newsletter

Funding Decisions

Production Funding

Production funding offers were given to two projects at last week's board meeting, one documentary and one feature film. Both have Roger Donaldson attached as director.

McLaren is a feature length documentary produced by Matthew Metcalfe and Fraser Brown and tells the story of Bruce McLaren, the New Zealander who took on the elite world of Formula 1 and won.

The Guinea Pig Club is the story of pioneering plastic surgeon Archie McIndoe, a New Zealander who developed groundbreaking new treatment methods for burns victims during WWII. Tim Sanders is producing. The script is written by Mike Riddell.

For full details of all funding offers, we now have a fully searchable database available on our website here.

This webpage offers full access to the many ways we support film projects and filmmakers with records dating back to 1988/89 and reflect information published in our Annual Reports

We anticipate uploading new funding decisions after each NZFC Board meeting (six times a year).

Kiwi Success Abroad

Congratulations
Congratulations to screenwriter Anthony McCarten for his double BAFTA win for The Theory of Everything and his Academy Award® nomination.

Congratulations to producer Rachel Gardner and all the NZ crew for the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic for Slow West at the Sundance Film Festival.

Congratulations to producers Andrew Beattie, Morgan Leigh-Stewart and Sarah Wensley and writer/director Jason Lei Howden for the acceptance of the film Deathgasm into the South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Festival.  This will be the film's world premiere.  Also accepted by SXSW is Turbo Kid which had its world premiere at Sundance 2015. Read more here.

Congratulations to Producers Alex Lee and Paula Jones and Director Bryn Evans as their film, Hip Hop-eration has been chosen to be the Opening Film of the 2015 Thessaloniki Documentary Film Festival in Greece.

Congratulations to Mat Kirkby on his Best Live Action Short Academy Award® win for his film The Phone Call, co-written by James Lucas.

Congratulations to Piripi Curtis (Producer) and Tim Worrall (Writer/Director) of short film Tits on a Bull who are travelling to attend the world premiere screening in International Competition at the Tampere Film Festival in Finland on the 5th of March.

International Opportunities

Entry Call for Sino-Foreign Co-production Projects 2015 – Beijing International Film Festival (BJIFF)

The Sino-Foreign Film Co-production Forum will take place on 17 April 17 2015 at the Beijing Club at the Beijing Hotel.  Following the forum, there will be a pitch-and-catch session of Sino-foreign co-production projects, a major part of the forum event, alongside the BJIFF Film Market. They are seeking quality Sino-foreign film co-production projects from filmmakers to join this.

They will select a set of qualified projects from the submissions and provide a pitch-and-catch slot for each selected project. Potential investors and producers will be invited for the session, and staff of China Film Co-production Corporation will be on site to receive queries related to Sino-foreign film co-production.

Deadline for entries is 2 March 2015, and selected projects will be announced on 13 March 2015.  Entry information and form can be downloaded here.

If your project is accepted, you are welcome to apply for Producer International Travel Assistance.  Funding is not guaranteed and any support will be contestable.

Cinefondation Residency
The next session of the Residence du Festival will take place from 1 October 2015 to 15 February 2016.

The selection is open to young filmmakers from all over the world who are working on their first or second feature film (fiction project only). A jury selects six candidates for each of the two four-and-a-half-month sessions per year.

The candidates are selected on the strength of the short films or the 1st feature that they have already directed as well as on their planned feature and the reasons why they wish to participate in the Residence’s programme.

Regulations and entry form can be found here

Deadline for submission: 1 April 2015 (arrival date)

Vista Foundation and NZFC Partnership Announced

The Vista Foundation and its inaugural programme, the Vista Film Marketing Programme, in partnership with the NZFC was launched in Auckland on February 26th with Rhys Darby as MC.

The Vista Foundation’s aim is to help filmmakers learn the business side of film marketing. Roger Donaldson will be the Foundation's Patron.

NZFC CEO Dave Gibson says the role the Foundation will play is an important one that currently isn’t being addressed.

“The Film Marketing Programme has been created with input from industry stalwart, John Barnett, and will involve presentations and panel discussions from Kiwis working in the international marketplace already. This is a long-term initiative that we are pleased to be partnering on with the Vista Foundation. The Foundation’s desire to be involved with the upskilling of the film industry in such a practical way is welcomed by the NZFC.”

The first weekend programme will be held in July 2015.

More information is on our website here.

Photographs courtesey of Sharlene Ferguson at Focal Point Photos

PULP Coming to Kiwi Cinemas

Following on from the win for Best Music Film at the NME Awards in London last week, Florian Habicht's latest, Pulp: A Film About Life, Death and Supermarkets is set for a strictly limited season in selected cinemas around New Zealand in March.

"An infectious merging of mutually delighted spirits, Florian Habicht's collaboration with Jarvis Cocker fixes the triumphant 2012 concert billed as UK band Pulp's last ever within a loving portrait of the town where it all began. Applying the gregarious curiosity that's served him so well in the hot pools of Ngawha (Kaikohe Demolition) and the streets of Manahattan (Love Story), Ahbicht accosts resolutely down-to-earth Sheffielders with questions about love, life and the meaning of Jarvis.  He draws equally arresting testimony from band members, visiting fans, Jarvis's mum and the man himself." - Bill Gosden, NZ International Film Festival

"A handsome cinematic homage to a unique band, a proud city and the unifying power of pop music. The group's comeback shows felt like a triumphant lap of honor, and Habicht's film certainly captures that feeling." -Stephen Dalton, Hollywood Reporter

Florian Habicht will conduct Q & A at these cinemas: 

Dunedin- Rialto Cinemas Tuesday 17th March at 6pm

Wellington -Film Archive - season commencing Thurs 19th March

Auckland - Rialto Cinemas - Season commencing Thursday 26th

Seasons are confirmed at these cinemas:

Christchurch - Alice Cinema - Selected sessions from Sunday 12th April

Matakana - Matakana Cinemas - Selected sessions from Thursday 7th May

Watch this space for all cinema details.

Going to Cannes?

If you are considering attending the Cannes festival or market in May, and you have not already been in touch, please let us know via talentdev@nzfilm.co.nz.

If you’re travelling internationally, we recommend you download the free KEA app (available for iOS and Android devices) which connects you to Kiwis and NZ-focused events offshore:  www.keanewzealand.com