NZTECHO Spring 2021 | 5
IN FOCUS
Hamish Bennett Q&A Up until now, Hamish Bennett has been a fulltime primary school teacher and a part-time filmmaker. But after the success of his debut feature film Bellbird both here and around the world, the Northlander has had to reverse course, shifting into full-time filmmaking and part-time teaching. We caught up with the 43 year old to reflect on the success of Bellbird, how COVID-19 has impacted his plans, and the importance of keeping the film set a safe place for his crew. It’s almost been two years since you released Bellbird, you must be pleased with the great reception it received both here and around the world?
was received by people, was a really
Totally. It certainly exceeded our
pretty gratifying thing. You finish a
expectations. We set out to make a film that my whānau and friends
rewarding experience. Even a couple of years later, I get messages from people who’ve connected in some way with the story, and that is a film and you put it out there, but the thing with movies is that
would be proud of. If they were
they’ll always be around, they’ve
into it then I was going to be happy.
got longevity, and with a bit of
I probably kept my expectations
luck they’re going to continue to
quite contained as a protective
find new audiences. Given we’re
mechanism. But what eventuated
proud of our film, that is a pretty
with Bellbird, seeing how well it
lovely thought.