Archive Jan 2011

Our e-survey is now LIVE! Be in the draw to win a free year's membership by filling it in before the end of February!

At the History Makers Awards in New York on the 27^th January, Gaylene Preston's feature film Home By Christmas will be in auspicious company alongside a selection of the strongest historical film and television storytelling made last year from all over the world.

Selec…

The Directors Guild of America has announced their five nominees, and it's an all-male affair. Anne Thompson notes in her Thompson on Hollywood blog that "If there was any doubt as to which films were the front-runners in the Oscar race, they were quelled by…

No, not canny hobbit filmmakers. We're referring to an Observer article we came across late last year, just after our last enews went out, which we thought worth saving for this edition.

In it, Killian Fox writes "Not long ago, if you wanted to c…

Katie Wolfe made her small screen acting debut fresh from drama school in the early 90s playing Ginni Galloway in Marlin Bay, alongside Andy Anderson, Kevin Smith and Ilona Rodgers. Many acting roles later, Wolfe moved into television and film directing.
This ScreenTalk interview inc…

If you didn't manage to make it along to one of the NZFC Review Meetings in December last year, and a crazy Christmas holiday stopped you catching up on what was said, you can access a podcast of the Auckland meeting online here…

At the end of December, TVNZ announced that its kids-centric TVNZ 6 channel will this year be canned in March. Instead, TVNZ 7 will be expanded to launch a commercial free-to-air youth-targeted channel.
TVNZ CEO Rick Ellis said the expanded TVNZ 7 channel would…

A quick reminder that for those eligible, TMP television funding round three (financial year 2010/2011) will close Friday 25 February 2011, with decisions advised by email on Friday 18 March 2011.

The latest issue of TMP's panui is visible on their website, with their …

Europe's leading independent film festival, Raindance, is calling for entries for 2011. Listed by Variety as one of the world's top 50 'unmissable film festivals', Raindance aims to nurture, support and promote independent films and filmmakers from the UK and around the world.
The fes…

Recently in our inbox we heard of a project (it's already interested some filmmakers), instigated by Kiwi Olivia Scott. Olivia is running a project called Young Stars of Nepal, which will take five New Zealanders to Nepal to be placed in an orphanage. Each …

Welcome to 2011, WIFT members - we hope it's a creative, productive and successful one for all of you.

You might have seen this short article in OnFilm - then again, you might not have, so we've reproduced it for you here. Here's what…

We're now accepting applications for our highly successful annual internship programme here at WIFT.

The programme is designed for women in their final year of study in screen-related fields and aims to provide a platform for gaining experience, skills and contacts as they …

The WIFT NZ Robin Laing Scholarship, originally established by WIFT Wellington, is an annual partnership initiative between WIFT NZ and The Film School, Wellington.

Named for WIFT Wellington founder and leading NZ film producer Robin Laing, the scholarship was set up to provide fi…

More kiwi films overseas can only be a good thing - so we're happy to report that there will be three of our films at this year's Berlin International Film Festival,  one of the world's oldest and most prestigious film festivals.

The three s…

Well what do you know - massive global car brand puts money into nurturing the arts!

The Ford Foundation has announced a five-year, $50 million initiative to help find and support a new generation of filmmakers whose works address urgent social issues.

The new init…

Corporate business getting hand-in-hand with independent film? What's the world coming to! The Sundance Institute and Mahindra Group recently announced a multifaceted agreement that showcases the commitment to and support of independent cinema around the world both by the Mahindra Group, one of the lar…

Correction: Oops, we accidentally credited Nikki Parlane as the filmmaker for a short film mentioned in our newsletter, when it was actually written and produced and directed by Raquel Sims, and edited by Nikki. Our sincerest apologies to both Racquel and Nikki for this er…

Fancy us paying for your next year's WIFT membership? Well, take a couple of minutes and give us some feedback in the latest WIFT survey, now live at our website. We'd love to know your thoughts on what you like, what you don't like and…

Former Countryfile presenter Miriam O'Reilly has won her employment tribunal case against the BBC on the grounds of ageism and discrimination - but not sexism.

O'Reilly, 53, took the BBC to an employment tribunal claiming age and sex discrimination after she was dropp…

A recent article on Women's eNews suggests we need to look more wisely at corporate fundraising for women's projects. Blogger Ariel Doughty comments "Many women's organiations spend money courting corporate media, which rarely cares about our message or missions. Meanwhile our own dedicated media groups…