WIFT NZ Events

Wednesday

Apr

2022

Wellington

Understanding Film Festivals

Posted Monday 04 Apr 2022

Film festivals have been a vital platform for filmmakers to showcase their stories to international audiences and nurture career connections. How can we make them work for us at all levels of our filmmaking career? Come along to this WIFT NZ workshop and hear the views of our experienced panel.

This event will adhere to Covid traffic light Red restrictions, so seating will be limited.

Please note: This event will require you to show your vaccine pass at the door.

Facilitator: Robin Laing, Producer

Panellists:

Anna Kalbhenn, Director - Goethe-Institut New Zealand, former NATIVe co-curator Berlinale
Libby Hakaraia, Festival Director - Māoriland
Jasmin McSweeney, Head of Marketing, NZ Film Commission
Desray Armstrong, Producer, Sandy Lane Productions

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

What is the right festival pathway for my film?
How do film festivals choose their film content each year?
With the extraordinary growth of subscription-based streaming services such as Netflix, Disney + and Amazon Prime are film festivals still relevant?
How are we globally reimagining film festivals in this COVID environment?
How does diversity and inclusion fit into film festivals?

This panel will be followed by a Q&A session.

WIFT Members free; non-members $15 – drinks and nibbles included.

When: 6pm drinks for a 6:30pm start, Wednesday 6 April.

Where: Taia Studios, 4 Bay Rd, Kilbirnie, Wellington.

RSVP essential - office@wiftnz.org.nz

Date: Wednesday 06 Apr 2022
Location: Taia Studios, 4 Bay Road, Kilbirnie, Wellington
Time: 6pm networking for a 6.30pm start

Wednesday

Apr

2022

Upcoming events...

Tuesday 21 Jul 2026

Finding Your Voice & Tribe: In Conversation with Jerusha Hess

UNDER 10 TICKETS LEFT

When you deep-dive into Jerusha Hess's slate, the same names turn up again and again. That's no accident. Over two decades, she and her collaborators have built the kind of working relationships that let a creative voice grow, and that loyalty shows up on screen.

From co-writing the cult classic Napoleon Dynamite (2004) to her directorial debut Austenland (2013) and her Oscar-nominated animated short Ninety-Five Senses (2024), Jerusha has made unmistakably original work alongside a tight circle of cast and crew she's returned to time and again. It's a reminder that a career isn't built alone, and that the people you choose to make things with matter as much as the ideas themselves.

WIFT NZ is delighted to host Jerusha Hess for an honest conversation about staying true to your originality, the value of long-term creative partnerships, and how finding the right people early can shape everything that follows. For all who are carving out their own creative path, this is one to bring your notebook to.

This session will be moderated by Zoe McIntosh, director of Stylebender (2023).

CLICK HERE TO BOOK VIA HUMANITIX

Free for WIFT, DEGANZ & NZWG Members, $25 for non-members. Drinks & Nibbles Provided.

About Jerusha Hess:

Jerusha Hess is an American screenwriter, director, and producer best known as a co-writer of the cult comedy classics Napoleon Dynamite (2004) and Nacho Libre (2006), both of which she developed with her husband and longtime creative collaborator Jared Hess. A graduate of Brigham Young University's film program, where she began her filmmaking partnership, she made her directorial debut with Austenland (2013), a romantic comedy at the Sundance Film Festival and nominated for the Grand Jury Prize. More recently, Hess moved into animation, earning an Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Short Film for Ninety-Five Senses (2022). She also co-wrote the Netflix animated musical feature Thelma the Unicorn (2024). Across a career spanning two decades, her work is distinguished by a fondness for underdog characters and a singular comedic sensibility that has made her films enduring favourites.

Auckland