The Vista Foundation was established to support people in New Zealand to become interested in the vocational skill sets that are needed to build a viable and successful local film industry in New Zealand.
The Vista Foundation was founded in 2015 when several of the founding shareholders of Vista Group Ltd decided to establish a charitable organisation to support the NZ film and screen industry. With the support of the publicly listed company - Vista Group, the Vista Foundation has an aim to help nurture the continued growth and success of all things film in New Zealand and put something back into Vista’s founding and home market.
John Barnett has since the 1970s brought a host of uniquely Kiwi stories to local and international screens, from Footrot Flats, to Whale Rider, Sione’s Wedding and Outrageous Fortune. As the boss of production company South Pacific Pictures for 24 years, he was a driving force behind some of our landmark television dramas and feature films. John was recognised in the 2020 New Years honours as a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to film and television.
Julie Cadzow represents the founders of Vista.
She is a retired primary and secondary school teacher, and an advisor on Dance Education in the tertiary sector. She has written many resources for dance in schools, with a focus on ways to use ‘movement to learn’ in all areas of the curriculum.
Her interest in integrated education has extended into the VF, and our current partnerships offer a portfolio of programmes for people of all ages to learn through, in and around film.
Brian Cadzow was one of the founders of Vista and has helped coordinate the initial funding of the Vista Foundation through four of the Vista founders and Vista Group. Brian provides his commercial and administrative knowledge as well as more than a 25 years association with the cinema and film industry to the Vista Foundation. Brian is passionate about the goals of the VF, building a more successful film industry in New Zealand and seeking more pathways/funding to achieve all of this.
Roseanne Liang is a director and screenwriter, born in Aotearoa New Zealand of Hong Kong Chinese descent. She found Hollywood representation with breakout Sundance-SXSW action short, Do No Harm, and her action-thriller feature Shadow in the Cloud won the People’s Choice Midnight Madness Award at TIFF in 2020. Roseanne is the showrunner of cult-hit post-apocalyptic dramedy Creamerie, and served as co-executive producer and block director on Netflix’s epic live action adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender. Roseanne was recently announced as the director of Warner Bros’ Maude VS Maude, an action film starring Halle Berry and Angelina Jolie.
Phil Bremner is the co-owner of Vendetta Films and the owner of the Academy cinema in Auckland.
Tan has 30 years’ experience working within the exhibition industry. He has worked across several territories including New Zealand, Fiji, Argentina, Australia, and India. Tan is currently the Regional Head of Business Development Asia Pacific for Vista Group and relishes the opportunity to work closely with exhibitors across the Asia Pacific region.
Jacob Stansfield holds an honours degree in Film and Creative Media and previously worked as a Marketing Lead for Vista Group. He now runs an Auckland based marketing business that is passionate about driving great outcomes for small and medium sized businesses. Jacob is motivated by the opportunity to support the New Zealand film Industry through the Vista Foundation. Particularly with issues like the commercialisation of local films and creating more opportunities for young talent in a growing and vibrant sector.
Roger is notable for spearheading the New Zealand film renaissance with Sleeping Dogs (1977). He has been busy directing in Hollywood for much of the period since. Donaldson’s first Kiwi story since acclaimed drama Smash Palace (1981) was Burt Munro biopic The World’s Fastest Indian (2005) — the most successful New Zealand film on home soil until the arrival of Taika Waititi’s Boy (2010)
.
Cliff Curtis alternates a busy diet of acting in the United States (where he’s forged a reputation as the actor to call on, for roles of varied ethnicity) with smaller scale New Zealand projects — including co-producing Taika Waititi’s smash hit Boy. His CV of Kiwi classics includes playing Pai’s father in Whale Rider, Uncle Bully in Once Were Warriors, and bipolar chess champion Genesis Potini in The Dark Horse.