Wellington Silver Screeners: Vincent Ward _{by Alessia Belsito-Riera}

In our Wellington Silver Screeners series, Alessia Belsito-Riera shines a spotlight on the movers and shakers working in the film capital of New Zealand. 

Despite being one of the biggest Kiwi directors in cinema, Vincent Ward says that he became a filmmaker “sort of by accident”.

“I didn’t really ever intend to be a filmmaker, I just like making things,” he says. “I went down this path and the doors opened. Then I just took one step at a time and things happened.”

His oeuvre includes The Navigator: A Medieval Odyssey, Map of the Human Heart, and the heartbreakingly beautiful What Dreams May Come, yet Ward remains down to earth and genuine, saying that his favourite part of filmmaking is the terrific people he’s encountered. During our conversation he takes his time to tell me his stories, weaving them together into a narrative both adventurous and gossamer – a true master of his craft.

What sparked your interest in filmmaking?

It started with six head injuries and being hospitalised three times with concussions from playing rugby, which forced me into the art room at school. I seemed to do well at it so then I went to art school. I backed into it again by trying something new and doing an animation course. The films did well when I was at university. They got national and international releases in America and in New Zealand and won festivals.

What do you love about it?

You can create worlds, which I like, and you can tell people’s stories, go behind closed doors and see what makes them tick, and share moments with them that you wouldn’t necessarily share unless you’re in a relationship with someone or they were family. You get to see different sides of people that you wouldn’t normally see. It allows you a licence to visit people in the various ways that they interact in scenarios. I’m talking about characters. You can dig away, try and find meaning, and uncover or unravel somebody’s psyche.

After you finished university, and your projects started taking off and receiving some attention, how did you keep that momentum going?

It wasn’t any big strategy. My first film was the first New Zealand film in Cannes [Film Festival], Vigil, and it got a lot of press and screened everywhere. It was a small film, but it got reasonable releases internationally and at festivals. Then I followed it with another film, which we thought would never get made because it sounded outlandish. This was The Navigator: A Medieval Odyssey, which also got into Cannes and won a bunch of festivals. So just one film after another. Then I made another one in Canada, Map of the Human Heart, which was a huge adventure. Filming in the Canadian Arctic, filming in Montreal, filming in England, editing in Australia, working with Inuit, and with French and English and American actors as well. Jeanne Moreau, John Cusack, Annie Galipeau. I love working with actors. I teach acting often, and I find that trying to get that performance that is memorable, that’s what I love.

When you got the news from Cannes you must have been over the moon.

The first time, yeah! I had been working so hard, and I didn’t really know what to expect. I don’t remember any euphoria, I was just like, ‘Oh, okay, the next adventure!’ I just remember having been locked in that editing room for such a long time, and it’s an intense process, and then it was like having a month off, it was great. And with all these people and fanfare, going up to the Palais, and over 2000 people in the audience. For me at the time it was pretty out there.

All the hard work paid off! What have been some career highlights?

I think some of the more memorable are often smaller things with lesser-known people that I’ve worked with. Like an old lady that I worked with in the Canadian Arctic who had sun blindness and, even though it was very painful, she wanted to keep working because she liked Hollywood films and always imagined herself as an actress. Such incredible spirit. You come across these people that have a lot of courage and something very special about them. Finding those people, whether they’re actors or people that are just helping in some way, you’ve been given a gift.

Working with Kiefer Sutherland was awesome. Just such a professional actor, such a good person to work with, and so talented. Robin Williams – that was really special. When you work with him, when you direct him, you could talk and make comments all the way through his take and between his dialogue and encourage him, like you’re coaching him, and he’d go with it. At the end he’d say, ‘Thanks coach.’ [Laughs.] He wanted that feedback, and he loved doing improv work, which I love doing. That was pretty unique. Certainly a highlight with Robin, very loyal, very trusting, to work with. Became a long-term friend after my work with him on What Dreams May Come. Working with Max von Sydow, an actor that Ingmar Bergman worked with a lot. Working with Werner Herzog, that was great. And with New Zealand actors, Temuera Morrison was fabulous to work with. I’ve been very lucky. Acting is such a gift – some people have it, some people don’t. And wow, when somebody has it and you get to work with them, it’s such a godsend.

When I was shooting in Ukraine, there is a photo of me in a tank graveyard. There were about 400, 500 tanks. They were ex-Russian tanks originally used in Afghanistan, and they were just rusting. They were recommissioned and upgraded and used for defence. It was before the Russian invasion and that was amazing. I got out of there six months before the Russians invaded. We were filming on the Dnieper River outside of Kyiv. It was magic filming on the river at night until two o’clock in the morning. We had a seven-year-old, who was the lead in that part of the film, sailing a motorboat that the motor didn’t work in. We worked up an oar and a blanket as a sail, sailing under these massive Soviet-style bridges at night with a flotilla of small boats – some with smoke machines and all sorts. Just absolute magic. It was like a dream. That was special.

Having grown up and gotten your start in Wairarapa and Wellington, what’s particular about working in these areas?

I’ve never worked doing a huge feature film in Wellington or Wairarapa, so I haven’t been part of the international industry working in those areas. But what I like about working in Wellington and Wairarapa is that it’s personal and sometimes, paradoxically, working in small communities means that you meet a diverse range of people, because you’re much more connected on the ground. I really love that. Like there’s a guy who loaned us a truck on my first feature film, a 1936 Fargo, and he’s a motocross champ. Or I made a film about a woman who had about 150 chooks, and some of them lived in the kitchen, [laughs]. You’re much more interconnected. There’s more of a sense of community. I’ve just come back from staying on a marae in Te Urewera, where I made two films. And again, where do you hang out with huge, extended families? It was fantastic, I just felt a part of something.

What advice would you give someone who’s trying to break into the film industry?

I think it’s a devilishly difficult industry to start out in, but you just have to make films one way or another, and then if the work has something special about it, that will come through. I believe that if you do good work, good things will come out of it. Rather than being outcome-orientated and concentrating on what will happen when the work is finished and where it will end up, concentrate on making something good. And not talking about it all the time; doing it.

What are you working on currently?

I work as a fine artist as well as a filmmaker. I’ve got exhibitions scheduled for Queenstown, Dunedin, and Melbourne for 2026. I’ve just taken on a couple of new gallerists, one in Melbourne and one down south. In terms of film, it’s so speculative, I’ve got a TV series I’ve been working on for a long time set in Germany and a feature film drama that I have also been working on for a long time, that if my financier comes through, I’ll be making! So we live in hope.

Lots of small fires burning.

I like working across the different mediums.

Do they connect?

Yeah, they do. I draw images for my films sometimes and then the images that I create, that I conjure up in my mind, they go back into the films. The methodologies that I use for the artwork are methodologies that I can apply to some of the heightened moments in my films.