Millie Lies Low, Lying Low No More!

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Feature film Millie Lies Low, directed by Guild member Michelle Savill (DEGANZ Incubator 2018), will be hitting cinema screens around the country on September 29!

Millie Lies Low screened internationally at renowned festivals, including NZIFF, Berlinale, SXSW, Māoriland, Sydney, Melbourne and Edinburgh. The team is excited to bring the film back home for Aotearoa audiences to enjoy.

The film follows anxiety-ridden Millie who, after a moment of panic, misses her flight from Wellington to her internship at a prestigious architecture firm in New York. When she doesn’t have enough money to buy another ticket and can’t face the shame of telling her friends and family, she hatches a plan.

As she hunts for another ticket, Millie lies low in her hometown and uses her wits and carefully crafted social media posts to convince everyone that she is successfully living it up in NYC. As the facade begins to crumble and options run out, she resorts to taking increasingly desperate measures to stay afloat.

You can catch Millie Lies Low in a theatre near you on September 29.

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Ang’s Hair Now Gets to the Root of our Prickly Relationship with Hair

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The first two episodes of Hair Now, directed by Michelle Ang (DEGANZ), are available on The Spinoff. The series, edited by Kat Kasajima and made with the support of NZOA, features six Pan-Asian wahine and their relationships with their hair.

Episode one follows Yasmine, a Palestinian Jordanian New Zealander, as she navigates contradictory cultural ideas about hair coverage and removal. Since deciding to wear a hijab at 15, Yasmine finds strength and power in how she presents her hair in the world.

She explains, “Hair is a statement […], and it’s the first thing you can take control of in your own life.” The rest of the episodes follow this ethos. They explore how each woman expresses their identity through the growth, grooming, or removal of their hair.

Michelle is well known for her acting career in projects such as Star Wars: The Bad Batch, Vegas, and Fear the Walking Dead: Flight 462. However, she has been making a name for herself as a director and in 2020, she participated in our Emerging Women Filmmakers Incubator. Her directing credits include the animated short series Riddle Me This, the anthology feature Kāinga, and her new coming-of-age series Self Help.

We look forward to watching the rest of the episodes!

Watch the series

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Production Company Arts & Sciences Adds Michelle Savill

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Director Michelle Savill (DEGANZ) has signed with production company Arts & Sciences for US and UK commercial representation.

Ecstatic, Michelle states, “Arts & Sciences understands that powerful storytelling is layered with nuance, intimacy and dedication to craft, and I’m delighted to join the family”.

She has established herself as an emerging talent in Australia and NZ with her debut feature, Millie Lies Low. Her commercial work includes Donate Your Kit, made for Cadbury, and Sky Olympics’ Gymnastics in 2020. Michelle has also worked with Steinlager, Vodafone and more. Additionally, she has won numerous accolades, such as being nominated for the Young Director Award at Cannes Lions in 2019 and winning the Grand Jury Prize for Best Narrative Short Film at SXSW Film Festival in 2013 for her short Ellen is Leaving.

Michelle is an alumna of DEGANZ’s Emerging Women Filmmakers Incubator 2018.

Congratulations, Michelle!

Read more

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Show Me Shorts Hearts Tāmaki Makaurau with Special Screening

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The pandemic kept many Aucklanders from enjoying the Show Me Shorts Festival last year, which meant that some of the best shorts never screened for their home crowd. To fix that, Show Me Shorts has put together a screening (July 2) to celebrate eight short films made in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland or by Aucklanders.

Among them are films crafted by DEGANZ members and alumni, including Green, directed by Rachel Ross (DEGANZ Emerging Women Filmmakers Incubator 2020) and edited by our member Ben Chesters. Green follows an estranged father and daughter, both with newly diagnosed life altering illnesses, as they smoke marijuana together for the first time. Green won the SAE People’s Choice Award at Show Me Shorts 2021.

Blood and Gold, directed by Yamin Tun (Incubator 2017) and edited by member Brendon Chan, will screen as well. This exciting short western follows a woman on the run as she makes a decision that will alter the course of two lives. Blood and Gold won the Best Actor Award at the festival and was nominated for a couple more awards, including DEGANZ Best Editor. The film has also been selected for the Santa Barbara International Film Festival this year.

Heart to Heart is written and directed by Incubator 2018 alumna Lauren Porteous. This short psychological thriller set in Raurimu in the dead of winter explores obsession and oppression, and asks are women really for or against one another?

Audiences will also get to see June, directed by Dwayne Cameron who edited alongside DEGANZ member Peter Roberts. June sees Willow and David receiving serious news that causes their world to rapidly disintegrate. But a transcendent occurrence offers them the hope of new life. June won the DEGANZ Best Editor award at Show Me Shorts 2021.

See the full list of films and book your tickets here!

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Aidee Walker Directs Kid Sister Now on TVNZ OnDemand

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Kid Sister has landed on TVNZ OnDemand! There are 5 episodes to binge now, directed by DEGANZ member Aidee Walker. The sitcom was created and written by New York-based Jewish Kiwi Simone Nathan, who also stars as the lead. Kid Sister follows Lulu, a loveable train wreck, as she goes on a crazy ride whilst trying to balance her love of her Jewish family and culture with finding her own path.

Congratulations to Aidee and the team behind the show. Positive reviews have started to roll in with The Spinoff’s Sam Brooke writing, “It’s a reminder that New Zealand doesn’t make enough of these kinds of personality-driven TV projects, shows that revolve around a singular highly watchable character.”

The experience for Aidee on Kid Sister was very different to the normal television model in New Zealand. She would describe it as director-led, thanks to the encouragement of producer Emily Anderton. Aidee spent nine months working on the show, including doing all the post production and sign offs with her producer.

Aidee’s directing credits for television include Mystic for CBBC and TVNZ, and local shows The Brokenwood Mysteries and Westside. She participated in DEGANZ’s inaugural Women Filmmakers Incubator in 2016.

Kid Sister was edited by Alex Boyd. Tammy Williams was the cinematographer and the show was executive produced by Harriet Crampton at Greenstone TV and Simone Nathan.

Watch Kid Sister here

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