Wift NZ Events

Having control over one’s stories and the right to determine the direction of these stories is an essential and ongoing korero. We're bringing this important and multi-layered conversation to Wellington. 

Some of the topics and questions the panel will explore are:

• How can our industry centre the voices and concerns of Tangata Whenua, Tangata Moana, pan-Asian and other underserved groups?
• How can our industry empower these groups in the storytelling space and ensure the protection of cultural, genealogical and spiritual capital?
• How can we as an industry move beyond token representation onscreen and behind the camera to ensure meaningful collaboration?
• What does cultural safety mean throughout all levels of the storytelling process?
• What is Story Sovereignty and is there a collective understanding of what it is?

This is an important and multi-layered conversation which we hope will add to the discourse on Story Sovereignty and Cultural Safety.

Facilitator: Karen Te O Kahurangi Waaka (Tūwharetoa, Tūhourangi-Ngāti Wahiao, Ngāti Whakaue, Ngāti Pūkeko)

Panellists:

Blake Ihimaera, Head of Content at Te Māngai Pā​ho, (Te Rarawa, Ngapuhi, Ngai Tahu)
Blake has extensive experience in Māori broadcasting and has been committed to telling stories from a Māori perspective, with a critical lens. Her credits include producing Aotearoa’s longest standing Māori Current Affairs show, Marae, Te Matatini live broadcasts, award-winning Aotearoa 250 live broadcast, Māori lifestyle show Easy Eats, and fluent te reo Māori children’s show Te Nūtube. Outside broadcasting, she’s a mother of two Māori-speaking daughters, National Kapa Haka performer and tutor of Puangarua Kapa Haka, and she sits on the Waitangi Cultural Committee in Te Tai Tokerau.

Matasila Freshwater, Writer, Director (Solomon Islands, Pākehā)
Matasila was responsible for the Solomon Islands section of the award-winning feature, Vai (2019), which premiered at Berlinale, featured at SXSW and won a Special Jury Award at Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival and Best Feature Narrative at DisOrient Asian American Film Festival. Her first film Shmeat (2016), was a finalist in NZIFF’s Best Shorts programme, competed at the Sitges International Fantasy Film Festival, and won Best Animation at A Night of Horror Film Festival in Sydney. Recent projects include writing/directing on Season 2 of The Feijoa Club, and the Prime horror anthology series, Teine Sā: The Ancient Ones with her short piece Hiama. 

Tainui Stephens, Producer, Director, Presenter (Te Rarawa)
Tainui Stephens has brought Māori stories to the screen for 40 years. He began his career working on the first weekly Māori television programme Koha. He’s directed documentaries on subjects as diverse as the Māori Battalion and the music of Franz Liszt. He’s worked as a producer for the films River Queen, The Rain Of The Children and The Dead Lands. He’s a producer for the upcoming feature on the life of Whina Cooper. Stephens has served on the boards of the Film Commission, Māori Radio Spectrum Trust, Script to Screen and the Māoriland Film Festival. 

WIFT members free, non-members $15 cash at the door.

RSVP to office@wiftnz.org.nz

There are three workshops on three different dates, with eight places available in each.

Choose from Friday 6 May, Friday 17 June, Friday 1 July.

Shout out to all beginner producers! We know your budgets are tight, and talking to a lawyer can be daunting. Sinclair Black, Entertainment Lawyers, is offering up to 24 emerging producer WIFT members a free two-hour session to run through some of the legal basics you need to know as producers. Come and get some tips and tricks that may help avoid some bigger (and costly) legal mistakes...!

Mel Chuter will cover things such as:

• legal concepts like how to form a contract, copyright, chain of title, and running an SPV;
• the key agreements you'll need as a producer;
• common clauses you should understand (e.g. what do “warranty", “indemnity”, "injunctive relief” actually mean?);
• what to look out for in a production agreement, a distribution agreement and a financing agreement; and
• and when (and how!) to get help from a lawyer

Christy Whelan will talk through the basics of music licensing for film and tv – what rights you need, who to get them from and how best to do that. 

These are small and intimate sessions, for new producers wanting to ask all those questions about the stuff you’re ‘supposed’ to know. Just be aware that Mel and Christy cannot give out specific advice on matters. The rules governing lawyers require that clients formally engage a lawyer to give rise to a solicitor/client relationship. The session is not a substitute for legal advice and you cannot rely on it as such – if you have a legal matter you need help with you should engage a specialist lawyer.  

Presented by Mel Chuter and Christy Whelan of Sinclair Black 

Bookings essential to office@wiftnz.org.nz.

State the date of the workshop you're booking for.

First in first served!

This exciting evening honours the wonderful women who make up our industry. As always, it will be an amazing party and a very special celebration, so join us at the ASB Waterfront Theatre from 7pm on Friday 8 July to honour our fantastic finalists and industry heroines.

Find the list of 2022 Finalists here

Click here to see the 2020 nominees and award winners. 

Click here to check out the 2018 Awards captured for us on Redcarpetnz.tv