CHELSIE PRESTON CRAYFORD

COUSINS (2021)
Starring Tanea Heke, Rachel House, Briar Grace Smith, Ana Scotney, Tioreore Ngatai-Melbourne, Cian Elyse White, Miriama Smith, Chelsie Preston Crayford, Cohen Holloway and Kirk Torrance. Directed by Ainsley Gardiner and Briar Grace Smith.

Mata, Missy and Makareta. Three cousins. Three lives. Separate, yet bound together forever. Orphaned Mata believes she has no whānau and lives out her lonely childhood in fear and bewilderment. Back home on the land, educated Makareta flees an arranged marriage to study law and begin the search for her missing cousin. She leaves behind cheeky yet dutiful Missy who takes on her role of kaitiaki (guardian) of the land. As the years pass and land surveyors begin to encroach, their promise to bring their stolen cousin home seems more unlikely than ever, until a chance encounter changes everything.

SAVAGE (2020)
Starring John Tui, Chelsie Preston Crayford, Olly Presling, Erroll Shand, Dominic Ona-Ariki, Seth Flynn, Cameron Brown, Jack Parker, Creedence Phillips and Eden Flynn. Directed by Sam Kelly.

Inspired by stories from New Zealand’s boys homes and the early history of our gangs, 'Savage' follows Danny across 3 different ages at important junctures that push and pull him towards and away from gang life.Each chapter of Danny’s life is a complete short story set in a defining time for NZ gangs - from the abusive state-run boy’s homes of the sixties; to the emerging urban gang scene in the seventies where disenfranchised teenagers created their own families on the streets; to the eighties when gangs became more structured, criminal, and violent.Together the three chapters combine to create a deeper lock at a boy who grows up to become the brutal enforcer of a gang; to understand how he got there.