Big congratulations to WIFT members, Rowena Baines, Paula Jones, Hayley Cunningham and Jeremy Macey whose projects have been selected for Loading Docs 2015, and to WIFT members Julia Parnell, Anna Jackson and Nia Phipps for their dedication to documentary!
Executive Producers Julia Parnell and Anna Jackson set up Loading Docs to fill a
gap for audiences hungry for quality local documentaries and to offer documentary
makers a unique creative challenge.
The filmmakers are provided with mentoring from industry leaders to further their
skills in development, crowdfunding, marketing and online distribution. The initiative
is designed to support filmmakers to take their filmmaking craft to the next level and
promote creative documentary making of the highest standard both locally and
internationally.
Loading Docs launched in May 2014. The first series of short docos (all freely
available to view and share online here: www.loadingdocs.net/2014films ) were an
immediate success, featuring on high profile local and international websites,
screening on Air New Zealand's inflight entertainment and New Zealand Television
(3News, Seven Sharp, 20/20, Te Kaea, Iti Pounamu, the Rialto Channel) and selected
for local and international film festivals (Show Me Shorts (NZ), Out Takes (NZ),
ImagineNATIVE (Canada), New Zealand Short Film Festival (Aus) and the 2015 Banff
World Tour (US).
The project is supported by the New Zealand Film Commission and NZ On Air's
Digital Media Fund. Each documentary will crowd fund via the website
Boosted http://www.boosted.org.nz to raise $2000, which is then matched
by Loading Docs. The crowd funding phase will take place from the first week of
March 2015 when the filmmakers have a month to raise the cash and reach out to
audiences before production begins.
LOADING DOCS 2015: www.loadingdocs.net/2015films
The Crystal Palace
Directors Karl Sheridan and Robin Gee, Producer Monster Valley
Location: Mt Eden, Auckland
Cultural icon and cinematic relic The Crystal Palace fights to hold off the final curtain
call.
Dance Like Nobody's Watching
Director Rowena Baines, Producer Paula Jones
Location: Grey Lynn, Auckland
A suburban library hall on a mundane Monday is transformed into a world where
there's no inhibitions, no worries, and most importantly, 'No Lights, No Lycra'.
Fantasy Cave
Director/Producers Michelle Savill and Matt Henley
Location: Dannevirke.
In the heart of rural New Zealand the residents of Dannevirke have transformed a
Christmas Cave into a DIY 'Disney Land.'
H20 Below
Directors Louis Olsen and Frances Haszard
Producer: Scott Elder
Location: Auckland
An adventurous, cinematic expos� of our cities' hidden waterways and the story that
connects us with our forgotten history and our unseen environment.
Killer App
Director/Producers Wendell Cooke, Jeremy Macey
Location: Wellington
Over hot drinks and a potluck afternoon tea, a group of senior Wellingtonians
discuss the best ways to die.
Kusuda
Directors Amber Easby & Henry Oliver, Producer Amber Easby
Location: Martinborough
New Zealand, Japanese and French cultures merge in the vineyards of salaryman
turned master winemaker, Hiro Kusuda.
Madness Made Me
Director Nikki Castle, Producer Alexander Gandar
Location: Dunedin
To the psychiatrists, Mary O'Hagan was just another head case. But where they saw
illness, she saw meaning.
The Pet Whisperer
Directors Justin Hawkes & Ian Hart, Producer Hayley Cunningham
Location: Christchurch
Imagine if you could have a conversation with your pet... Faye Rogers can.
Tihei
Director Hamish Bennett, Producer Orlando Stewart
Location: Auckland
A boombox and a beat helped Tihei Harawira find his voice. Now he's freestyling his
way from Otara to the world.
Wilbur Force
Director J.Ollie Lucks, Producer Veronica Stevenson
Location: Dunedin
The former king of New Zealand pro wrestling is challenged by his best friend to reconnect
with his glory days of battle.
Reaction from this year's successful applicants on being involved with
Loading Docs:
Justin Hawkes & Ian Hart LOADING DOCS Filmmakers 2015 (The Pet
Whisperer)
'Being selected for Loading Docs is not only an amazing chance to explore the craft
we love, but it's also an opportunity to film with a telepathic pet communicator - we
can't think of anything else we would rather be doing'
Rowena Baines LOADING DOCS Filmmaker 2015 (Dance Like Nobody's
Watching)
"Loading Docs is a fantastic initiative that provides a supportive environment for
filmmakers to create work, then promote and showcase it. I'm excited to see the
many different interpretations of the common theme 'connect' and to have the
opportunity participate in the creation of the new collection."
Three of last years filmmakers on Loading Docs:
Joel Kefali, LOADING DOCS Filmmaker (Baba)
www.loadingdocs.net/2014/baba
"I like the one to one relationship a filmmaker can have with their audience when
sharing their work online. The LOADING DOCS format and crowd-funding approach
brings this relationship full circle and allows me to share a particularly personal story
within the online community."
Alex Sutherland, LOADING DOCS Filmmaker (The Jump)
www.loadingdocs.net/2014/thejump
"When I heard about Loading Doc's short documentary initiative, I immediately
thought this would be a great way to jump-start Chris's story to life and get it out
into the world. The discipline of having to distil a story like this down to three
minutes forces you to think about what is absolutely necessary to tell the story and
what is really driving it."
Prisca Bouchet and Nick Mayow, LOADING DOCS Filmmakers (Today)
www.loadingdocs.net/2014/today
"As directors, being part of LOADING DOCS has given us an opportunity to
challenge ourselves, at the same time learning about and participating in the bold,
dynamic world of online storytelling."
Loading Docs is a Notable Pictures initiative, produced by Julia Parnell
and Anna Jackson with the support of the New Zealand Film
Commission and NZ On Air's Digital Media Fund.
For more information visit www.loadingdocs.net