Releasing and is now streaming on Netflix. Gardiner produced the short films Two Cars, One Night and Tama Tu written and directed by Oscar-winner Taika Waititi, and also collaborated with Waititi on his feature films Eagle vs Shark (2005) and Boy (2009). Her first short film, Mokopuna, had a successful festival life, winning Gold at the Dreamspeakers Indigenous Film Festival. In 2015 Gardiner founded Miss Conception Films with Georgina Conder, focusing on female-lead character-driven projects with female key creatives, including the feature film The Breaker Upperers, documentary She Shears and the upcoming thriller Reunion. In 2017, Gardiner joined a team of women directors and writers to create the critically acclaimed feature film Waru. In 2019, Gardiner received the Sundance Institute Merata Mita Fellowship with Briar Grace-Smith. (Image courtesy ARRAY.)
