A work in constant progress (and occasional regress).
Birthplace:
New York City, New York, USA
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Sam Pillsbury is an American film director and producer. Connecticut-raised Sam Pillsbury emigrated to New Zealand at the age of 14. Aged 23, he began working at the Government-owned National Film Unit, joining a group of emerging filmmakers who were investigating new subjects and styles. Pillsbury directed seven films at the National Film Unit, including a multi-faceted study of artist Ralph Hotere, and a satirical look at workplace relations (Men and Supermen). He was also part of the directing team on Commonwealth Games chronicle Games 74, and worked both on set and at the editing bench for Paul Maunder's Gone Up North for a While. Pillsbury went solo in 1975. Documentary Birth with R.D.Laing won awards on both sides of the Tasman, and controversy in England and the United States. The film featured controversial Scottish psychiatrist R.D. Laing critiqueing Western medical handling of childbirth. Pillsbury also worked on four documentaries for TV slot Seven Days, which variously looked into life for a solo mother, an ex-convict, hospital patients, and young Māori in the city. More TV docos followed, then in 1978, Against the Lights, a short drama based on a Witi Ihimaera tale. Pillsbury's Round the Bays doco The Greatest Run on Earth won awards at festivals in Chicago and Torino. Pillsbury's feature film debut in 1981 was with The Scarecrow, based on the gothic novel by Ronald Hugh Morrieson. Presented through the eyes of two teenage boys, the film chronicles the arrival in a 50s town of a mysterious stranger (played by American movie legend John Carradine). In 1982 The Scarecrow became the first Kiwi film to win invitation to the prestigious Cannes Film Festival, in the non-competitive Director's Fortnight section. Teen star Jono Smith later reinvented himself as a cinematographer in England. Pillsbury then worked extensively on a screen adaptation of end of the world sci-fi novel The Quiet Earth, before handing the project to director Geoff Murphy after deciding it needed fresh eyes (he later joked at being one of the only directors who had fired himself). Instead Pillsbury helmed 1880s immigrant tale Heart of the High Country for TV (based on a novel by Elizabeth Gowans), then segued into period road movie Starlight Hotel, which starred Smash Palace discovery Greer Robson. Since Starlight Hotel, Pillsbury has directed extensively, mainly on American tele-movies. He returned to Kiwi moviemaking in 2000 for Crooked Earth, the tale of a clash between two Māori: a militant drug-dealer, and former military man Temuera Morrison. Pillsbury's other features include Free Willy 3: The Rescue, 2008 road movie Endless Bummer and Knight Rider 2010. These days Pillsbury has a second career as a winemaker. In 2000 he and a business partner sold Arizona wine company Dos Cabezas to a group headed by the lead singer for rock group Tool (band). Pillsbury Wine Company was launched soon afterwards. Description above from the Wikipedia article Sam Pillsbury, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Author:
2003 Where the Red Fern Grows
Director:
1974 Ralph Hotere
1982 The Scarecrow
1987 Starlight Hotel
1991 Into the Badlands
1991 Zandalee
1992 The President's Child
1994 Eyes of Terror
1994 Knight Rider 2010
1994 Search for Grace
1994 Shadows of Desire
1995 Between Love and Honor
1996 Sins of Silence
1996 Thrill
1997 Free Willy 3: The Rescue
1998 Fifteen and Pregnant
1999 Morgan's Ferry
1999 Secret of Giving
2001 Crooked Earth
2001 Taking Back Our Town
2001 The Wedding Dress
2003 Audrey's Rain
2003 The King and Queen of Moonlight Bay
2003 Where the Red Fern Grows
2004 Raising Waylon
2009 National Lampoon Presents: Endless Bummer
Editor:
1974 Ralph Hotere
1982 The Scarecrow
1987 Starlight Hotel
1991 Into the Badlands
1991 Zandalee
1992 The President's Child
1994 Eyes of Terror
1994 Knight Rider 2010
1994 Search for Grace
1994 Shadows of Desire
1995 Between Love and Honor
1996 Sins of Silence
1996 Thrill
1997 Free Willy 3: The Rescue
1998 Fifteen and Pregnant
1999 Morgan's Ferry
1999 Secret of Giving
2001 Crooked Earth
2001 Taking Back Our Town
2001 The Wedding Dress
2003 Audrey's Rain
2003 The King and Queen of Moonlight Bay
2003 Where the Red Fern Grows
2004 Raising Waylon
2009 National Lampoon Presents: Endless Bummer
Producer:
1974 Ralph Hotere
1982 The Scarecrow
1985 The Quiet Earth
1987 Starlight Hotel
1991 Into the Badlands
1991 Zandalee
1992 The President's Child
1994 Eyes of Terror
1994 Knight Rider 2010
1994 Search for Grace
1994 Shadows of Desire
1995 Between Love and Honor
1996 Sins of Silence
1996 Thrill
1997 Free Willy 3: The Rescue
1998 Fifteen and Pregnant
1999 Morgan's Ferry
1999 Secret of Giving
2001 Crooked Earth
2001 Taking Back Our Town
2001 The Wedding Dress
2003 Audrey's Rain
2003 The King and Queen of Moonlight Bay
2003 Where the Red Fern Grows
2004 Raising Waylon
2009 National Lampoon Presents: Endless Bummer
Screenplay:
1974 Ralph Hotere
1982 The Scarecrow
1985 The Quiet Earth
1987 Starlight Hotel
1991 Into the Badlands
1991 Zandalee
1992 The President's Child
1994 Eyes of Terror
1994 Knight Rider 2010
1994 Search for Grace
1994 Shadows of Desire
1995 Between Love and Honor
1996 Sins of Silence
1996 Thrill
1997 Free Willy 3: The Rescue
1998 Fifteen and Pregnant
1999 Morgan's Ferry
1999 Secret of Giving
2001 Crooked Earth
2001 Taking Back Our Town
2001 The Wedding Dress
2003 Audrey's Rain
2003 The King and Queen of Moonlight Bay
2003 Where the Red Fern Grows
2004 Raising Waylon
2009 National Lampoon Presents: Endless Bummer
Writer:
1974 Ralph Hotere
1982 The Scarecrow
1985 The Quiet Earth
1987 Starlight Hotel
1991 Into the Badlands
1991 Zandalee
1992 The President's Child
1994 Eyes of Terror
1994 Knight Rider 2010
1994 Search for Grace
1994 Shadows of Desire
1995 Between Love and Honor
1996 Sins of Silence
1996 Thrill
1997 Free Willy 3: The Rescue
1998 Fifteen and Pregnant
1999 Morgan's Ferry
1999 Secret of Giving
2001 Crooked Earth
2001 Taking Back Our Town
2001 The Wedding Dress
2003 Audrey's Rain
2003 The King and Queen of Moonlight Bay
2003 Where the Red Fern Grows
2004 Raising Waylon
2009 National Lampoon Presents: Endless Bummer
Director:
1991 Eerie, Indiana
Most data and links to images for the Movies section come from TheMovieDB (TMDB).
Additional data for Film Titles come from The Open Movie Database (OMDb).
At least one plug-in comes from IMDb.
Data are -- hey, it's a plural -- subject to the limitations of their sources. (For example, TMDB search results currently max out at 20.) I am limiting myself to free data sources for now. (No, a "free trial" is not free.)
While much of the above data are retrieved directly from outside APIs and other such sources, data from American Film Institute (AFI) and British Film Institute (BFI) were manually entered the old fashioned way into a MySQL database. Re BFI I took the following liberties:
Regarding profile removals and data corrections:
Filtering is applied here to film projects flagged as "adult" by TheMovieDB. Pending "popular demand" I am contemplating a login and profile system with preferences (such as whether to allow adult images to appear) and permissions (such as data entry).
Whereas the overall purpose of this website is to serve as a personal demo/portfolio/workshop of web and data skills, this Movies section is not meant to compete with or substitute for far more definitive movie websites.
Whether or not he still clings to an award which he won in 1986 as a film critic for his college's newspaper, Jeffrey Hartmann is not responsible for the texts of overviews and biographies supplied by external data sources.