Award winning documentary director and producer Alexis Smith “feels like I'm just getting started” .

Originally from Glasgow, with a dream to work within the BBC, upon meeting Alexis the first thing that oozes through her is the real heart and passion she has for documentary traveled. Having been in the industry for 10 years, we got to hear about her reflections on this journey, which in her words "it feels like I'm just getting started.’’

Although she travelled the world while working for the BBC for four years, and has made documentaries for the likes of the BBC, Warner Bros, TVNZ and RNZ, with national and international production companies. What the future holds for Alexis is limitless.

The discography of her work shows a vast range of hidden truths and can be explained as insightful, inspiring and innovative. Exploring everything from the Muslim hip hop scene of Auckland, to skydive culture, the life of sex workers and science documentaries, to name just a few, the range of her work is reflective of the curiosity of her spirit.

‘’I've always been interested in everything under the sun, I think I've been the most curious person in the world. And when I was a kid, I wanted to be everything. I wanted to be an astronaut, a pop star, an Olympic swimmer, a surfer, an artist. Everything. But I was always really into science and really into arts and I also really wanted to save the world, I wanted to make a huge impact. And it just made so much sense to make documentaries, because it encapsulates all of those things.’’

Once Alexis decided that she wanted to work in film, she began researching what steps she would need to take next. Surprisingly, what was required next was not something that appeared so obvious.

‘’I was like, okay, I'm going to make documentaries, I found the film industry really enticing and exciting. And then I decided I really wanted to work for the BBC. This was a big dream of mine. I did a lot of research when I was a teenager and found out that the BBC

prefers when you have a specialist subject, rather than a media degree. So I studied Zoology at uni, because I loved animals. I wanted to travel the world and become the next David Attenborough. As I'm sure everybody does. And yeah, my big grand master plan worked!’’

Although Alexis makes it sound easy, it took the need of an ultimatum and a trip to the other side of the world to ensure this big dream of hers came to fruition.

‘When I turned 24 I gave myself an ultimatum – I had one year to try to get into the BBC and if I didn’t manage then I'd give up and pursue another career path. It felt like a pipe dream, it felt impossible. Everyone said that it was so hard to get in and really competitive. But I was an overachiever and I wouldn't take no for an answer.’’

‘I tried to turn every chapter of my life into an opportunity to get the right experience. My first job after uni was amazing - I was the Lead Scientist of a humpback whale research project on the other side of the world in Western Australia. So this was the perfect opportunity to start making my David Attenborough-type content - I took photos and wrote a blog to document my incredible experience there. This was the beginnings of my storytelling journey.’’

‘Then I moved to Byron Bay and I got really into surfing. So again, I used this as an opportunity to create another blog, featuring my photography, short films and storytelling. I was obsessed with SurfGirl magazine at the time, the pages were plastered all over my bedroom wall. And they actually picked up one of the videos I had made with my friend, shared it on their website and then did a feature of my artwork in their magazine, which was amazing. So looking back, my dreams were becoming my reality because I was creating content around my passions and experiences throughout my life.’’

Alexis shares that this was during a time when blogs were popular and social media wasn’t what it is today.

‘’I remember feeling like, man, all my friends are at the beach, having fun. And I'm at home writing a blog about being at the beach. And I was like, is it worth it? You know? And at the end of the day, making these sacrifices is a choice. Like, do you choose to go out and have fun with your friends and have a carefree life? Or do you choose to sacrifice a bit of that, for the sake of advancing your path, your career, your purpose, whatever that is for you. And at this point, I chose, because I was an overachiever, I chose to pursue my career. And yeah, our surf film got picked up by an American surf TV show as well. And they did a piece on it, and about me turning surfing into my creative art.”

Those sacrifices and journeys paid off in the end as Alexis got into the BBC and her dream became a reality. She took the initiative to live the life she wanted, creating the content, making the sacrifices and believing in herself in order to get to where she is now.

"I've been reflecting recently on all the incredible people that I've been filming over the past 10 years. And often, as filmmakers, we meet the most incredible inspiring people doing the most spectacular things with their lives. And, as the saying goes, we're an average of the people we surround ourselves by. And when I’m surrounded by these incredible people all day for work, making my documentaries, I end up being inspired in my own personal life. It makes me realise the possibilities of who I can become, and what I can do with my own life. So being a filmmaker is a really incredible, unique, inspiring job that helps me grow as an individual as well."

From wanting to save the world, to moving to the other side of the world, I asked what made Alexis settle here in Aotearoa, away from the big media scenes of the UK.

‘’Well, I came to New Zealand because I love surfing. And I also love to make documentaries. And it felt like the perfect place to do both.’’

‘’There's a big difference in my experience between making documentaries in the UK, compared to making documentaries in New Zealand. In the UK and working for the BBC, I was working with documentaries with million pound budgets. And we traveled across the world, filming leading experts in their field, with huge production teams.’’

‘’And then I moved to New Zealand and it was very different. There were smaller budgets, with smaller teams, making local content that was more New Zealand focused rather than worldwide focused. So that was a learning curve for me, moving from that world perspective to a more local perspective.’’

This move to New Zealand was a key point in her career. The media scene in NZ pushed Alexis to become more independent and confident within her role as a documentary director and producer.

‘’New Zealand gave me a lot of confidence to know that I can do it.’’

‘’New Zealand and all the incredible openhearted people here have helped me find a new perspective on life. I have found deep healing and a connection to something greater than myself spiritually. And this has given me the freedom to truly be myself. That's the gift New Zealand has given me. So my gift to New Zealand is to do what I do best and make documentaries, giving a voice to the people here and sharing their stories’’

Moving from an international perspective to a national perspective has taught Alexis that her journey as a documentary filmmaker here in NZ “is less about trying to make an impact on millions of people around the world. I used to want to save the world, but that is an impossibly huge task. Now I feel if I can help just one person with each film and change their experience of the world into a more positive one, then I've fulfilled my purpose. And if all my travels around the world have taught me anything, it's that it doesn't really matter where we're from, we are all the same inside - we just want love, connection and to be our authentic selves. So in my films I like to bring it back to the heart and connect us all through these qualities that make us human’’

Alexis has just recently moved down to Wellington and is publicly putting out a call out for anyone who has any interesting stories or events that they think deserve to be in a documentary.

You can find her contact details on instagram @alexismithy or on her website along with a

library of her work www.alexis-smith.com.