Paul Judge
Director, Academic
Paul Judge's films have chronicled painters, poets, sculptors and drunkards. Two of his early films were inspired by immigrant artist William Peter Trapp. The second, The Last Surrealist, was nominated for Best Short Film at the 1993 New Zealand Film and TV Awards. Lament for Barney Flanagan (1998) is adapted from the poem by James K Baxter. Judge's feature-length arts documentary Don Driver: Magician debuted in 2013. He also co-produced David Kilgour doco Far Off Town: Dunedin to Nashville. Judge got a Master of Fine Arts at Auckland University, and has taught varied screen courses at Unitec and Waikato Institute of Technology.
Filmmaking is a long and arduous process, and you never have enough money so the stress factor is high. But it is hugely rewarding to complete a work and have it seen by an audience. The editing process is the most enjoyable creatively: you're running on adrenalin as you experiment with putting all the elements together — the music, the visuals, the sound and the performances. Paul Judge
