VALDON FILMS AOTEAROA
A new Wellington-based production company formed by brothers Grant and Bryce Campbell. Currently developing three feature film projects with support from the NZ Film Commission.
GRANT CAMPBELL
Grant has a wide range of experience across many facets of the film and television industry. He holds two degrees: a B.Sc. in computing and a B.A in mathematics and has worked in Los Angeles, Australia, the Pacific islands and New Zealand .
In 1988 he took up the position of producer/manager with The Front Lawn, an Auckland based musical comedy company. Highlights of this period include producing two short films; The Lounge Bar (finalist - American Film & Video festival); and Linda's Body (Best short film - NZ Film & TV awards.) Grant also founded Front Lawn Records, negotiated a distribution deal with Virgin and produced two albums which went gold.
Moving into television, he produced numerous documentaries for TopShelf Productions including Cinema of Unease which was in official selection in Cannes. Grant was co- creator and originating director the long-running consumer affairs TV3 series Target, still in production.
His drama credits include eight feature films, Grant’s work as 2nd Unit director on the Gibson Group mini-series Typhon’s People, lead to two years working exclusively on comedy, directing
television series Skitz and TeleLaughs.
A dramatic short film he directed, Dirty Creature was co-written with Frances Walsh and produced by Sir Peter Jackson. Well received at international festivals, it screened in the opening gala of the Toronto Short film festival and was selected by the prestigious Clairmont-Ferrard.
Currently he is developing and writing a slew of feature projects with brother Bryce.
BRYCE CAMPBELL
Prior to his film career, Bryce trained as an Archaeologist, gaining an M.A. (hons.) from Auckland University, undertaking extensive fieldwork in the Pacific islands for the museum of Tahiti.
Bryce started his film career in the production department in 1986, assistant directing, location managing and Line producing. Working on more than two hundred television commercials, five television series and sixteen feature films. This filmography includes Sir Peter Jackson’s Bad Taste, Heavenly Creatures, Forgotten Silver, The Frighteners, Lord of the Rings and King Kong.
In 1995 he directed the high rating and iconic TV3 documentary In the Shadow of Vietnam. For the first time New Zealand’s Vietnam veterans broke their silence and talked about their war. This documentary is on permanent display at Auckland Museum and was instrumental in the veteran’s decision to stage Parade 98. This project also marked the start of creative collaboration with his brother Grant. The research and interviewing of over sixty veterans formed the inspiration and foundation for their first dramatic feature script The Sharp End. This project is currently undergoing script revision and has attracted Sir Peter Jackson as executive producer.
Currently with Grant, Bryce is editing Grandma’s Unicycle a feature-length documentary about their grandmother, a remarkable woman who was a vaudeville trick-cyclist in America in the twenties, and worked with notables such as W.C Fields, Valentino, Fred Astair and Cary Grant. At age 85 she returned to show business acting in Sir Peter Jackson’s Heavenly Creatures.