Wednesday 11 May 2022

We Are Still Here to open Sydney Film Festival

We Are Still Here will have its world premiere at the Opening Night Gala of the Sydney Film Festival on 8 June. The film is a multi-genre anthology film interweaving eight stories from 10 indigenous directors from Australia, Aotearoa New Zealand and the South Pacific.

Filmmakers behind the eight stories include New Zealand directors Tim Worrall, Richard Curtis, Renae Maihi, Miki Magasiva, Chantelle Burgoyne and Mario Gaoa and Australian directors Beck Cole, Danielle MacLean, Tracey Rigney and Dena Curtis.  Written by Miki Magasiva, Mario Gaoa, Renae Maihi, Richard Curtis, Tim Worrall, Tiaroa Reweti, Dena Curtis, Danielle Maclean, Tracey Rigney and Samuel Nuggin-Paynter, the film is produced by Mia Henry-Teirney, Mitchell Stanley and Toni Stowers.  

Through the eyes of eight protagonists, We Are Still Here traverses 1000 years from past. present and future to explore stories of kinship, loss, grief and resilience.  But ultimately it shows the strength of love and hope to overcome shared traumas that indigenous people from Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific have continued to face.

Conceived as a right of reply for indigenous filmmakers to the colonisation of native peoples throughout the Pacific and to respond to the 250th anniversary of James Cook’s maiden voyage to the Pacific, We Are Still Here is a joint indigenous initiative between Screen Australia’s First Nations Department and the NZFC aimed at growing capability of more indigenous emerging writer/directors and producers into feature films.

The full programme for the Sydney Film Festival will be announced on Wednesday 11 May.

Our congratulations go to Dame Jane Campion on receiving the Academy Award for Best Director at the 94th Academy Awards for The Power of the Dog.  Filmed entirely in New Zealand,  the film received a total of 12 Academy Award nominations. 

In addition, The Power of the Dog received the BAFTA Award for Best Film and the Best Director Award for Campion. 

The film was further lauded with the film receiving another Best Picture nod at the Critics' Choice Awards. Dame Jane Campion received another Best Director Award and the Best Adapted Screenplay Award.  The Best Cinematography Award went to Ari Wegner an Australian who has lived in New Zealand and previously shot numerous local shorts and feature films.

In addition, Campion also took the top prize at the 2022 Directors’ Guild Awards.  Campion was previously nominated for this award in 1993 for The Piano.

Early Development & Documentary Development Guidelines

As was noted in the last newsletter, the NZFC has been in the process of revising historical settings of Early Development Funding (EDF) and Documentary Development Funding (DDF) to broaden eligibility for direct access to these funds.  We have finalised these changes which will take immediate effect for the next application deadline of 30 May.

Here is a summary of key changes to eligibility:

• Writers, writer/directors, and directors with an eligible level of experience can apply for the first tranche of EDF of up to $25K. 
• Writers, writer/directors and directors with an eligible level or experience can apply for the first tranche of DDF of up to $20K. 
• To be eligible to apply, writers and writer/directors must have a “written by” credit and Directors must have a “directed by” credit for a scripted (and/or documentary for DDF) feature film (released theatrically and/or commissioned by a commercial online platform) or a minimum cumulative 80 mins scripted content (and/or factual/documentary content for DDF) in any of the following, or in combination:
  • single episode programme(s) of at least 52 minutes in length (screened primetime free-to-air or on a commercial online platform);
  • series (each episode either screened primetime free-to-air or on a commercial platform);
  • short film(s) each selected for a significant international film festival and/or selected New Zealand film festivals;
  • commissioned scripted online content for a commercial platform.

• The timeframe for reapplication for previously unsuccessful EDF and DDF projects has been reduced. 

The updated EDF and DDF guidelines that reflect these new settings were published on Friday 29 April 2022 and are available to read on our website.  The portal opened this week to applications. 

Please note that the deadline has been moved by one week to 30 May 2022.

Festival and Market News

Following its screenings at the Berlinale and at SXSW, Millie Lies Low directed by Michelle Savill, written by Savill and Eli Kent and produced by Desray Armstrong and Angela Littlejohn screened at the Cleveland International Film Festival in competition for the Reel Women Director Award for Excellence in Directing by a Woman, and the International Narrative Competition. 

Nude Tuesday, directed by Armagan Ballantyne, written by Jackie van Beek from a story devised by herself and Ballantyne and produced by Emma Slade, Virginia Whitehall and Nick Batzias will have its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival in June.  The film will be screening in the Tribeca at Home section allowing it to be viewed online by audiences in all 50 states.

Dawn Raid directed by Oscar Kightley, written by Tim Woodhouse and Matthew Metcalfe and produced by Matthew Metcalfe and Leela Menon screened as part of the Hawai'i International Film Festival's Spring Showcase.

Fiona Clark: Unafraid will have its international premiere at Inside Out Toronto 2SLGBTQ+ Film Festival, screening as part of the Icons programme. Director Lula Cucchiara is attending the festival in support of her premiere and to participate in the industry programme.

Toby Mills and Aileen O’Sullivan’s Whetū Mārama – Bright Star has won the ‘2022 Coastal and Island Culture Award’ at the International Ocean Film Festival and was a finalist in the ‘Best Documentary Feature’ competition at the Swedish International Film Festival. The film is also selected to screen at the Blue Water Film Festival, San Diego in June.

Gaysorn Thavat’s The Justice of Bunny King and independent New Zealand short film Girls Girls Girls by Georgia Rippin, screened at Seattle International Film Festival in April.

Hotere and Patu! screened in the ‘Two Films of Merata Mita’ programme at Haus der Kulturen der Welt (House of World Cultures), presented by Jason Ryle.

Boy, Eagle vs. Shark, Once Were Warriors and Housebound will screen as part of a New Zealand film spotlight at Kino Nische Winterthur, through the month of May.

Pietra Brettkelly's Yellow is Forbidden will screen at the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco on May 14, part of the Public Events Programme for exhibition ‘Guo Pei: Couture Fantasy’.

Short Films

Kōpere Hou – Fresh Short Firsts by Jesse Ung screened at Queer Screen Mardi Gras Film Festival Sydney, Outfest Fusion QTBIPOC Film Festival and BFI Flare: London LGBTQIA+ Film Festival.

Firsts will also screen at Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival, along with independent New Zealand films Love is Real! by Calvin Sang and Black Sea Golden Ladder: The Visual Album by Nicole Horan, Marara Katipa, Huhana Ruri-Panapa, Thomas Rose, Dahnu Graham, Hayden Aull and Xavier Horan.

Catalyst He Kauahi short Wash Day and independent short Purea both by Kath Akuhata-Brown are screening as part of Short Circuit Pacific Rim Film Festival, running through the month of May.

Congratulations go to...

Tim Worrall (Ngāi Tūhoe, Te Arawa), who has been selected for the 2022 Sundance Native Filmmaking Lab which is taking place digitally from 2-6 May in the United States. . Tim credits his Tūhoe whakapapa as one of his main inspirations for his creative work. In 2020 he was a writer and director on the TV Drama Series Head High Season 1. 

Worrall is the 2022 Writer-in-Residence at Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington, where he attained his MA in Creative Writing in 2007 and is developing a political action-drama series titled Armed Offenders with the Steambox Film Collective. He will be developing a separate project at the Sundance Native Lab.

The filmmakers of the four New Zealand documentaries participating in this years Cannes Docs line-up:

Director Briar March and producer Leanne Pooley with Dame Valerie Adams: More Than Gold.

Director/producers Fergus Grady and Noel Smyth with Gloriavale: New Zealand's Secret Cult.

Director Ursula Williams and producer Alexander Behse with Dark Child.

Director Amelia Evans and producers Letisha Tate-Dunning, Sam Oliver and Amelia Evans with Minor Attraction.

Each year, Cannes Docs partners with a number of festivals and organisations from all over the world to showcase curated selections of docs-in-progress in finalisation stage, aiming to hit the circuit within a few weeks or months. These showcases of docs-in-progress are primarily designed for decision makers looking for fresh new titles, in particular festival programmers and sales agents. The projects are also generally in search of post-production funding or general gap financing, and sometimes still open to co-production opportunities..

The NZFC is one of eight major international organisations and festivals presenting their curated selection, including four docs-in-progress each, by a video pitch and 10-minute sequence of the rough cut.  The New Zealand Showcase will be held on 20 May at Palais H (inside the Palais des Festivals).

The entire team behind Canada-New Zealand co-production Night Raiders on receiving six Canadian Screen Awards.

Writer/director Danis Goulet received the Original Screenplay award and actress Elle-Maija Tailfeathers received the award for Best Lead Actress.

The film also received awards for Achievement in Make-Up (Traci Loader), Achievement in Costume Design (Kendra Terpenning), Achievement in Sound Mixing (Lou Solakofski, Graham Rogers, Stephen Marian, Alexis Feodoroff (NZ) and Tim Chaproniere (NZ), and Achievement in Visual Effects (Martin Tori, John Mariella, Frank Reuter (NZ) and Darwin Go (NZ).

Poppy actress Libby Hunsdale who received the  Best Actress Award at SR: Socially Relevant Film Festival in New York.  In addition, the film, written and directed by Linda Niccol and produced by Robin Laing and Alex Cole-Baker received the award for Best Feature Narrative.

NZFC News

NZFC at Cannes 2022

NZFC staff will return to the Cannes Film Festival and Market this year.

The NZFC will be based at The Grand Hotel, Goeland Entrance, Fifth Floor, Apartment 5D from Tuesday 17 May until Wednesday 25 May.

The NZFC has supported 20 New Zealand producers to attend the Festival and Market.

If you are going to be in Cannes and have not let us know yet, please email  hayley.weston@nzfilm.co.nz so we can include you in any planned events.

Annual Gender Scholarship

Ainsley Gardiner and Desray Armstrong are the patrons of this year’s NZFC Gender Scholarship which has a focus on wāhine Māori looking to produce drama.

The Gender Scholarship is a $15,000 grant. The NZFC will award two grants in total and recipients will be matched with mentors to support their development through the duration of the scholarship.

Applications for this award are to be submitted by nomination, there are two ways to nominate:

• Where a nominee fills in the application themselves (self-nomination)
• Nomination by others: where a person who has consent from the nominee fills out the application on behalf of the nominee. Find out more here.

Filmmaker Opportunities

Thanks for keeping up with what's going on at the NZFC. Got a suggestion? Email us at feedback@nzfilm.co.nz. 

Ngā mihi,

The NZFC Team