And the winner of this year’s Dame Gaylene Preston and WIFT Best Female / Gender Diverse Director award at the Vista Foundations 48 Hours Grand Finals is WIFT member Julie Zhu for Monster State by the team, Sad Jackie! Congratulations!
Additionally we want to congratulate all the names below for their selection, as they were the Regional Winners, for the Dame Gaylene Preston and WIFT Best Female / Gender Diverse Director award! They have all received a WIFT membership for a year. Here is a warm welcome those of you who are first-time WIFT members and a welcome back to those of you who've been here for sometime!
- Nicole Chen, Down Slayment
- Brittany Baker, Higher Connections
- Kayla Tepania, What Remains
- Hannah Taylor, Stella and Blarg at Large
- Molly Kathleen Rose Doyle, Yes, and?
- Cathasaigh Ó Fiannachta, The Getaway
- Jade Sheppard, The Fountain of Youth
And we'd like to extend an additional congratulations to the team Kettle of Fish, for their film Catastrophic, made by WIFT members Kate Chu and Emma Duncan. Kate was nominated for the WIFT award in the City Finals and shared with us about her experience, saying "Despite the title 'Catastrophic' this film was anything but to make! Our team, made up mostly of Massey graduates and students, worked so well together and as my first time directing (along with Jack Harriss) since high school, I felt no anxiety during the shoot because of my crew. This film was so much fun to make and we had many laughs and collaborative discussions. We wanted to make something that would make the audience laugh and just enjoy the spirit of the 48Hr Film Festival, which I believe we accomplished as we seemed to have the most consistent laughs at the City Finals! I can't wait to compete again next year and to make a film that's just as fun as it was to create.''
Well done everyone!