Joe Hitchcock(I)
- Cinematographer
- Director
- Script and Continuity Department
Joe Hitchcock is a New Zealand filmmaker, cinematographer and occasional musical comedian. His creative work is an absurdist collision of cinematic comedy and social political issues.
With a Bachelors of Arts degree in Screen, Media and Music, Joe worked in technical departments on big budget movies like Avatar and Narnia, while also directing photography on small independent films and music videos. In 2018 he received a bronze award from the New Zealand Cinematography Society for his work shooting feature drama film Shepherd on tilt-shift lenses.
Since 2011, Joe has been shooting climate change documentaries in harsh environments on remote Pacific islands for United Nations Development Programme. A lot of this footage continues to be used today and he continues to support Prospekt Mira, a US-based non-profit organisation dedicated to the sustainable development and resilience in the pacific. While stuck at home during covid lockdown of 2019 Joe directed the Time for Nature campaign, where children around the world could submit videos about their perspective on saving nature, and Joe edited them into compact videos, which were translated for UNDP social platforms worldwide and screened at United Nations in NYC to the general assembly.
Joe has worked as a director on numerous television productions including sketch comedy series Only in Aotearoa and field segments of What Now? In 2022, Joe won Best Director of a drama series at NZ Web Fest for Ahikāroa, and he was nominated again the following year for the same show. Joe was a part of Ahikāroa for all seven seasons, initially starting on this show as director of photography, a role which also earned him award nominations for Best Cinematography.
As a writer and director, Joe’s original work draws both confusion and critical acclaim. The North Pole Deception, funded with an AMP Scholarship earned him a Best Director nomination at Show Me Shorts Film Festival, while Stick To Your Gun premiered at Palm Springs Shortfest, starting a long film festival run, partially attributing it’s success to having no dialogue and being understandable in any language.
Joe’s micro budget road trip feature comedy Penny Black tackled consumerism and screened in 22 cinemas, where each screening raised money for food rescue charities in the local areas.
As an advocate of story sovereignty, Joe understands not every story is his to tell, so he also works as a script supervisor on film and television projects to help other directors find their voices and tell their stories.
With a Bachelors of Arts degree in Screen, Media and Music, Joe worked in technical departments on big budget movies like Avatar and Narnia, while also directing photography on small independent films and music videos. In 2018 he received a bronze award from the New Zealand Cinematography Society for his work shooting feature drama film Shepherd on tilt-shift lenses.
Since 2011, Joe has been shooting climate change documentaries in harsh environments on remote Pacific islands for United Nations Development Programme. A lot of this footage continues to be used today and he continues to support Prospekt Mira, a US-based non-profit organisation dedicated to the sustainable development and resilience in the pacific. While stuck at home during covid lockdown of 2019 Joe directed the Time for Nature campaign, where children around the world could submit videos about their perspective on saving nature, and Joe edited them into compact videos, which were translated for UNDP social platforms worldwide and screened at United Nations in NYC to the general assembly.
Joe has worked as a director on numerous television productions including sketch comedy series Only in Aotearoa and field segments of What Now? In 2022, Joe won Best Director of a drama series at NZ Web Fest for Ahikāroa, and he was nominated again the following year for the same show. Joe was a part of Ahikāroa for all seven seasons, initially starting on this show as director of photography, a role which also earned him award nominations for Best Cinematography.
As a writer and director, Joe’s original work draws both confusion and critical acclaim. The North Pole Deception, funded with an AMP Scholarship earned him a Best Director nomination at Show Me Shorts Film Festival, while Stick To Your Gun premiered at Palm Springs Shortfest, starting a long film festival run, partially attributing it’s success to having no dialogue and being understandable in any language.
Joe’s micro budget road trip feature comedy Penny Black tackled consumerism and screened in 22 cinemas, where each screening raised money for food rescue charities in the local areas.
As an advocate of story sovereignty, Joe understands not every story is his to tell, so he also works as a script supervisor on film and television projects to help other directors find their voices and tell their stories.
