DJ Stories is the production company of film maker David Jacobs since 2018.

That year David heard about a ground-breaking book on anxiety that was about to be published. With lived experience of anxiety himself, he felt his next film project coming on.

David got in touch with the editor Naomi Arnold and the publisher Victoria University Press, then with the writers… and then with emerging Aotearoan directors who were interested in working with the writers on developing films based on their stories.

And so HEADLANDS was born – the latest project in a film making career that has focused on promoting positive change, sustainability, media empowerment and talent development.

David grew up and started his career in London, where produced and directed international documentaries for Channel Four (Viva Nica, 1990) and the BBC (Thailand For Sale, 1991 and Rainbow Reports, 1992), which were broadcast in over 100 countries.

After coming to live in Aotearoa in 1992, David’s documentaries were made for TVNZ: Edifice (1993), Rubber Glovers or Green Fingers (1997) and The Middle-earth Connection documentary trilogy (2003-2005), which was also made for BBC World.

In 2017-18 he was Executive Producer of the first two series of Someday Stories for Stuff, RNZ, Māori Television and TheCoconet. The twelve short films include drama, comedy, documentary, animation, spoken word and dance. They have had 1 million online and broadcast views. They have also featured in and won awards at international film festivals.

With HEADLANDS David is working with four of the directors of those Someday Stories films.

David has also played executive roles aligned to his career as a values-based film maker. In London he was Programme Executive for the international television charity Television Trust for the Environment (TVE). In the 1990s he ran Small World Television as a channel for Telecom New Zealand’s trial cable television service.

He founded and led Connected Media Trust from 1993 to 2018, including developing and directing The Outlook for Someday sustainability film project for young people from 2007.

"As a film maker, like many others, I’ve sought to use media to provide information and to promote justice and sustainability. It can be done. It is done - by individuals and organisations I honour and revere."

David Jacobs at Expressly On Toast, 25 March 2021