Biography

Hern recently co-wrote, produced and directed his first drama series, The Panthers, about The Polynesian Panthers; a group of street-gangsters-turned-social-revolutionaries. The series broke streaming records in New Zealand before being picked up by Endeavor Content and premiering at TIFF 2021 (as one of only four series in the programme). The Panthers was nominated for Best Limited Series at the emmy qualifying Banff Rockie Awards and is currently being released in multiple territories around the globe.

After starting out as an actor; Hern broke onto the international scene as a creative producer with his production The Dark Horse (2015); a gritty-based-on-a-true-story-drama, directed by his friend, James Napier Robertson. TDH launched at TIFF to glowing reviews, sales to all major territories and Oscar-buzz for Cliff Curtis's transformative performance. The film went on to win Audience Awards at the Rotterdam, San Francisco, Seattle and Palm Springs International Film Festivals and was a box office smash in its home territory.

Later, alongside Occupant Entertainment, Hern produced the high-octane action-comedy, Guns Akimbo (starring Samara Weaving and Daniel Radcliffe) and the grippingly-mad-action-horror, Shadow in the Cloud (starring Chloë Grace Moretz and directed by Roseanne Liang) which won the TIFF 2020 Midnight Madness Award.

Hern sat on the International Jury for the Berlin Film Festival (Generation Section) in 2015 and won the pitching prize at the MIFF 37 Degrees South market in Melbourne in 2016. He won the Moa-award for "Best Film" at the 2014 New Zealand Film Awards for The Dark Horse (and was a dual nominee that year, also getting a nod for eery festival darling, Everything We Loved). In 2022, Hern won a Pacific Music Award, for Best Video Director.

Hern is a principal of two companies; Four Knights Film (the producer's of James Napier Robertson's intense ballet drama, Joika) and Tavake (who are, as of September 2022, in early pre production on ethical-prostitution dramedy series, Madame Mom.
- IMDb mini biography by: Anonymous