DIRECTOR'S SHOWREEL
SHORT FILM EXCERPT - PATU IHU
MOLENBERG - STRIDE
KAPITI CHEESE - KAPITI ART PROJECT - EXCERPT
MUSIC VIDEO EXCERPTS - FINALITY BY DIMMER - PYRAMID SCHEME
MUSIC VIDEO EXCERPTS - WHAT YOU HEARD BY THE CHECKS - PYRAMID SCHEME
DOCUMENTARY - KAPITI ART PROJECT - 40MIN
TVNZ SERIES EXCERPTS - NEW ARTLAND
TVNZ SERIES EXCERPTS - LET'S GET INVENTIN
BIOGRAPHY
With a name like ‘Summer Agnew’, it’s perhaps not surprising that Summer grew up on a commune in Auckland’s stunning Waitakere ranges.
From these unconventional beginnings, Summer has emerged to become one of New Zealand’s most hotly anticipated upcoming directors, and was the recipient of the prestigious Screen Production & Development Association (SPADA) New Filmmaker of the Year Award in 2007.
After fleeing a conservative boys high school, Summer graduated from the Elam School of Fine Art in 2002 and within five years collated a diverse portfolio of work encompassing video clips, documentaries, short films and long format TV programmes that demonstrate the breadth of his creative abilities.
In 2002, Summer was awarded funding from the New Zealand Screen Innovation Production Fund to make the documentary film Minginui, which he filmed in collaboration with fellow Elam graduate Adam Luxton over a year and a half, deep within Te Urewera ranges.
Hailed by critics as an ‘uneasy and progressive piece of filmmaking’, the film unveils the darker aspect of a New Zealand landscape perpetually cloaked in fog. Minginui screened at the Brisbane International Film Festival 2005, the New Zealand International Film Festivals 2005, the DOCNZ film festival and in 2007 at the Auckland Art Gallery auditorium as part of the public art programme.
"Where I grew up people were always telling stories, and I learnt there are always different ways they can be told," says Summer, whose talents with narrative have seen him highly awarded for his documentary and long-format work.
In 2006 Summer directed Let’s Get Inventin’ for TVNZ, which won the Qantas New Zealand Television Award for Best Children’s & Youth show in both 2006 & 2007, and in 2008 he developed and co-directed the arts documentary series New Artland for the digital network TVNZ6.
Summer is a prodigious filmmaker and his newest short film Patu Ihu, featuring a core cast of children, has been described as ‘a touching exploration of memory and the lifelong influences that a particular event can have upon us’.
Summer’s work is uniquely atmospheric & imaginative - a reflection of his Fine Arts background - and his innate understanding of the flaws and quirks that make us human brings a distinctly engaging truth to his work.