Q & A with Vanessa Wells

What is your career background?

"I am a filmmaker and theatre practitioner. My previous work includes The Court Theatre, The Court Jesters, CTV, and occasional voice work, I’m one of the supermarket self-checkout voices! I now mainly work in film with my production company Elanti Media. I am also on the board of Women in Film Television New Zealand, a tutor at University of Canterbury’s Digital Screen School, and a mentor with Toi Ōtautahi.

What do you love about filmmaking?

“I love watching films! They can move you on an emotional level that can be really quite profound. And I adore making them. The variety in my job is immense - I love every stage, from development, filming on location and in the studio, through to postproduction and adding sound and graphics. I particularly love doing something adventurous to get a really great yarn told!”

Can you tell us about your connection to Christchurch?

“Ōtautahi Christchurch is my home, I was born here and Canterbury is in my blood. This beautiful city has changed much across my lifetime, but I adore it as a wonderful place to raise a family, to work and to live. I love the seasons and the landscapes and over the last year I have been based right in the city centre. I adore walking in the Botanic Gardens at lunch and people watching in the Arts Centre!

What are you most proud of in your career to date?

“I think it may be what I'm working on now! This feature documentary has been a labour of love.”

What inspired your documentary Mighty Indeed?

“My first trip to the Ice introduced me to the indomitable Dr Natalie Robinson and the idea for a feature film grew. Natalie totally smashed my preconceptions of what an ‘Antarctic scientist’ should be and through her I met more incredible people. Over a few years the story grew to be more about the wonderful humans who work there than the climate crisis - but of course climate change underpins everything.”

What are the key messages in Mighty Indeed

“Our key messages are in our tagline - Three women. Four decades. One melting continent. It's a portrait of three incredible women (from 70yrs old to 30yrs old) doing amazing mahi at the bottom of the planet. We humanise our scientists and get to know them and the toll working on the Ice can take. We highlight how important Antarctica is for the rest of the world and why we should care about it.

What are you looking forward to most about people watching Mighty Indeed?

“It's been such a long haul to get this film made, I can't wait to share it with the people that are in it - they are my absolute heroes! To have others be able to share their story is going to be really special. This is a window into a world that few will experience - sea ice and microalgae are the bees knees.”