Ainsley Gardiner

Gardiner was born in Palmerston North and grew up in the Wellington suburb of Wadestown, attending Wadestown Primary School. Her mother is former MP Pauline Gardiner, and her father was a civil servant and politician, Wira Gardiner. When she was about 12 years old the family moved to Whakatāne. Gardiner is of Te Whānau-ā-Apanui, Ngāti Pikiao, Te Whakatōhea, Ngāti Awa and Tuwharetoa ki Kawerau descent. == Career ==

In 1995, Gardiner completed the Avalon Film and TV production course, and went on to work with producer Larry Parr at Kahukura Productions. She began producing short films, and also co-produced a 26-part series Lovebites. In 2009 Gardiner wrote and directed Mokopuna, a short film about a part-Māori girl who struggles to embrace her roots; the film won the best short film award at the Canadian indigenous film festival Dreamspeakers. In 2017, Gardiner joined a team of women directors and writers to create the feature film Waru, which focuses on child abuse in New Zealand. In 2021, Gardiner and Briar Grace Smith co-developed and co-directed the feature film Cousins, an adaptation of the 1992 novel of the same name written by Patricia Grace. With its release, Gardiner and Grace Smith made history as the only Māori women to have directed a feature film since the release of Mauri by Merata Mita in 1988. In 2023, Gardiner worked as an executive producer on the feature film Red, White & Brass, a Comedy Drama inspired by a true story of a Tongan super fan's attempt to get tickets to the Tonga vs. France Rugby World Cup. ==Honours and awards==

In 2010, Gardiner and Curtis shared the SPADA New Zealand Screen Industry Awards title of Independent Producer of the Year. In 2019, Gardiner and Briar Grace Smith were the recipients of the Sundance Institute Merata Mita Fellowship. == Filmmaking ==

Method Gardiner describes her approach to filmmaking as collaborative and intuitive, in which community is at the center of both the production and development process. In the making of Cousins, Briar Grace Smith states that she and Ainsley Gardiner worked best with a "flat hierarchy," in which neither filmmaker had more control or command than the other. In an interview with Sundance, Gardiner explains that her process of filmmaking has been shaped by her Māori identity in which there is a convergence of community and storytelling. Gardiner's cinematic language also revolves around visual and thematic metaphors. Influence Gardiner has stated that Merata Meta has had a large influence on her life and career. ==Screenography==