Clarke Gayford has shared a video of himself unboxing the Emmy Awards won by the documentary about his wife, former Prime Minister Dame Jacinda Ardern.
Gayford was a producer for the film, Prime Minister, which featured home videos he shot during Dame Jacinda's time in office. It followed her as she responded to the Christchurch mosque shootings, the Whakaari eruption, the Covid-19 pandemic, and her pregnancy.
Co-directed by Auckland-based filmmaker Michelle Walshe and American Lindsay Utz, the documentary won the top prize for best documentary at the 2026 News & Documentary Emmy Awards. It also took the award for outstanding politics and government documentary.
In an Instagram video, Gayford filmed himself opening the statuettes, saying they were "definitely the prettiest of all of the fancy statues that you can win".
"Winning 2 Emmy Awards for a film started by picking up a camera and filming my girlfriend's work promotion is a wild plot line itself," he wrote in the video's description," he said.
"Standing on stage in New York with the amazing team behind it was something to remember forever."
He said that the Prime Minister had the distinction of being the first New Zealand production to win two Emmys.
"I'm still getting crazy messages from every corner of the earth as people still discover this film, and it still continues on its journey around the world.
"But man, what a remarkable full stop at the end of the sentence of this production to have these and now have them here in our house."
In a previous video, Gayford said the film captured some of the toughest moments in their lives.
"It was awful in places," he said. "For one reason or another, I decided to pick up a camera and film parts of it."
After seeing the film for the first time, Dame Jacinda said she "cried through most of it".
"I cried through most of it, and I'm not sure if that's equivalent to laughing at your own jokes. I was very emotional watching it," she said in an interview for the Sundance Film Festival.
"I hoped that the film would humanise politicians, those who are public servants, and leadership, but I never thought it would humanise me."
Dame Jacinda and Gayford got married in January 2024, and are now based in Australia.
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