Thursday
18
Dec
2025
Combined Guilds Xmas Party (Wellington)

Combined Guilds Xmas Party (Wellington)

Posted Tuesday 02 Dec 2025

Combined Guilds Xmas Parties 2025 – Te Whanganui-a-Tara

It’s been another interesting year for Aotearoa’s screen industry, now it’s time to reflect, raise a glass, and celebrate together!

Join the writers, directors, editors, actors, stunties, crew, producers, postproduction and VFX magicians and all the screen creators who keep the cameras rolling and the stories flowing.

The Combined Guilds Xmas Parties are your chance to reconnect with old friends, meet new collaborators, and enjoy a well-earned festive catch-up with good people who get it.

What’s included:

  • Your $10 ticket entry and nibbles
  • A warm, welcoming mix of industry whānau across all screen guilds
  • The perfect chance to unwind, swap stories, and toast to another creative year

Whether you’ve been in development, on set, in post, behind the scenes, or in front of the camera, come celebrate the people who make Aotearoa’s screen industry what it is!

Te Whanganui-a-Tara / Wellington – Thursday 18 December, from 6pm

Venue: Southern Cross Garden Bar & Restaurant, 39 Abel Smith Street, Te Aro

Click here for tickets

Date: Thursday 18 Dec 2025
Location: Southern Cross Garden Bar
Time: 6pm

Thursday
18
Dec
2025

Upcoming events...

Wednesday 22 Apr 2026

Boost Your Work: Running A Successful Boosted Campaign (Wellington)

Crowdfunding a film is one thing. Keeping a campaign alive, building momentum, finding your audience, and turning strangers into supporters is something else entirely. This panel brings together filmmakers for an honest conversation about what it actually takes to run a successful creative crowdfunding campaign in Aotearoa.

We will have Flynn Robson from Boosted, New Zealand's dedicated arts crowdfunding platform discuss how the platform works. He will be joined by Gwen Isaac (Ms. Information) and Maddy Hakaraia de Young (Māoriland).

This session goes beyond the basics. Expect practical insights on platform optimisation, lateral thinking around outreach, and a frank discussion about what nobody tells you before you launch.

Whether you're mid-campaign, planning your first, or just crowdfunding-curious, this panel is your chance to learn from the people who've been through it, and come away with ideas you can use straight away.

We thank The Arts Foundation for collaborating with us on this event, as well as Kōawa Studios for hosting it. We are excited to be the first event held at the new theatre!

Drinks and nibbles from 6pm, workshop from 6:30pm-8:00pm

Free for WIFT members, $20 for non-members, $10 for non-member students.

 

CLICK HERE TO BOOK YOUR TICKET VIA HUMANITIX

Wednesday 22 Apr 2026

Cosy Crime (Auckland)

Some of the most successful TV shows in New Zealand over the last 5 years have been procedural/cosy-adjacent crime shows. What makes a cosy crime series thrive in the New Zealand screen landscape?

This panel brings together WIFT members Kate McDermott (co-creator and writer, Blue Murder Motel, and script producer and writer, My Life is Murder), Kathleen Anderson (Head of Drama GSTV, Blue Murder Motel), and Rachel Antony (Chief Executive Greenstone TV, My Life is Murder) to unpack the creative and commercial mechanics of the genre.

From defining the core elements of successful cosy crime and crafting distinctive protagonists that sustain multiple seasons, to positioning locally made series for both domestic broadcasters and international markets, the discussion will examine how tone, character, audience, and market intersect. 


This session will be moderated by Marina Alofagia McCartney.

WIFT Members free, non-members $20. Drinks & nibbles from 6pm, panel from 6:30 - 8pm

CLICK HERE TO BOOK YOUR TICKET VIA HUMANITIX

Monday 11 May 2026

WIFT Special Screening: Caterpillar

We are delighted to host a special WIFT Screening of Chelsie Preson Crayford's debut feature film Caterpillar. We will have the bubbles flowing to celebrate! There will also be a Q&A with Chelsie Preston Crayford (Director) Georgina Condor (Producer) Lisa Harrow & Anais Shand (Lead Actors) and Maria Ines Manchego (DOP).

In an early-2000s Wellington household, three generations of women navigate love, ambition and change. Single mother Maxine (Marta Dusseldorp) struggles to fund her filmmaking dreams, and teenage daughter Cassie (Anais Shand) faces the pressures of growing up. All while grandmother Huia (Lisa Harrow) quietly confronts a dementia diagnosis, retreating into her fascination with monarch butterflies as her mind begins to falter. When the family’s needs clash, they must learn to adapt together.

CLICK HERE TO BOOK A TICKET VIA HUMANITIX

$20 for WIFT members, $25 for non-members

See film trailer here:

Programme is brought to you with generous support from the NZ Film Commission and Foundation North.