Our Board
DEGANZ is an incorporated society that employs staff and is overseen by a board elected from the membership.
Ben Powdrell
President
Ben is the current president of DEGANZ and a freelance film and television editor with over 25 years’ experience in post-production.
His recent work includes editing the feature documentary THE STOLEN CHILDREN OF AOTEAROA, premiering at Māoriland Film Festival 2025, MILES FROM NOWHERE (Sky, Neon) and RED, WHITE AND BRASS for Piki Films.
Ben worked at Wētā FX between 2016 and 2026, both as a VFX editor and, most recently, in the marketing team.
The animated rural zombie comedy series BLOKE OF THE APOCALYPSE, which Ben co-produced and edited the additional content for, is returning for season 2 in 2027.
Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington | Contact >
Rāhera Herewini-Mulligan (Ngāi Tūhoe/Ngāi Tai/Te Whānau a Apanui)
Vice-President
Rāhera is a freelance editor and field director, and a fluent speaker of te reo Māori, with over 25 years of experience in the television industry.
She has built extensive expertise across documentary, reality, children’s, and magazine-style genres. From POLICE TEN 7 (TVNZ), MOVING OUT WITH KANOA (Three), and projects for Whakaata Māori ARIKI (Season 4) and HĪKINA TE MANUKA.
She has been involved with kapa haka in Tāmaki Makaurau, from Primary Schools to Secondary Schools and for the Tāmaki Makaurau Senior Kapa Haka Society.
Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland | Contact >
Phil Gore
Treasurer
Phil is a chartered accountant and production accountant with extensive experience in the screen industry. Since 2008, Phil has been working with the chartered accountancy firm, Acclime New Zealand Ltd (previously VCFO Group Ltd), which has a strong focus on the film and television industry and is a sponsor of DEGANZ.
Before this, Phil worked as a freelance production accountant for 8 years in NZ and Australia.
Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland
National Executive
Martin Brinkler ACE
Martin has established himself over recent years as one of New Zealand’s most exciting film editors, successfully working with both arthouse auteur filmmakers and mainstream entertainment.
Credits include the critically acclaimed OMAR, a Political Thriller directed by Oscar-nominated & Golden Globe-winning Hany Abu-Assad. Winning the Jury Award at the Cannes Film Festival 2013 and was nominated for the Best Foreign Film Oscar at the 2014 Academy Awards. His long-time collaboration with horror genre director Johannes Roberts includes OTHER SIDE OF THE DOOR (Twentieth Century Fox) and the box office smash hit 47 METERS DOWN (Entertainment Studios), which was the highest-grossing independent film of 2017.
Martin recently received the New Zealand Screen Award for Best Editing (as co-editor) on the American ballerina biopic JOIKA, directed by James Napier Robertson, and Best Picture for the Aotearoa New Zealand-based historical drama KA WHAWHAI TONU, directed by Mike Jonathan.
TV credits include the first season of costume drama BECOMING ELIZABETH (Starz/Lionsgate), MADAM (Travake/XYZ/Warner Bros. Discovery) and GNOMES (Stan/Disney Plus).
Between time in the editing room, Martin is a board member of DEGANZ and a judge for the New Zealand Screen Awards. He is also a member of the American Cinema Editors.
Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland | Contact >
Chris Dudman
Chris is an Oscar-nominated, multi-award-winning writer, director and producer whose work spans drama, documentary, and commercial filmmaking across a 40-year career in London and New Zealand.
Known for his ability to shape human experience into compelling screen stories, he has written and directed acclaimed projects such as HARRY, starring Oscar Kightley and Sam Neill (TV3), the award-winning docu-dramas THE DAY THAT CHANGED MY LIFE and BY THE BALLS (TVNZ). Most recently, he directed episodes of the U.S. true-crime series MURDER IS FOREVER (Discovery ID).
He began his career with BLACKWATER SUMMER, his Royal College of Art graduation film, which was nominated for a Student Oscar and won multiple international awards.
In the commercial world, he is one of Australasia’s most sought-after directors, with campaigns for brands like Nike, Qantas, and Steinlager, earning accolades at Cannes, D&AD, and beyond.
Christopher is currently writing, directing, and producing CLOSURE, a six-hour psychological thriller series for SKY TV, as well as a feature documentary on Colin McCahon, New Zealand’s most celebrated artist.
Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland | Contact >
Jesse Griffin
Jesse is a director, writer, actor and comic living in Auckland, NZ.
He is the co-creator, writer and director of the critically acclaimed TV comedy EDUCATORS on TVNZ+. Season 1 won the Bronze Award for worldwide comedy streaming at the New York Festivals, and Season 3 won the Silver Award at the same festival, as well as the 2023 NZTV Award for best comedy. EDUCATORS is currently screening on TVNZ+ and Netflix.
Jesse was a writer and director on THE OFFICE AUSTRALIA (Amazon Prime 2024) and is the creator of multi-award-winning American country music comedy character WILSON DIXON, performing in the UK, Australia and NZ since 2004, writing numerous festival-length shows, a comedy series for BBC Radio 2 (THE WILSON DIXON LINE, 2009) and a comedy special on TVNZ (WILSON DIXON THE NZ TOUR 2012). Jesse wrote and directed the TV comedy special LAST AT ELEVEN (TVNZ 2022); was a director and Creative Executive Producer on comedy series TALKBACK (TVNZ+, 2021); and writer, director and Executive Producer on COMEDY FOR CURE KIDS (TV3, 2012-2015) with the Flight of the Conchords, Taika Waititi, Lorde, Peter Jackson and many more.
As writer/director, Jesse made a short film called LUCKY LUKE (2025), a comedy about a teenage boy with criminally careless parents, which premiered at the Show Me Shorts Festival in 2026.
Tāmaki Makraurau Auckland
Celia Jaspers
Celia has over 30 years of experience in the industry she loves.
She’s worked all around New Zealand independently and for both domestic and international networks (BBC, Nat Geo, Animal Planet, Discovery, HGTV). With over 1,100 hours of director credits across several genres, she is very experienced in factual and documentary, and is a regular contributor to NZ’s most beloved programme, COUNTRY CALENDAR.
Simultaneously working in scripted drama, she’s completed three award-winning short films since 2020, garnering international acclaim. Most recently, Celia was lead producer on the feature film, THE DOG SHOW, whilst also working as a script supervisor on TV dramas.
She is currently on the national board of DEGANZ and is a judge for the New Zealand Television Awards, The New York Festivals Television & Film Awards, and a jury member for the International Emmy Awards.
Wairarapa / Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington | Contact >
Rebecca Tansley
Rebecca is an award-winning director, screenwriter and producer working across documentary and drama with a particular interest in the arts.
She recently completed her third feature documentary, TENOR: MY NAME IS PATI, which was a critical and box office success. Her previous feature documentaries CROSSING RACHMANIOFF and THE HEART DANCES have screened at festivals around the world, in cinemas throughout New Zealand and on international platforms.
In 2020, she was awarded a hotly contested NZWG Seed Grant for her screenplay PERSISTENCE. Rebecca has written and directed short films, and her film of a live opera won a 2022 NZTV award for Best Entertainment Programme. Her second opera film, THE STRANGEST OF ANGELS, won Special Mention at the 60th Golden Prague International Festival for Extraordinary Artistic Achievement.
Rebecca is a current board member of DEGANZ and a member of WIFTNZ, NZWG, and IMZ.
Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland | Contact >
Kim Webby
Kim Webby is a veteran documentary director and producer whose career spans more than thirty years across film, television, and journalism. Her documentaries and long-form series have screened on New Zealand television channels, the UK’s BBC Four, Al Jazeera, PBS, and streaming platforms.
UNLIKELY KIN, her second feature documentary, which she produced and co-directed with Michael Jonathan, premiered on the opening night of the 2026 Doc Edge Documentary Festival. Its companion documentary series, WHALES, RATS & KAURI, is on RNZ Video. As executive producer, Kim led the 2025 feature documentary and docu-series TAIARAHIA: TE KĀKAHU TAWHITO, which won the People’s Choice Best Documentary award at the 2026 Māoriland Film Festival. Its companion docu-series is also on RNZ Video.
Kim’s first feature documentary, PRICE OF PEACE (2015), won four international awards and screened at more than 30 film festivals. Since 2020, her directing work includes Whakaata Māori’s HOME, LAND & SEA, and she co-directed the documentary series IHUMAATAO, AKE, AKE, AKE. Kim was a director on TVNZ’s marquee series PASSENGERS, ARTEFACT, and COAST. She also directed the three-part documentary series WAHAROA: ART OF THE PACIFIC for Sky–Prime, hosted by Emeritus Professor Ngāhuia te Awekōtuku.
In 2026, she received the Raye Freedman Legacy Award at Doc Edge.
Te Moana-a-Toitehuatahi Bay of Plenty | Contact >