MARK WILLIS (Co-Writer/Director)
Mark discovered his love for films while working in a video store back in the 1980s. A few years later, he became the FX creator/supervisor for Robert Sarkies’ Nightmare Productions, showing off his creative streak on such award-winning short films as Dreammakers, Flames from the Heart and Signing Off. In 1999, he wrote 13 short horror episodes entitled ‘From Under the Bed’ for the children’s show, What Now?
That same year, while working on Robert Sarkies’ first feature film Scarfies, Mark conceived the idea for his first short film Splinter, which was completed with funding from Creative NZ. He then dedicated himself to furthering his skills as a scriptwriter and director while embarking on his first feature film, Blind Panic.
Mark was tragically killed in May 2023. Right up to his death, he was writing – focussing on children’s horror stories.
MATTHEW MAWKES (Co-Writer/Producer)
Matthew arrived in Wellington in 2000, at a time when the city was fast becoming New Zealand’s filmmaking capital. There he attended a crash course at Avalon Film & TV School before launching into producing films.
In Wellington Matthew met Mark and started a collaboration that led to Blind Panic. With a wide range of experience on all levels of production, Matthew often found himself helming low-budget projects, such as short comedy Burst and a heavy metal music video for Wellington band Bulletbelt directed by Jason Howden (Deathgasm, Guns Akimbo).
Recently, Matthew has focussed on screenwriting – and nowadays raises money for good causes outside the film world.
JEFF HURRELL (Co-Producer/Editor)
Having obtained a BA in film studies at Victoria University in Wellington in 1994, Jeff co-founded Martinsquare, a production house dealing in a wide range of television and film projects, establishing him as a talented and much in-demand editor.
The first short film he edited, The Hole, was invited to the Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival. This led to Jeff editing a myriad of other shorts, such as Splinter, Eel Girl and Lambs. He also developed a collaboration with documentary filmmaker Bryan Bruce, editing the hugely successful The Investigator TV series.
His feature film credits include genre films such as The Devil’s Rock, Deathgasm and local musical Born to Dance. And look out for Jeff who plays Prescott’s henchman in Blind Panic.
APRIL PHILLIPS (Co-Producer)
April Phillips is a writer, director, story consultant, and producer of films. She is also one of New Zealand’s most licensed playwrights and holds a master’s degree in creative writing (scriptwriting). Her short films have been selected at prestigious genre festivals including Fantasia (Montreal), Screamfest (Los Angeles), Horror Hound (Cincinnati), London Sci-Fi, FilmQuest (Utah), A Night of Horror (Sydney), and Fantastic Planet (Sydney). Official selections include the Burbank International Film Festival, Cinema des Antipodes (Cannes), Worldfest (Houston), Sarasota International Film Festival, and many more.
April has won numerous international awards for writing and directing and was nominated for the Minerva Award (FilmQuest) for female genre filmmaking. In 2020 she received the Best Shorts Outstanding Achievement Humanitarian Award for the disability themes in her short film The Last Man on Earth. In 2023, April co-wrote and co-directed the feature film 1978 (currently in post-production). Her short film Mako was an official selection for the New Zealand International Film Festival and Show Me Shorts.
