The New Zealand Film Festival Trust (NZFFT) is a national organisation, a charitable trust set up in 1996 by the New Zealand Federation of Film Societies Inc. to oversee the annual Auckland and Wellington Film Festivals along with the associated festivals around New Zealand.
The Trust is governed by the board of trustees, one of which is appointed every year by the elected management committee of the New Zealand Federation of Film Societies.
Ngāti Pikiao, Ngāti Whakahemo, Ngāi te Rangi

| Heperi is drawn to films that reflect the unique ways Aotearoa’s culture, history, and landscapes shape us as storytellers. Influenced by Sam Neill’s 1995 description of our national cinema as a “Cinema of Unease,” he is especially interested in how New Zealand filmmaking has evolved in the decades since - gravitating toward work that captures a distinct homegrown tone and cinematic style. A filmmaker from a whānau of filmmakers, Heperi’s documentary Merata: How Mum Decolonised the Screen premiered at NZIFF in 2018. His short film First Horse, which he wrote and produced, screened in the New Zealand’s Best section in 2023. He also spent eight years at Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision, developing an encyclopaedic knowledge of New Zealand cinema. Heperi’s personal tastes are broad, but he holds a deep admiration for the work of Akira Kurosawa and has a soft spot for documentaries that introduce him to lives and perspectives outside his own. |