Christopher Banks (far right) with actors Alan Granville, Brian Moore and Chris Tempest the set of his film, Teddy.

"...definitely a director to watch out for."
- Jason St-Laurent, Director of Programming, Inside Out Festival, Toronto

Christopher Banks is an award-winning film-maker, journalist and songwriter based in New Zealand.

His first feature, the camp comedy Quiet Night In, was unleashed on the international festival circuit in 2005, with an Australasian DVD release in 2007. His second film, Teddy, was released in 2009 to critical and audience acclaim and played at some of the world’s largest gay film festivals, including Outfest Los Angeles, Frameline San Francisco, and Inside Out Toronto. It has won two awards, and became the first New Zealand film to be nominated for the prestigious Iris Prize for short filmmaking in the UK.  His third film, Communication, was released on the festival circuit in 2010 and has won two international awards.

In the late 1990s, Banks wrote and produced a string of top 40 hits in New Zealand, including three consecutive number ones for a pop group which he founded, Deep Obsession. It was the first time a local group had ever achieved such a feat, and the subsequent album was certified platinum and went on to be released internationally.

After their short-lived dance-pop fuse expired, Banks began working with singer/songwriter Nicolette Kenny (the star of Quiet Night In) on her pop career, a partnership which saw hits on both sides of the Tasman, and songs commissioned for children’s programmes.

Outside music, Banks was the senior writer for New Zealand’s leading GLBT news and entertainment website GayNZ.com from 2003-06, and was an occasional contributor to London’s Gay Times magazine. He has been a columnist for New Zealand's national gay newspaper Express, and In 2004 he wrote, directed and presented stories for the award-winning TV2 show Queer Nation.

He has worked in public relations for the New Zealand AIDS Foundation, Mental Health Foundation of New Zealand, and the Access To Medicines Coalition.  Since 2006 he has been the co-editor of Collective Thinking, a quarterly magazine for HIV-positive people, their carers and supporters.

Banks lives in Auckland, New Zealand, and is married to Dean, his partner of fifteen years and co-owner of Burning Rope Productions. He is very fond of Orson Welles, Woody Allen, Stanley Kubrick, the boardgame Cluedo, and the classic British sitcom Are You Being Served?.