معرفی
Gillian Ashurst is a Lecturer in Digital Screen within the Faculty of Arts at the University of Canterbury, appointed on February 27, 2023. She is an award-winning Canterbury-based filmmaker with over 20 years of professional experience as a screenwriter, director, and producer working across drama (short and feature films) and documentary genres.
Her educational background includes a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Canterbury (1988-1990) and a practical-based Diploma in Film from the NZ Film & Television Training School (1996). She has trained under leading international specialists in scriptwriting and directing, including Joan Sheckel, Judith Weston, and Robert Marchand (the Mike Leigh method).
Awarded the NZFC Female Director's Scholarship in 2016, her filmography includes 'Venus Blue' (Sundance Film Festival 1999), 'Sci-Fi Betty' (Clermont-Ferrand), the award-winning feature 'Snakeskin' (2001), 'Rocketman: The Story of William Pickering' (2004), and 'The Meek' (2021). Her recent work shows continued focus on narrative structure, character development, and visual storytelling across both short and feature formats.
Her research interests center on creative practice, particularly the writer/director combination. Current projects include 'Inheritance' (New Zealand Film Commission Development Funding 2025-2027) and 'Weathered Bones' (Early Development Funding 2024-2026).
- Gaylene Preston Directors' Award (2016)
She actively supervises research-based degrees including 'Last Year, Together' with James Tempero and 'The Road Out Back' with Stephanie Ingham. Her teaching portfolio encompasses courses such as 'Creating Storyworlds,' 'Feature Screenwriting,' 'Screenwriting Research and Story Development,' and 'Storytelling in Action.'
A professional member of Women in Film and Television New Zealand (WIFT NZ), Directors and Editors Guild of New Zealand (DEGANZ), and New Zealand Writers Guild (NZWG), she maintains strong industry connections while contributing to academic education in digital screen production.
