Michael Bennett (Ngati Pikiao, Ngati Whakaue) is an award-winning New Zealand screenwriter and author whose films have been selected for numerous festivals including Cannes, Berlin, Toronto, and New York.

In 2008, Michael was the inaugural recipient of the Writers Award from the New Zealand Film Commission, and in 2005, he was awarded the British Council/New Zealand Writers Foundation Award.

In 2011, Michael’s feature film Matariki won Best Feature Film Screenplay at the New Zealand Screenwriting Awards, and in 2013, he was awarded Best Documentary Screenplay for his documentary on the Teina Pora case, The Confessions of Prisoner T.

He went on to publish In Dark Places in 2016, which won Best Non-Fiction Book at the Ngaio Marsh Awards.