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Hern recently co-wrote, produced, and directed his debut drama series, The Panthers, which tells the story of The Polynesian Panthers, a group of street gangsters who became social revolutionaries. The series set streaming records in New Zealand before being acquired by Endeavor Content and premiering at TIFF 2021, where it was one of only four series featured. The Panthers received a nomination for Best Limited Series at the Emmy-qualifying Banff Rockie Awards and is currently being distributed in multiple territories worldwide.
Beginning his career as an actor, Hern gained international recognition as a creative producer with The Dark Horse (2015), a gritty, true-story drama directed by his friend James Napier Robertson. The film premiered at TIFF to rave reviews, secured sales across major territories, and generated Oscar buzz for Cliff Curtis’s transformative performance. It won Audience Awards at the Rotterdam, San Francisco, Seattle, and Palm Springs International Film Festivals and achieved significant box office success in New Zealand.
Subsequently, in partnership with Occupant Entertainment, Hern produced the high-energy action-comedy Guns Akimbo, starring Samara Weaving and Daniel Radcliffe, as well as the intense action-horror Shadow in the Cloud, featuring Chloë Grace Moretz and directed by Roseanne Liang, which won the TIFF 2020 Midnight Madness Award.
In 2015, Hern served on the International Jury for the Generation Section at the Berlin Film Festival and won the pitching prize at the 2016 MIFF 37 Degrees South market in Melbourne. He earned the Moa Award for Best Film at the 2014 New Zealand Film Awards for The Dark Horse and was also nominated that year for the critically acclaimed Everything We Loved. In 2022, he received a Pacific Music Award for Best Video Director.
Hern is a principal of two companies: Four Knights Film, producers of James Napier Robertson’s intense ballet drama Joika, and Tavake, which as of September 2022, is in early pre-production on the ethical-prostitution dramedy series Madame Mom.
