DEGANZ Members Speaking at Big Screen Symposium 2026

Several DEGANZ members are taking the stage at this year’s Big Screen Symposium (BSS), sharing insights into their work and creative practices. Covering everything from drama and documentary features to the creative dynamics of comedy, te reo series, and master’s research into AI, these sessions offer a look at the ideas, processes, and experiences shaping their work as filmmakers.

DEGANZ will have a table at BSS, so come along to say hi and touch base during the coffee and lunch breaks.

Truth Diggers

Developing a creative voice across local and international contexts.

Vea Mafile’o (DEGANZ) and Ursula Grace Williams are two of Aotearoa’s rising filmmakers, with documentary work spanning For My Father’s Kingdom, Lomu, and Marlon Williams: Ngā Ao E Rua – Two Worlds. In this moderated conversation, they reflect on their beginnings and the trajectories that have shaped their practice, explore how stories are carried forward, the realities of working across local and global contexts, and the persistence required for sustaining a creative life.

Feature Firsts

Two emerging directors discuss contemporary learnings from their recent feature debuts.

Callum Devlin (DEGANZ) and Chelsie Preston Crayford reflect on their debut features, The Weed Eaters and Caterpillar, two works that diverge boldly in tone and style. In this moderated conversation with DEGANZ Executive Director Tui Ruwhiu, they will unpack what it means to step up to long-form directing: expanding vision, navigating constraint, leading collaborators, and embracing the discoveries and compromises that shape a first feature in the realities of making work today.

Friends and Neighbours

Australia – New Zealand Creative Collaboration with Causeway Films and The Weed Eaters.

This session brings together the talented New Zealand team behind The Weed Eaters, including director Callum Devlin (DEGANZ), and their Australian Executive Producers, Causeway Films, to explore the many dimensions of collaboration, from grassroots creative partnerships to the realities and possibilities of working across the Tasman. From production and financing through to distribution and discoverability, the conversation examines what each partner brought to the table and how their collaboration expanded the project’s potential.

Seriously Funny Business

Protecting voice, play and risk when developing Screen IP.

DEGANZ board member Jesse Griffin and fellow member Jackie van Beek join this panel of performer-writer-makers to discuss how creatives can protect their voice as commercial pressures and expectations grow louder. Casting a comedy lens over traditional development and production pathways, the session offers practical insights into shaping original ideas for screen, building sustainable creative partnerships, and translating spontaneous comic energy into viable projects capable of connecting with audiences at scale.

Untranslated Selves

Indigenous-language series creators on the power of cultural specificity in a global market.

Bringing together DEGANZ member Richard Curtis & Lea McLean (End of the Valley), Thomas Paʻa Sibbett (Chief of War), and Kiel McNaughton (Tangata Pai), this conversation explores the creative possibilities and practical realities of developing television series partly or wholly in Indigenous languages. From Native Hawaiian to Te Reo Māori, the panel examines how language and culture shape narrative, character and worldview, and what it means to create work that is accountable to community while reaching audiences beyond it.

AI: In Evidence

Exploring AI through practice, research and film – with Screen Music & Sound Guild of Aotearoa.

Filmmaker-researcher Caroline Bell-Booth (DEGANZ) presents early findings from her Master’s research into classifying AI use in New Zealand screen production. Exploring evolving creative workflows, emerging approaches to transparency and the wider implications of AI adoption, her research considers how practical frameworks could support funding agencies, policymakers, practitioners and audiences to make more informed decisions about the use of AI in publicly funded screen production. Caroline is joined by Future Frames co-founder Graeme Revell’s reflections on the opportunities and challenges AI presents for creative practice; the session then turns to Future Frames: NZ AI Short Film Competition.

 

Last updated on 2 July 2026

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Castelltort’s Coming-of-Age Short Secures Proud Voices on Screen Funding

DEGANZ member Mirene Castelltort‘s coming-of-age short Molletes is one of two projects selected for Proud Voices on Screen’s inaugural short film fund, Rainbow Shorts.

Molletes follows eight-year-old Jimena as she navigates her first Kiwi Christmas, caught between holding onto her Mexican heritage and rejecting it in an effort to fit in.

Mirene wrote and will direct the film, with Jennifer Onyeiwu producing.

As recipients of the Rainbow Shorts fund, the team will receive $40,000 in funding, along with mentorship across development, production, and post-production. Proud Voices on Screen board member Thomas Coppell will also join the project as Executive Producer.

Competition was tough, with Rainbow Shorts receiving 39 applications. Proud Voices Executive Director Eloise Verber commented:

We received such a breadth of heartfelt, funny and visually striking short film concepts. It’s an honour to read scripts that filmmakers have put so much time into and we want to thank all of the applicants for sharing their storytelling vision with us. The future of queer cinema is bright.

Congratulations to Mirene and the Molletes team on the win!

 

Last updated on 2 July 2026

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Dance for DIY

DEGANZ members Mary-Lyn Chambers, Kerri Roggio, Callum Devlin, and Liv McClymont are fundraising for their upcoming feature film The Ungrateful Tenant in a particularly groovy way.

Premiering in the Māhutonga strand at the 2026 Whānau Mārama NZIFF, The Ungrateful Tenant is a silent horror-comedy for the rental generation. The film follows an Auckland man as he navigates a gauntlet of disastrous flatting situations, blending physical comedy with mounting horror in a uniquely Kiwi story.

Before it can hit the big screen, the team needs to raise funds to complete post-production and pay the talented crew bringing the film across the finish line.

Instead of launching a traditional crowdfunding campaign, they’re inviting the screen community onto the dance floor. Following day one of Big Screen Symposium, the team is hosting Dance for DIY.

Head along to East St Hall on Fri 3 July to celebrate independent cinema, have a boogie, and feel good knowing you’re helping The Ungrateful Tenant get one step closer to the finish line.

You can grab your tickets for Dance for DIY here.

 

Last updated on 2 July 2026

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Work Opportunities

View from the Top banner

Every once in awhile we get contacted at the guild by producers or other individuals wanting recommendations for directors, editors or assistant editors.

And I can tell you, we do get contacted about Hollywood projects as well.

To be fair to all of our members, we are unable to make recommendations to these inquirers.

Rather, we refer them to our membership directory, where we tell them they can search for director, editor, assistant editor, and by genre.

Of course, if a member hasn’t filled out their profile in our directory, they miss getting considered for the opportunities that come along.

The next disadvantaged lot are those who don’t keep their profiles up to date, don’t include some detail about themselves, just put an external link to an outside website or streaming site, or even worse, a link that goes to a social media account that is private and requires a request to get access.

Yes, it’s only a click away, but there’s an opportunity to engage with a bio/filmography or statement and to talk directly to the visitor right there and then on the DEGANZ site, without making them do one more click before they learn something.

The old advertising maxims of The Hook, The Value Proposition, Proof and Credibility, and Call to Action are worth considering. Done properly, the directory visitor will really want to go where you want them to, to learn more about you and your work.

And don’t forget, people don’t necessarily contact us first. They can just go directly to our membership directory.

In the end, you are asking the interested party to consider you if there is even an inkling that you might be right for the role.

In our time-poor world, it’s easy for those scrolling through to blow someone off if they don’t find anything worthwhile immediately.

And that brings me to the headshot.

There’s debate about whether or not to include a headshot, with pros and cons. But one thing is de rigueur if you are going to include one: have it look as professional as possible. This doesn’t mean you should have a passport-style mugshot. There are ways to inject your personality into a good photo, particularly if you have someone who knows how to use a camera to do your shot for you.

Of course, if you are well known in New Zealand for what you do, then maybe it’s not so important that you have a good profile on our site.

But what if Hollywood, Europe or the UK come calling? Just saying…

 

Tui Ruwhiu
Executive Director

Last updated on 18 June 2026

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Luping and Chanwai-Earle win imagineNATIVE Animated Short Award

Congratulations to DEGANZ members Jo Luping and Lynda Chanwai-Eearle on winning the 2026 imagineNATIVE Animated Short Award with I Duok Om I Bohuntung – The Owl and The Rainbow!

Written by Lynda and directed by Jo, the film tells the story of a mother who transforms herself to bring hope and colour back into the life of her daughter as she navigates depression.

Jo attended the festival in Toronto to accept the award (pictured above, right, alongside Ariāna Osborne, who won Outstanding Performance in a Feature for Mārama).

In announcing the award, jury member Stephan Sloane, Head of Animation at Blue Ant Media, said:

The jury awards this film for its deep and tender portrayal of a Mother’s love in the face of depression. Through rich, textured animation and emotionally resonant imagery, the film captures the gradual dimming of a child’s inner world, while illuminating the care and quiet strength and transformation required to guide her back to the path towards hope. It transforms a deeply personal story into something profoundly universal.

This is a significant achievement for the filmmaking team. imagineNATIVE is the world’s largest presenter of Indigenous screen content and is internationally recognised for its excellence, innovation, and leadership in Indigenous media arts.

 

Last updated on 18 June 2026

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