Justin Pemberton is a

documentary filmmaker A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". The American author and media analyst Bill Ni ...

based in

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

Life and career

Pemberton's adaptation of economist

Thomas Piketty Thomas Piketty (; born 7 May 1971) is a French economist who is a professor of economics at the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences, associate chair at the Paris School of Economics (PSE) and Centennial Professor of Economics ...

’s NY Times bestseller ''

Capital in the Twenty-First Century ''Capital in the Twenty-First Century'' () is a book written by French economist Thomas Piketty. It focuses on economic inequality, wealth and income inequality in Europe and the United States since the 18th century. It was first published in Fren ...

'' premièred at the 2019

Sydney Film Festival The Sydney Film Festival is an annual competitive film festival held in Sydney, Australia, usually over 12 days in June. A number of awards are given, the top one being the Sydney Film Prize. , the festival's director is Nashen Moodley. Histo ...

and expanded to a worldwide release in 2020. The film has a 93% score on Rotten Tomatoes. In 2016 Pemberton co-wrote and directed a film about rugby player

Richie McCaw Richard Hugh McCaw (born 31 December 1980) is a retired New Zealand professional rugby union player. He captain (sports), captained the New Zealand national rugby union team, New Zealand national team, the All Blacks, in 110 out of his 148 t ...

called ''Chasing Great'', which topped the New Zealand box office with a record-breaking opening weekend and went on to become the highest grossing New Zealand documentary of all time. His 2016 interactive documentary I Spy (with My 5 Eyes) investigated the

Five Eyes The Five Eyes (FVEY) is an Anglosphere intelligence alliance comprising Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. These countries are party to the multilateral UKUSA Agreement, a treaty for joint cooperat ...

Intelligence sharing network. The documentary was narrated by

Lucy Lawless Lucille Frances Lawless (; born 29 March 1968) is a New Zealand actress and director. She is best known for her roles as Xena in the television series ''Xena: Warrior Princess'', as Number Three (Battlestar Galactica), D'Anna Biers on the re-im ...

and produced by

Carthew Neal Carthew Neal is an Academy nominated film, television and interactive producer. Neal produced Taika Waititi's satire ''Jojo Rabbit'' for Fox Searchlight, which received six Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture. He also produced Wai ...

. I Spy (with My 5 Eyes) was nominated for a 2018

Canadian Screen Award The Canadian Screen Awards () are awards given for artistic and technical merit in the film industry recognizing excellence in Canadian film, English-language television, and digital media ( web series) productions. Given annually by the Academy ...

for Best Original Interactive Production. Pemberton was Executive Producer on the 2016

David Farrier David Andrew Farrier (born 25 December 1982) is a New Zealand journalist and actor. He has worked in news and on documentaries, including features on New Zealand television and co-directing the internationally distributed documentary film '' Ti ...

documentary Tickled. In 2012 Pemberton wrote and directed the feature docudrama ''The Golden Hour'', based on the story of New Zealand athletes

Peter Snell Sir Peter George Snell (17 December 1938 – 12 December 2019) was a New Zealand middle-distance runner. He won three Olympic gold medals, and is the only man since 1920 to have won the 800 and 1500 metres at the same Olympics, in 1964. Snel ...

and

Murray Halberg Sir Murray Gordon Halberg (7 July 1933 – 30 November 2022) was a New Zealand middle-distance runner who won the gold medal in the 5000 metres event at the 1960 Olympics. He also won gold medals in the 3 miles events at the 1958 and 1962 Com ...

at the

1960 Summer Olympics The 1960 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XVII Olympiad () and commonly known as Rome 1960 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 25 August to 11 September 1960 in Rome, Italy. Rome had previously been awar ...

in Rome. ''The Golden Hour'' was nominated for a 2013

International Emmy Award The International Emmy Awards, or International Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. Bestowed by the New York City, New York–based International Academy of Televisi ...

for best documentary. His film ''The Nuclear Comeback'' investigated the nuclear power industry’s claim that, as a low carbon emitter, nuclear power is climate-friendly source of energy. The documentary won Best Documentary at Italy’s CinemAmbiente Film Festival in 2008 and Best New Zealand Feature Documentary at the DocNZ Film Festival. Pemberton was also awarded Achievement in Directing (Documentary) at the

2008 Qantas Film and Television Awards The 2008 Qantas Film and Television Awards were held on Saturday 13 September 2008 at the Civic Theatre in Auckland. For the first time, the craft awards were presented separately to the rest of the awards, at an earlier luncheon ceremony at the ...

for ''The Nuclear Comeback''. Pemberton’s film ''Love, Speed and Loss'', about

Grand Prix ( , meaning ''Grand Prize''; plural ''Grands Prix'') most commonly refers to: * Grand Prix motor racing, a form of motorsport competition ** List of Formula One Grands Prix, an auto-racing championship *** Monaco Grand Prix, the most prestigious ...

road-racer

Kim Newcombe Kim Newcombe (2 January 1944 – 14 August 1973), was a Grand Prix motorcycle road racer from New Zealand. Biography Born in Nelson, Newcombe grew up in Auckland, then moved to Australia (first Brisbane, then Melbourne) in 1963, and subsequen ...

, won Best Documentary, Best Editing and Best Directing at the 2007 New Zealand Screen Awards and was awarded Best Arts/Festival Documentary at the

2007 Qantas Television Awards The 2007 Qantas Television Awards were presented on Saturday 24 November, in a ceremony at the Aotea Centre in Auckland, New Zealand, celebrating the year in New Zealand television and television media. The awards were hosted by television presen ...

. He has frequently collaborated with queer New Zealand musician

Anika Moa Anika Rose Moa (born 21 May 1980) is a New Zealand recording artist and television presenter. Her debut studio album ''Thinking Room'', was released in September 2001, which reached number one on the Official New Zealand Music Chart, New Z ...

, directing two documentaries following the singer as well as music videos and photo shoots, including the cover of her 2010 album Love In Motion. Moa has also composed the soundtracks for five of Pemberton’s films.

Festivals and awards

;''Love Speed and Loss'' * 2007 NZ Screen Awards: Win, Best Documentary, * 2007 NZ Screen Awards: Win, Achievement in Directing * 2007 NZ TV Awards: Win, Best Arts/Festival Documentary * 2005

New Zealand International Film Festival The New Zealand International Film Festival (NZIFF) () is a film festival held annually across New Zealand. The festival is operated by the New Zealand Film Festival Trust. It programmes international and New Zealand films. History The festiva ...

s * 2006 Reel Life On Film, Melbourne, Australia ;''The Nuclear Comeback'' * 2008 NZ Film & TV Awards: Win, Achievement in Directing * 2008 Cinemambiente, Italy: Win, Best Documentary * 2007

Documentary Edge Awards This article lists awards won at the New Zealand film festival formerly known as the DOCNZ Film Festival, then Documentary Edge Festival and now branded Doc Edge, since its inaugural edition in 2005 until 2012. Awards 2012 International Sel ...

: Win, Best NZ Feature * 2008

Göteborg International Film Festival Göteborg Film Festival (GFF), formerly Göteborg International Film Festival (GIFF), known in English as the Gothenburg Film Festival, formerly Gothenburg International Film Festival, is an annual film festival in Gothenburg, Sweden and the large ...

, Sweden * 2008 Rodos Film Festival, Greece: Runner-up, Medium Length Feature * 2008 South African International Documentary Film Festival * 2008 Festival Internacional de Cine Documentary, Mexico * 2008 Globale Berlin Film Festival, Germany * 2009 Cinema Planeta, Mexico * 2009

One World Film Festival One World (Czech: ''Jeden svět'') is a human rights film festival (125,947 spectators in 2018), held annually in Prague and other 36 cities of the Czech Republic, with a selection later shown in Brussels and other countries. The festival highlig ...

, Prague, Czech Republic ;''The Golden Hour'' *2013 International

Emmy Awards The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...

: Nomination, Best Documentary ;''Chasing Great'' * 2017 New Zealand Film Awards: Nomination, Best Documentary, Best Documentary Director ;''I Spy (With My 5 Eyes)'' * 2018 Canadian Screen Awards: Nomination, Best Original Interactive Production *2018

Cleveland International Film Festival The Cleveland International Film Festival (CIFF) is an annual film festival based in Cleveland, Ohio. CIFF is the largest film festival in Ohio and among the longest-running in the United States. The festival is held at Playhouse Square, the lar ...

, USA *2017

Festival International de Programmes Audiovisuels The International Festival of Audiovisual Programmes or International Documentary Festival – FIPADOC ( (FIPA)), founded in 1987 by Michel Mitrani (1930-1996), was first held in Cannes in October 1987., In 2019, the FIPA became FIPADOC,,, an int ...

, France ;''Capital In The Twenty-First Century'' * 2019

* 2019

Melbourne International Film Festival The Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) is an annual film festival held over three weeks in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It was founded in 1952 and is one of the oldest film festivals in the world following the founding of the Venic ...

* 2019

Jerusalem Film Festival The Jerusalem Film Festival (, ) is an international film festival held annually in Jerusalem, It was established in 1984 by the Director of the Jerusalem Cinematheque and Israeli Film Archive, Lia van Leer, Lia Van Leer, and has since become th ...

* 2019

Filmfest Hamburg FILMFEST HAMBURG is an international film festival in Hamburg, the third-largest of its kind in Germany (after Berlin and Munich). It shows national and international feature and documentary films in eleven sections. The range of the program stret ...

* 2019

Doc NYC Doc NYC (stylized as DOC NYC) is an annual documentary film festival in New York City. Co-founded by Thom Powers and Raphaela Neihausen, the festival is the country's largest documentary film festival with over 300 films and events and 250 specia ...

* 2020 CPH:DOX * 2020

Edinburgh International Film Festival The Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF), established in 1947, is the world's oldest continually running film festival. EIFF presents both UK and international films (all titles are World, international, European or UK Premieres), in al ...

* 2020 Docs Against Gravity Film Festival, Poland * 2020 DOCVILLE International Documentary Film Festival, Belgium * 2020 Festival Varilux de Cinema Francês, Brazil * 2020 Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival, Czech Republic * 2021 Mostra Ecofalante de Cinema, Brazil

References

External links

*
NZ On Screen

JUSTINSIGHT FILMS
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pemberton, Justin New Zealand documentary film directors Living people Year of birth missing (living people)