Emma Robinson is a director, actor and presenter based in Wellington, New Zealand.

Throughout 2008/09 Emma has been producing and directing a series of dvds for the Ministry of Social Development. These dvds have focused on whanau well-being and violence prevention. To date over 500 copies of E Tu have been distributed to iwi and community groups throughout NZ. The dvds Tane and Whanau have also been used as a resource by Women’s Refuge, National Network for Stopping Violence and in prisons.  Most recently the dvds Aroha and Whanuangatanga screened on Health TV December ’09 – March 2010 as well as being made available to community groups.

In 2004 Emma presented for arts and current affairs programme Frontseat, reporting stories about Hone Tuwhare, architect Ernst Plischke, rights for authors of children's books and the growth of digital film-making.

Have a look at this 3 minute showreel of her presenting work.
In 1997, Emma directed her first stories for Gibson Group's backch@t and in 2000 began reporting and presenting for the award-winning rural report programme, No.8 Wired. In 2003 Emma was runner-up for the BNZ Rongo Award Excellence in Agricultural Journalism for her story 'Rural Nurse'.

In 2004 Emma presented for arts and current affairs programme Frontseat, reporting stories about Hone Tuwhare, architect Ernst Plischke, rights for authors of children's books and the growth of digital film-making.

A graduate of Toi Whakaari: New Zealand Drama School, Emma has worked as an actor for television, film, theatre and voiceover work. She is represented by Tim Gordon at The ProActors. In Jan 2008 at Circa Theatre Emma played photographer Julie Lowe in Branwen Millar's new play Armslength.

In April 2009 Emma featured in Bryan Bruce’s award–winning tv programme “The Investigator”, playing murder victim Jill Harmer. In May & June she toured with Ensemble Impact performing excerpts from NZ plays at 38 colleges throughout the country. Gibson Group’s How to Spot a Cult went to air on TV3 in December 2009 with Emma playing a member of the International Church of Christ.

Emma’s directing work began at Wellington’s premier production company Gibson Group. Her first corporate video was Fish for the Future, a Ministry of Fisheries video on sustainable fishing practice produced by the Gibson Group in 2001.

She directed a music video for Charlotte Yates' The Ruins of Love from her album plainsong, released in 2003. The video was screened as part of Outtakes, the Gay & Lesbian Film Festival 2004.

Since 2004, Emma has also been a supervisor at the NZ Film School mentoring students on their 5-minute dramas and graduation films.

In November of that year preliminary work began on the Artsville documentary Behind the Scenes at the Lexus: Song Quest 2005 for the Gibson Group. This screened on TV One in May 2005.

In 2005 Emma directed her first short film, baggage, co-written with David Geary and produced by Jo Hiles. Jed Brophy features as the eerie man who disturbs other passengers when he drags a large and strangely leaking suitcase on to a Wellington bus. baggage was funded by Creative New Zealand through the Screen Innovation Fund.

The Ministry of Social Development contracted Emma to direct and produce a 7 minute dvd about refugees' experiences in the Wellington region. Nothing About Us Without Us was shown at the Wellington Regional Refugee Health and Well-Being Policy Launch in May 2006.

In November 2006, Family & Community Services hosted Strong Pacific Families Week, an event that provided Pacific orators the opportunity to tell their stories of immigration to New Zealand. Emma directed and produced Pacific Narratives 2006, a 35 minute dvd that presents the highlights from the week-long event. It was released in November 2007.

In 2008 Emma continued her work for Family & Community Services producing and directing a dvd on whanau/family violence prevention. The dvd was screened as part of the summit E Tu: Taking Action, in Ngaruawahia on April 3rd & 4th 2008. Since then over 500 copies have been made and distributed to iwi throughout the country.

Emma took the photographs for Charlotte Yates' 2008 album Beggar's Choice and directed the video for the track Given Up. Director of photography was David Paul and the editor was Lala Rolls.

The music videos Given Up and Ruins of Love are currently screening on C4, Juice and Triangle TV as well as Sky Arts and alt tv which are also screening baggage. In November 2008 baggage screened at the Show Me Shorts Festivals in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch.

Below: stills from baggage.