Posted Monday 08 Sep 2014
This year has seen some incredible Kiwi films hit the screens: The Dark Horse, What We Do In The Shadows, and The Last Saint, to name but three.
But with a fixed amount of funding available each year many Kiwi filmmakers are having to look for international money in order to make their next film, a fact recognised and supported by the New Zealand Film Commission and the New Zealand Government.
So how do filmmakers find international producers and new sources of funding? How do they ensure they make the right pitch? What expectations and accountabilities come with such co-productions? These questions and more will be answered at an International Co-Production Forum, hosted by the Goethe-Institut in association with Documentary Edge and support from AUT/ Colab and the New Zealand Film Commission as a special event attached to this year's German Film Festival.
Special guests have been flown out from Germany and added to a panel of top New Zealand industry experts. Led by producer Alex Lee, the panel consists of German filmmakers Arne Birkenstock (Sound of Heimat) and Maren Niemeyer, New Zealand producer John Barnett (Footrot Flats, Whale Rider, Sione's Wedding and TV's Outrageous Fortune) and the Chief Financial Officer at the New Zealand Film Commission, Mladen Ivancic.
The International Co-Production Forum consists of a Pitching Workshop and a Panel Discussion, which will be held at the AUT City Campus in Auckland on Thursday 18 September. For more information, registration form or to book a seat at the forum, please email arts@wellington.goethe.org