Whānau Mārama NZIFF Celebrates 16 Years with 100(ish) Films

Whānau Mārama New Zealand International Film Festival (NZIFF) is back for 2025 and is bigger than ever. This year will feature a selection of around 100 films across the four main cities and six regions across Aotearoa.

11 DEGANZ members have worked on eight films in the lineup this year, most of which make up the new Ngā Whanaunga: Aotearoa New Zealand’s Best programme.

Artistic Director Paolo Bertolin comments on this year’s selections, saying,

NZIFF continues to be where audiences discover New Zealand films before the rest of the world. This year’s programme will […] include local stories that are ready to make their mark internationally.

Check out the films from DEGANZ members below and keep up to date with NZIFF to know when you can catch them on the big screen!

 

Māhutonga Strand

 

TOITŪ Visual Sovereignty

Editors: Cushla Dillon, Brendon Chan and Huhana Ruri-Panapa

Unprecedented insight into the curation of the Toi Tū Toi Ora: Contemporary Māori Art exhibition reveals the struggle for Māori artistic sovereignty within the structures of Aotearoa New Zealand’s cultural institutions.

 

Ngā Whanaunga: Aotearoa New Zealand’s Best

 

Since 2012, NZIFF have curated both the New Zealand’s Best and the Ngā Whanaunga Māori Pasifika short film programmes. This year, it has evolved to Ngā Whanaunga: Aotearoa New Zealand’s Best, combining the two programmes. The films will screen in two parts: Programme One and Programme Two.

Chrysanthemum

Writer/Director: Jolin Lee

Editors: Jolin Lee and Steven Chow

When her child mysteriously vanishes in a garden centre, an anguished gardener develops an unhealthy relationship with a chrysanthemum plant.

Growing Still

Editors: Adam-Luka Turjak and Margot Francis

An elderly woman wilting away in a retirement home longs to commune with the vibrant natural world outside. This magical short offers a positive spin on our impending mortality.

I Am Not Your Dusky Maiden

Writer/Director: Vea Mafile’o

Ala is a Samoan woman living with dissociative identity disorder. In therapy, she shifts between different versions of herself — from young Flo to fierce ancestor Puipui — and confronts her deepest trauma.

Let’s Settle This

Writer/Director and Editor: Jack Woon

Two kung fu masters meet in a Chinese diner via a dating app and turn to the art to settle scores.

Puti

Writer/Director: Aroha Awarau

It is a hard life on the street for Puti; perhaps she best not follow her mother’s footsteps. With hope, there is another journey, another possibility.

Stage Challenge

Writer/Director: Stella Reid

Shy Ali joins a group of zealous schoolgirls creating a stage challenge concept that will both wow audiences and distract the girls from their concerns for the future.

Womb

Writer/Director: Ira Hetaraka

A young filly struggles to break from the stable in this absurd and wildly original fable, starkly reminding us of the past dehumanisation of Indigenous whānau.

 

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‘Trainwreck: The Astroworld Tragedy’ is in Netflix’s Top Three

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DEGANZ member Jesse Dixon edited Netflix’s recently released documentary Trainwreck: The Astroworld Tragedy. Currently, it ranks third on Netflix’s global top 10 movies.

In 2021, hundreds of people were injured and ten were killed in a crowd crush during the headlining performance at Travis Scott’s Astroworld music festival in Houston, Texas. The film unpacks the logistical failures and the tragic consequences through exclusive interviews with survivors, paramedics and festival staff. Additionally, compiled footage from concertgoers’ phones brings viewers into the heart of the crowd, demonstrating just how extreme the crowd was on the day.

The film is the first of Netflix’s documentary anthology series exploring massive event disasters that made global headlines, created corporate scandals, and cost lives. Other topics covered later in the series include the infamous Poop Cruise and storming Area 51.

Congrats to Jesse and the rest of the team on Trainwreck: The Astroworld Tragedy’s success!

 

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Curtis’ ‘Rapido’ Wins at imagineNATIVE

Congratulations to Ricard J Curtis (DEGANZ) for winning the Live Action Short Award with Rapido at the 2025 imaginNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival! This is an Oscar-qualifying category, meaning the film is now eligible for consideration for the Academy Awards in the Best Live Action Short Film category.

Rapido follows a young Māori boy whose fascination with war comics comes closer to home than he could ever imagine when he discovers his estranged grandfather was a World War II veteran.

In Ngā Aho Whakaari’s media release, producer Lea McLean comments on the film saying,

Rapido explores intergenerational trauma, inspired by Richard’s childhood and his uncle’s untold struggle with ‘Shell-Shock’. This story honours the sacrifices of Māori soldiers and highlights the enduring impact of PTSD on their whānau at home.

The short was made through Ngā Aho Whakaari’s short film development programme, Aho Shorts, in 2024.

It’s great to see local indigenous films recognised on the global stage!

 

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Paterson Selected for 2025 Activator Screen Business Programme

Award-winning documentary filmmaker and DEGANZ board member Robyn Paterson is one of 12 producers selected for the Activator Screen Business Programme.

Activator is an international business development initiative designed to build export capability within Aotearoa’s screen production sector. Across the second half of 2025, Robyn and fellow participants will engage in an intensive programme of industry workshops, international market visits to Sydney, London, and Los Angeles, and expert business training.

The programme describes the cohort as “some of the most entrepreneurial and ambitious screen talent in Aotearoa – working across film, television, documentary and factual – and are now poised to take their projects and businesses to the global stage.”

Robyn is taking part in the initiative with her production company, Sweet Productions, an innovative disability-led company established to bring purposeful, authentic and diverse content to a wide audience spectrum. Her credits include Down for Love, Grand Designs NZ, Finding Mercy, and Licence to Drive.

Massive congratulations to Robyn and all the best for the programme!

 

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DEGANZ Watch List: Features & Unscripted & Shorts, Oh My!

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Here’s the latest work from DEGANZ members! There are features, unscripted projects, and a short film in the mix this time.

Feature film Kōkā, edited by DEGANZ members Te Rurehe Paki, is out in local cinemas following its Matariki weekend premiere.

Also in the feature space, the trailer for Pike River offers the first glimpse into the highly anticipated film directed by Robert Sarkies (DEGANZ) and edited by Peter Roberts (DEGANZ).

Fellow member James Fink-Jensen‘s short film The Balloon is also available to watch on his production company’s Vimeo.

In the factual space, check out Mind Menders, co-directed by Peter Day (DEGANZ), and The Casketeers: Life and Death Around the Globe with DEGANZ member Vea Mafile’o as Field Director.

 

Kōkā

Feature Film

Editor: Te Rurehe Paki

Māori elder Hamo and local delinquent Jo form an unlikely bond on a road trip. As they confront past traumas and each face their demons, their shared path becomes a journey of healing, community and reconciliation.

 

Mind Menders

Documentary

Co-Director: Peter Day

In this two-part documentary, Sonia Gray – a long-time advocate for normalising conversation around mental health who has bravely shared her own struggles with anxiety – goes on a mind-altering journey to find out if psychedelics could be the answer to New Zealand’s on-going mental health and addiction crisis.

 

Pike River – Official Trailer

Feature Film Trailer

The first peak into this high anticipated local feature film is out!

Pike River, directed by DEGANZ member Robert Sarkies and edited by fellow member Peter Roberts, starring Melanie Lynskey and Robyn Malcom, follows two women who lose their loved ones in the 2010 Pike River Mine explosion and become leading voices in the families’ fight for truth and accountability.

 

The Balloon

Short Film

Writer, Director and Editor: James Fink-Jensen

On her birthday, an earnest, young girl discovers unexpected solace when her mother seemingly fails to make any plans.

 

The Casketeers: Life and Death Around the Globe

Factual Series

Field Director: Vea Mafile’o

Beloved funeral directors, husband-and-wife team Francis and Kaiora Tipene, embark on a new travel odyssey, witnessing life and death traditions from Tonga, Japan, India and more.

 

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