Komako Silver

From Hamilton, Komako is the youngest of the workshop crew with enthusiasm to spare and some fierce passions in place. She fell in love with cinema at age 10 when she watched Arabian Nights on television with her father.
That love was reinforced and re-realised when she attended an indigenous film workshop. Komako credits it with making her see cinema in a whole different way. Called the Fourth Cinema, it is 'telling stories for indigenous people by indigenous people'.
“Because Fourth cinema is such a new concept there is so much room for development. And not many people have caught onto it yet. It’s not about just indigenous people staying in that realm. It’s a whole new way of thinking about storytelling, stepping away from classical narrative and what that looks like. I definitely want to make a body of work that’s dedicated towards that.”
Another reason Komako came to film is because of her love of the arts. “Painting, photography, theatre, I love it all. And I wanted to be involved, but I didn’t want to do that art. So I thought, how can I be involved? I can film the artists!”
Fresh out of University, Komako is keen to put into practice what she has learnt while out on the Roadtrip. She’s also confident in her ability to relate well to the participants. “I’ve got heaps of energy. I’m not going to come across as much older, I still know what it’s like to be in highschool and I can speak to them in that language.”

James Muir

Sitting in a crowded theatre at a New York short film Festival and having the entire audience stand up and clap at the end of a film you’ve made must be a pretty awesome feeling. And it’s one that James Muir had recently when his film River Dog won best of the festival. Just one of the 10 awards it has picked up so far from around the world.
River Dog was James’ first film and is about his father’s battle to keep the Pahaoa River clean from farming pollution. “I was really surprised that it did well internationally, because I told a very New Zealand story,” said James.
James’ second film Love in a Little Town, a positive and heartfelt ode to the people of Lyttelton, went viral in the first three days of it going online. Te Papa has recently bought it as part of the National Collection.
“The stories I want to tell are the stories about people’s relationship with their environment. Not man being separate from nature but being a part of it. That’s at the root of everything that I do, not just films.”
James has a background of teaching Science in high schools and said his favourite thing about teaching is seeing a breakthrough in people, when they go beyond all the technicalities and find the root of their inspiration.
James is excited about the opportunity to “take what Inspiring Stories and Guy have been doing for the past couple of years, add my own little bit, and travel round New Zealand with it!"

Dena Kennedy

At high school, Dena was told by her social studies teacher on career day that acting is not a viable career, and that there were no avenues to get there. She proved her teacher wrong, and within 5 years she played a lead in her first television show, and worked as an actor for ten years before moving onto the other side of the camera. Her motivation for working for Inspiring Stories is to help young people realise that nothing is out of reach, if you have the tenacity, the drive and the passion to follow it through.
“I want to empower a group of our society that is often overlooked, who are soon to be adults, and soon to be running the country. I think sometimes they don’t feel like they have a voice.”
She believes that every person has stories to tell, and that these stories enrich our society and the culture of New Zealand.
"Our young people need positive platform life experiences, and what the trust is doing is providing that  in the guise of teaching film. When young people realise that they have choices and that their ideas are valuable, then there is no limit to what they can achieve."
Her favourite part of the film and acting industry is the people. "At the end of the day it is the people that give value to your life, and a deep love for this country of ours."

Laura Honey

Laura has seen some interesting things in her film career. From sewing up pro wrestler’s undies before their big bad battles for a TV series to the battle between locals in the Marlborough Sounds and a multi-national corporation. The locals were fighting against numerous salmon farms being installed in their idyllic waters. This project was personal for Laura as she is ardent about environmental issues. It culminated in a 30-minute documentary and a new affinity with the area.

“What I really loved about my project was all the people I met along the way. Everyone was so open and welcoming to me. A lot of people I interviewed I stayed with and they gave me dinner. I’m still in contact with them now so whenever I’m in the area I can go visit them and they all live in beautiful locations.”
Laura is keen to check out the community projects happening in all the towns she will visit on the Roadtrip (hoping something might spark an idea for a new film project).
“I really like being behind the camera and framing things and telling stories that people can relate to.”

Luke likes that film can transport you to another place and time, giving you experiences that you might not have in your real life.
“I want to tell quirky stories about odd things in life that happen to people, that are funny but sometimes kind of tragic and always interesting.”
He has been influenced or affected by a wide range of New Zealand films such as Boy, Smash Palace and Once Were Warriors. Further afield he loves Quentin Tarantino, the Coen brothers and Charlie Kauffman.
Luke recently wrote, directed and edited a short film called Slugs and Snails made with funding from the New Zealand Film Commission. It’s a dark comedy sci-fi set in a dystopian future and took Luke along with it to South Korea, where it had its world premiere at the prestigious genre film festival PIFAN.
Luke is also a film scholar, he holds a masters degree in screenwriting and tutors at Auckland University.
“I’ve made a lot of mistakes which is what you do when you just jump in and do it like I have, but I want to help some students shortcut some mistakes and be able to start on the right foot.”