Hamish Bennett

Hamish Bennett is a New Zealand Maori writerdirector Te Arawa Patuharakeke Kai Tahu He has made two award winning shorts The Dump 2011 and Ross Beth 2014 Bellbird 2019 was Hamishs first feature film It expanded on the world established in the two shorts and was filmed in the small rural Northland community where he grew up Described by Variety as exquisitely tuned and by Screen International as a deeply felt sliceoflife delight Bellbird had its world premiere as one of 12 films in competition at the 2019 Sydney International Film Festival It completed a successful Australasian theatrical run in 2020 and received acclaim on the international festival circuit most recently picking up the Best Screenplay award at the Macao International Film Festival Hamish has been a school teacher for over 20 years and continues to juggle filmmaking with part time teaching He is the father of two boys