Newsletter

Toronto Round Up

The Dead Lands had a hugely successful world premiere at TIFF, and received fantastic reviews from Screen International, The Hollywood Reporter and Variety. The Dead Lands has also been submitted for Best Foreign Language Film at the 2015 Academy Awards, and continues to make significant international sales, including Icon in the U.K., Ascot Elite (Germany), Movies Inspired (Italy), Fabula Films (Turkey) The Jokers (France) and HGC (China). The Dead Lands will premiere in Auckland on 22 October with a national release from 30 October.

Read the The Hollywood Reporter review here

The Dark Horse had its international premiere at TIFF where it was extremely well received and made a number of significant international sales. It continues to screen in New Zealand cinemas and to date has taken over $1.845M at the New Zealand box office.

What We Do In The Shadows received the Midnight Madness Audience Award at TIFF and is continuing its extended cinematic release where it has taken nearly $2.6M at the New Zealand box office. It also had its Australian release in early September.

CEO Dave Gibson and Marketing Manager Jasmin McSweeney represented the NZFC at TIFF, including the Producer's Lab and a social function hosted by the New Zealand High Commission.

Doc Connect Funding Decisions

The following applications have been selected for the first round of funding in the NZFC's joint funding initiative with NZ On Air - Doc Connect. 

City of Dreams
Pro/dir: Peter Young
Production company: Fisheye Films
Joint agency investment: $396,085

Te Taki a Mereta Mita
Producers: Cliff Curtis, Chelsea Winstanley, Manutai Schuster, Te Arepa Kahi
Production company: Arama Pictures
Wri/dir: Heperi Mita
Joint agency investment: $391,005

We Kill
Producers: David White & Phil Fairclough
Production company: White Balance Pictures
Dir: David White, writers: Paul Wedel and David White
Joint agency investment: $199,998

Big Screen Symposium

New Zealand's leading screen industry event, the Big Screen Symposium, was held on September 27 and 28 at The University of Auckland. This NZFC-supported event is run every year by Script To Screen and this year's incarnation was another huge success with large numbers attending all seminars.

NZFC CEO Dave Gibson, gave a speech at the Symposium outlining recent NZFC initiatives including shorts and low-budget funding. His speech, Changes and Challenges in the New Zealand Landscape, can be read in full on our website here

Acting on Talent

Dave Gibson and representatives from the NZFC's Talent Development and Relationships, Development and Production, and Marketing teams recently hosted a meeting of New Zealand actors agents, casting directors and Actors Equity New Zealand in Auckland. The discussion addressed how we can best support the career aspirations of New Zealand's acting talent -- especially those who have an interest in working on the international stage.

The NZFC will continue to explore and strengthen opportunities for profiling and developing outstanding New Zealand acting talent. 

Private Investment

Recently there has been an increased level of private investment being made available to New Zealand productions, and the NZFC is very keen to encourage this. However, when seeking investment from the NZFC alongside independently-sourced private investment, it is important for the NZFC to be comfortable with the terms of that investment. For any productions with NZFC funding, the NZFC must approve the terms of all other investment in the production – including independently-sourced private investment. If you intend to seek private investment to finance your production, you should engage with the Business Affairs team at the earliest opportunity about the likely terms of any proposed private investment.

SWANZ Awards

Congratulations to all the winners of the fifth annual Script Writer Awards New Zealand (SWANZ).

Winners included:

Best Feature Film Script
James Napier Robertson - The Dark Horse

Best Short Film Script
Gregory King - UFO

Best New Writer Award
Gerard Johnstone - Housebound

The full list of winners can be viewed here 

Professional Development Funding Decisions

Internships
• Producer Fraser Brown, recently undertook a producer internship working alongside producers, Andro Steinborn and Skady Lis on Atomic Falafel in Germany. Following his return to New Zealand, Fraser is spending six weeks alongside the film’s New Zealand producer Matthew Metcalfe. The NZFC contributed $16,922 towards the costs associated with this internship.

• Director Sam Peacocke, is currently engaged in a director internship in India working alongside director, Pan Nalin on the New Zealand/India co-production, Beyond the Known World. The NZFC contributed $13,200 towards the costs associated with this internship.

• Emerging producer Dena Kennedy, is due to head to India shortly to engage in a producer internship work with New Zealand producers, Matthew Horrocks and Kristian Eek, on Beyond the Known World. The NZFC contributed $17,150 towards the costs associated with this internship.

Professional Development Grants
• Actors agent Tim Gordon, was supported to travel to Toronto and LA to further develop relationships with US agents and managers. A key focus for Tim’s trip was to grow his understanding and experience of the international scene and to investigate opportunities for New Zealand actors. He received a grant of $5,000.

• L.A.-based New Zealand producer Inge Rademeyer, is being supported to attend the Film Independent Forum in L.A. in October. She received $350 towards her attendance.

• Screenwriter Michael Bennett, is being supported with $3,890 to attend the Asian Project Market (APM). Pokarekare Ana: Yeon-Ga is the first New Zealand project to be selected for this prestigious co-production market in October. 

• Producer Andrew Cooper, was supported with $2,500 to attend the MPA Film Immersion Workshops in L.A. and the American Film Market (AFM).

• Ngā Aho Whakaari has been supported with $3,960 to send board representative, Tui Ruwhiu to imagineNATIVE to represent Māori films and promote Māori filmmakers.

NZFC Lower Budget Events
The NZFC recently hosted a lower budget filmmaking discussion in Auckland. This event was for filmmakers who have recently produced or are shortly to produce their first feature film. This practical discussion was followed by a workshop with Sheri Candler, an American digital marketing and independent film distribution expert. The NZFC contributed $6,000 towards both initiatives.

Short Film Travel Grants
• Writer/director Matthew Saville, was supported with $3,900 to attend the Telluride Film Festival with Dive.
• Producer Tui Ruwhiu, was supported with $1,950 to attend the Hawaii International Film Festival with Pumanawa.
• Writer/director Richard Curtis, and producer Jillian White, were supported with $6,869 to attend imagineNATIVE with Ahi Ka.
• Writer/director Alex Backhouse, and director of photography/associate producer Matt Henley, were supported with $7,240 to attend the Locarno International Film Festival with Unnatural History.

Short Film Post Production Grants
• Producer Mina Mathieson, received a short film post production grant of $3,382.41 enabling Home to screen at imagineNATIVE.
• Associate producer Matt Henley, received a short film post production grant of $11,7822.50 enabling Unnatural History to screen at the Locarno International Film Festival.

Correction

In the Funding Decisions section of our newsletter dated 22 August, we incorrectly stated that Tom Hern and Matthew Metcalfe had been granted financial support to attend the Toronto Producer's Lab. This was incorrect and should have stated Tom Hern and John Barnett. We apologise for any misunderstanding or confusion this may have caused.