Ainsley Gardiner

Te-Whanau-a-Apanui, Ngati Pikiao, Ngati Awa

Ainsley began her involvement in film in 1995 with the Avalon Film and TV production course. The course included work placement with Larry Parr's Kahukura Productions.

Gardiner went on to produce Kombi Nation (2003) and the 26-part drama series Love Bites (2002), for Kahukura. She consequently emerged as one of New Zealand's most promising young producers. 

In 2003, Gardiner teamed up with director Taika Waititi. She produced his award-winning short films, Two Cars, One Night and Tama Tu. Two Cars received an Oscar nomination for Best Short Film (live action) in 2005. 

Their close working partnership extended to Waititi's debut feature Eagle vs Shark, and Gardiner is on board as producer for Waititi's next feature film project, Volcano.

In 2004, with actor/producer Cliff Curtis, Gardiner established Whenua films. The production company was founded to encourage the telling of indigenous stories.

In 2005, Whenua Films received a two-year producer overhead fund from the New Zealand Film Commission. 

During 2005 and 2006, Whenua Films ran a NZFC Short Film POD group, which commissioned New Zealand short films. The company executive-produced a number of successful shorts, including Coffee & Allah (Venice 2007), Hawaikii (Berlin Generation 2007) and Taua (Edinburgh 2007, Rotterdam 2008, Clermont Ferrand 2008). 

Alongside director Tearepa Kahi, Gardiner was co-presenter of a 30-week season of critically acclaimed New Zealand short films on Maori television. 

She is also the director of a short film, Mokopuna (2004).