Archive Nov 2018

A preliminary drumroll please, for the announcement of the finalists in the 2018 Huawei Mate20 New Zealand Television Awards. Leading the nominations with 11 nods is Great Southern Film & Television for its telefeature about iconic Kiwi rock band: The Dance Exponents - Why …

Radio New Zealand has a new senior commissioner in the form of the hardworking Kay Ellmers. Ellmers' experience and understanding of New Zealand's media environment, including the challenges and opportunities for public service media, will benefit RNZ hugely. She has successfully run production companies over n…

Directed by Morgan Leigh Stewart with Nina Wells as DOP, She Speeds is a rare insight into the world of New Zealand dirt track racing through the eyes of Brooke Clarkson (pictured below), a fourth generation racer, and one of the few female driver…

We have five double passes to give away to this film, announced as Robert Redford's last performance (Nooooo!). At the age of 70, career robber Forrest Tucker embarks on a string of bank robberies that confound the authorities and enchant the public. Redford stars …

It's back to the Northern Hemisphere winters for Elizabeth Trotman, head of Studiocanal's Australasian operations. Variety.com reports that Trotman has been named managing director of Studiocanal UK having run the Australasian division since 2016. While here, she oversaw the launch of numerous box office perfor…

Programme makers take note: submissions are open for next May's INPUT 2019 conference, to be held in Bangkok. The conference programme will be composed by 11 moderators who will meet in Berlin in January to spend four intense days of seeing great productions, arguing …

We have five double passes to give away to this film about the incredible life journey of the world's top-selling female artist. Filmed for more than a decade, Heather Lenz's debut documentary Kusama: Infinity shows Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama's radical artistic vision and fierce determina…

Check out the brand-new teaser trailer for Daffodils, a bittersweet love story told with beautiful re-imaginings of iconic New Zealand songs, and releasing in cinemas across New Zealand from March 21, 2019. Victoria Dabbs is a line producer, and the film stars Kiwi actors …

Well done to Madeleine Sheahan (pictured below) whose proposal can now grow thanks to funding from the NZWG Seed Grants 2018. Here's a quick synopsis of the project, titled Seven Stars: when Kenzie's runaway mother turns up dead, the teenager discovers that the best wa…

Screenies Children's Film Festival is looking for people interested in helping to grow this popular festival. After three years at TAPAC and a new venue added in Napier, the festival is ready to expand in both content and locations but it needs more enthusiastic pe…

Show your support for the White Ribbon Campaign which aims to end men's violence towards women. The campaign launches on Monday 12 November; White Ribbon Day is 25 November 25. White Ribbon is a community effort that educates, increases awareness, and builds a commitmen…

Support your fellow Wifters by checking out the latest collection from Loading Docs. This 2018 collection of 3-minute documentaries features work by Jane Mahoney, Morgan Leigh Stewart, and Annie Hubbard. The dynamic crop of films, all inspired by the theme of 'Impact', showcases some remar…

Fancy digging into the 'how to' of developing and crafting a good story? DEGNZ is rounding off the year for its Young Creators with a short film case study of Madam Black. Funny and heartfelt, Madam Black has charmed audiences around the globe. Wh…

Here's another great reason to attend this year's SPADA conference! Acclaimed actor and producer Cliff Curtis (Ng?ti Hauiti, Ng?ti Rongomai) will deliver the opening NZ On Air John O'Shea Memorial Address for this two-day Wellington event. SPADA is going deep and meaningful this year …

Congress '18 is coming! The year's must-attend event for producers, broadcasters, content creators and distributors working in factual programming will take place in Brisbane from November 27 to 30. Join your colleagues from Netflix, Bilibili, ABC, BBC, National Geographic, Science Channel, SBS and more,…

Los Angeles-based Octane Entertainment has launched FAB, a new female-driven sales and acquisitions division. FAB, an acronym for films which are For women, About women, and By women, aims to address the void in female representation and create a home for content powered by fem…

Documentary makers this is for you! Doc Edge has teamed up with Australia's international documentary industry conference AIDC, to foster Trans-Tasman co-productions of non-fiction feature films or long-form episodic series. Doc Edge says the partnership will facilitate an active exchange of documentary practitioners and pro…

Starring Jennifer Ward-Lealand (pictured below) and directed by Dorthe Scheffmann, Vermilion is a stunningly beautiful meditation on life, death and the strength of family and friends in a summer of crisis.  Celebrity composer Darcy (Jennifer Ward-Lealand) sees colours when she plays musical notes - synaesth…

Television Production Manager

Correction: Lovely Dorthe Scheffmann thanks WIFT for the newly minted PhD we credited her with in the earlier issue of enews. She does have a wonderful Masters of Philosophy though - would that we had one of those! WIFT apologises for the error.

Vermil…

A big round of applause for all members who won awards at the Huawei Mate20 New Zealand Television Craft Awards 2018, hosted by Screen Auckland. Alana Cotton took home an award for Best Post Production Design, and Pip Hall and Philip Smith grabbed the gong for…

From Academy Award�-winning director Steve McQueen (12 Years a Slave) and co-writer and bestselling author Gillian Flynn (Gone Girl) comes a blistering, modern-day thriller set against the backdrop of crime, passion and corruption. Widows is the story of four women with nothing in common e…

It's great to see some Wift representation on the New Zealand Cinematographers' Society committee! Nina Wells is the new NZCS vice president, while Mark Lapwood ACS, Ainsley Calderwood and Cushla Lewis join the committee as members.

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Getting your accounts done after a long hard day's work is not much fun! Make your life easier by hiring Naomi Starr and her team at Starr Alignment to help, or do it all for you! They specialise in doing the accounts for TV, f…

Congratulations to Maria Ines Manchego who won the Al Guilford Emerging Cinematographer Award at the NZCS Awards! Judges were impressed by her work on The Suncatcher, a commercial for educational publishers HMH, about how transformative teachers can be for young students.

Watch The Suncatch…

DEGNZ is now accepting applications for a one-day Directing Actors Workshop in Wellington with highly experienced actor and director Ian Hughes. The class will explore a range of principles, tools and techniques that address issues that arise in casting, rehearsal and shooting. Ian will …

The Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival will run April 25-May 5, 2019 in the heart of Toronto! Here are a few important dates for you to diarise:

Hot Docs Festival Film Submissions
Deadline: 5 December, 2018
Late submissions accepted to 7 January, 201…

If you have a great idea for a short film, now is the time to script it! Applications for the Aotearoa Short Film Lab are open and entries close in three weeks so get writing! New and emerging writers with bold short film ideas …

Got a great idea for a VR project but don't know where to start? This Sandbox is for you! Virtual Reality (VR) is pushing the boundaries of traditional moving image storytelling. However, for those unfamiliar with this new medium, or who are beginning their filmma…

Find out how award-winning writer/director/producer Dustin Feneley and producer Desray Armstrong raised the highest amount ever raised through donation-based crowdfunding for a New Zealand film. In 2016, they raised over $125,000 for their film Stray, in a 30-day campaign on NZ arts crowdfunding site Boo…

Congratulations to Courtney Gilbert, whose 3D animated series Kiwis Can Fly recently won the Big Pitch at the SPADA Conference, which means she'll be taking her project to international markets next year. Kiwis Can Fly follows a determined Kiwi named K?ri who dreams of fly…

Assistant video & media producer
Fulton Hogan

The 2018/19 Data Book print edition is out now! To celebrate its 30th birthday, the first 200 industry guild members to contact The Data Book will get the latest copy free! This year's Data Book is crammed full with the latest information about New Zealand's sc…

We're cheering for producer Desray Armstrong who took out this year's SPADA Independent Producer of the Year Award. This Award recognises outstanding contribution towards the growth and development of the NZ independent screen industry in 2018. As well as producing Mike Minogue's comedy web se…

Pacific and Asian filmmakers, listen up! Here's an exciting new opportunity to develop stories that reflect your diverse communities and voices on screen. A new funding initiative from the New Zealand Film Commission, NZ On Air and TVNZ is focused on developing a compelling one-off feature-le…

Do you love the power of cinema and have something to say? Script to Screen, Ng? Aho Whakaari and PIFT present the 2018 South Auckland Short Film Workshop - a free two-day workshop to learn the art of making short films; from developing ideas…

The rules are very simple for this international film festival: you film one film that lasts for one minute, using one mobile. This year's theme for the Mobile Film Festival was #StandUp4HumanRights and 51 films from 19 countries were selected as finalists. This is …

NZ On Air and RNZ have released two new RFPs under the Joint Innovation Fund established in July this year. NZOA funds the development and production of local Scripted and Factual audiovisual content that reflects and develops New Zealand culture. The updated dates and deadl…