Mr Roger Donaldson, ONZM, of California, for services to film
Roger Donaldson is a writer, director, producer, cinematographer and photographer. Through his film company, Aardvark Films, he directed and produced commercials, narrative films and documentaries, including ‘Burt Munro: Offerings to the God of Speed’. He directed a documentary adventure series featuring Sir Edmund Hillary and collaborated on several television projects, including the anthology series ‘Winners and Losers’. He directed and produced ‘Sleeping Dogs’ and wrote, produced and directed ‘Smash Palace’, two seminal works of New Zealand cinema. His film ‘The Bounty’ provided him his first international break. Since then he has gone on to direct a number of Hollywood-produced films, such as ‘Cocktail’, ‘Cadillac Man’, ‘Species’, ‘Dante’s Peak’ and ‘The Recruit’. He wrote, directed, and co-produced the New Zealand film ‘The World’s Fastest Indian’ and directed the documentary ‘McLaren’.