December 2013

Earlier this month our Chair Patsy Reddy announced Dave Gibson will be taking up the role of Chief Executive of the New Zealand Film Commission in the new year.

Dave Gibson is the founder of the Wellington production company The Gibson Group, a company with a 35 year history of working in film, television and visitor attractions in New Zealand and internationally.

You can read more about this here.

We are pleased to announce that Faith Dennis has moved to the role of Marketing and Sales Executive.  Faith is well-known to many of you through her work as Development Coordinator.  We're pleased to welcome our new Development Coordinator, Linda Halle, who begins early in January and can be contacted on development@nzfilm.co.nz

We’v e also welcomed Tim Hope, who joined us in November as our new Film Festival Co-ordinator.  Tim comes to us from a background in production and has worked on Tintin, The Lovely Bones and The Hobbit films. You can get in touch with him on tim@nzfilm.co.nz

Annual Report

We have released our Annual Report 2012/13.

During the year the NZFC supported a record 13 feature films, 22 short films and administered grants for a further 25 film and television productions.

Ten NZFC supported films were released in cinemas with Mt. Zion (pictured) earning the most at the NZ Box office and also proving a hit on screens in Australia.

New Zealand films and filmmakers picked up a raft of awards here and overseas, and we were also pleased to invest in a range of professional development opportunities independently and in partnership with industry organisations.

You can read the Annual Report here.

Rialto New Zealand Film Awards

Congratulations to the organisers, finalists and of course the winners at the Rialto New Zealand Film Awards held in Auckland this month.

You can read the full list of the winners here.

Business Development Scheme

We received 10 expressions of interest for our Business Development Scheme.  We have now notified the six shortlisted applicants that will be progressing to full application stage.

Joint Doco Fund

The NZFC and NZ On Air are pleased to announce the second call for applications to the Joint Documentary Fund. As in the previous round, projects will be required to attach a broadcaster prior to submission. As the fund is designed to have both theatrical and television outcomes it is important that, if two versions are planned, producers provide detail of the intended approach for each version.  The new request for proposals can be found here.

Submissions close: 5pm, 3 March 2014
Decisions announced: end of May 2014

Shorts Update

Congratulations to all the teams shortlisted by the Premiere Shorts Executive Producer Groups for the latest funding round.

You can see the lists, find out more about the Executive Producer Groups and read all the latest shorts news here.

Professional Development Update

We are pleased to be able to support individual filmmakers as well as work alongside industry organisations to provide valuable training opportunities.  Read more here.

Loading Docs

Congratulations to 10 teams behind the Loading Docs films selected to be produced and released in 2014.

Loading Docs is an initiative co-funded by the New Zealand Film Commission and NZ On Air and managed by production company Notable Pictures.

Loading Docs is supporting Kiwi filmmakers to make 3-minute short documentaries that push boundaries, break the rules, raise eyebrows and encourage ideas that challenge, inspire and move audiences.

For more information and to read the list please go to the Loading Docs website.

Stakeholder Survey

Our stakeholder survey for 2013 is now live and will be open until the end of January.  We value your feedback on how we have performed over the last 12 months.  To give us your views, please click here. 

Change to July 2014 Board Meeting Date

The July 2014 board meeting date has moved to 9 July.

This means the deadline is now 28 May.

Here are the full dates for 2014.

Development Funding Dates 2014

In 2014 we will continue to accept Advanced Development Funding submissions at any time.  They will typically be considered within 4-6 weeks. 

The Early Development Funding deadlines are 10 January, 3 March, 22 April, 9 June, 28 July, 8 Sept and 28 October.

For more information on Seed Development please see the NZWG website here.

Sundance, Rotterdam, Clermont-Ferrand and Berlin 2014

Congratulations to the What We Do in the Shadows team, including Taika Waititi, Jemaine Clement and Chelsea Winstanley on their film being selected for Sundance.

We're currently looking towards the early 2014 film festivals.  If you are hoping to attend Rotterdam or Sundance in January, or Clermont-Ferrand or Berlin in February, please get in touch with Chris@nzfilm.co.nz or Jasmin@nzfilm.co.nz.

Chinese Taipei Co-Production Treaty

A new co-production treaty has been signed with Chinese Taipei and came into effect on 1 December 2013.

Our Deputy Chief Executive Mladen Ivancic was involved in the process and is happy to speak to anyone who needs more information.

Chinese Taipei brings the total number of co-production treaties we have to 14.  You can read more about New Zealand's co-production treaties here.

SPA

NZFC Development Executives Chris Payne and Sean Carley attended the SPA Screen Forever Conference in Melbourne from 19-21 November 2013.  Chris and Sean supported producers and held meetings working towards closer New Zealand collaboration with a wide range of parties.  They included development staff representatives from key Australian screen agencies along with leading Australian and international producers, production companies and distribution entities.  Discussions with the Executive Director of Telefilm Canada and the large Canadian delegation considered platforms for increased Canadian-New Zealand collaboration. Chris and Sean also hosted a Roundtable Briefing for all delegates interested in the opportunities in and with the New Zealand screen sector.

Funding Decisions for November and December 2013

Please read the details of our funding decisions for November and December here.