John Banas Movies, TV Shows, and Filmography
John Banas
Writing
Biography
John Banas is a New Zealander writer, director, actor and teacher who has, for over forty years, worked extensively in New Zealand, Australia and the United States. He began as an actor, writer and director in Kiwi theatre during the 1970s, Banas increasingly focused on dramatic writing for television from the 80s on. After relocating to Australia, he established himself as a prolific TV screenwriter with a string of iconic shows, including Blue Heelers and City Homicide. His many New Zealand scripts include Bombshell and award-winning telemovies Siege and How to Murder Your Wife.
Filmography Movies
Acting
Strata
The story means to develop through an uncovering of layers - strata. As writer Krumbachova stated: "With nature as a prison, an impassable barrier ... where every action is physically and psychically limited by the environment ... people are reduced to fragments of basic instinct and intelligence." Promoted as a psychological thriller, Strata provides little tension nor any real climax. The characters are ideas - not believably real.
Battletruck
It's the 21st century, the Oil Wars have made a mess of the planet and the land outside major cities is lawless. After Hunter comes to the aid of Corlie, who has run away from the villainous Straker, he takes her to the peaceful community of Clearwater. Unfortunately for the citizens of Clearwater, Straker fully intends to get Corlie back.
Bad Blood
During World War 2, a farmer in New Zealand murders seven people. The police, along with local Maori trackers, hunt him in the bush country.
Phone
A primer on proper phone manners produced for the New Zealand Post Office.
Packed Away
Em and her father need to pack away her mother's belongings after her passing. A fairly simple act, but a difficult one. And her father really seems to be coping well. Or is he?
Nearly No Christmas
Before Christmas, the North Pole is a very busy place. When Rumbletum, the cantankerous boiler which drives the toy machines breaks down, Santa has to find a job in the city to pay for the repairs.
Production
Siege
On the 7th of May 2009, Senior Constables Len Snee, Grant Diver and Bruce Miller arrived at 41 Chaucer Rd in Napier to serve a search warrant on Jan Molenaar for the growing of cannabis. This was just a routine warrant, something they had done countless times. What was meant to be an ordinary procedure turned into three of New Zealand’s darkest days and ended with one police officer dead, two officers critically injured and a member of the public fighting for his life. In some fifty hours Jan Molenaar made a permanent and devastating imprint upon the national psyche of New Zealand as he changed the lives of individuals, families, a police community, and a city. The siege was one of the worst and unexpected cases of violence both Napier and New Zealand had witnessed and it was all the more shocking because of its ordinary suburban backdrop.
Love Knots
Jodie Carpenter is the owner of 'The Loft', her family's sail-making company located near quaint Redmond's Bay Marina. When luxury developer Charles Prescott purchases the port looking to carry out a lavish expansion, Jodie fears that her business and heritage will be torn down and replaced.
Safe House
Safe House is the story of a struggle for survival in an unfamiliar and threatening world, based on the true life experience of a woman in the early days of the witness protection programme in New Zealand. TV Movie
How to Murder Your Wife
A black comedy based on the true story of Alfred Benning's outlandish attempts to murder his overbearing wife in 1977.
Venus and Mars
When an attack on a Palmerston North fraud detective made headlines in October 1996, the New Zealand public followed the media reports with fascination. They read like a plot of a Hollywood film or detective novel. Poison pen letters, satanic worship, a police hate crime, and a mysterious and violent pyromaniac. But little did the public know that as the truth emerged, the story was going to get far more bizarre, and the police would turn the focus of their investigation on one of their own.
The Monster of Mangatiti
When 19 year old Heather Walsh accepts a job on a farm in the Mangatiti Valley, she has no idea paradise will become a nightmare. This true New Zealand story tells of Heather's horrific ordeal.
Bombshell
How the tragic death of one man triggered a David and Goliath battle between two Allies that echoed around the world and became the catalyst to end nuclear testing in the Pacific.
The Red Shoes: Next Step
Sam is a gifted young dancer whose world spirals after an unexpected, life-changing event. Sam walks away from dancing and ballet, but the art form is in her blood, and she can’t resist the temptation to return. Life eventually leads Sam back to her old dance school – but not as a dancer. An old rival, a long-time crush, and her former dance teacher guide Sam back to what she loves most, but ultimately, it’s her own emotions and fears that she must confront to reignite her deep passion for dance.
Resolve
Based on the true story of Chris Crean, who took a stand against gang violence in his community only to become a target himself.
The Lost Boys of Dilworth
Through first-hand accounts and dramatic re-enactments, the survivors of historic systemic abuse at Auckland’s Dilworth School bravely tell their stories.
Gallery
