DEGANZ members are dominating this year’s NZ Web Fest! Check out the 16 projects below with 24 members involved as directors, editors, and producers.
This year marks the 24th annual run of the festival. It celebrates international online content, including podcasts, short films, and web series.
Short Films (Documentary)
A short documentary on bipolar disorder, Taurewarewa explores the highs and lows of tides and emotions in a sequence of insightful kōrero framed against a backdrop of Aotearoa’s turbulent oceans.
Editor: Amanda Mulderry
Short Films (Narrative)
A Korean immigrant dad, working as a construction painter, mentors a new, young worker while simultaneously battling melancholia and guilt as he awaits the arrival of his family.
Writer/Director: Suenghoon Sung
Producer: Joshua Siu
A coming-of-age drama that follows a young competitive swimmer named Paula, who is trained by her father Troy. Despite her dedication and hard work, Paula’s results don’t meet her father’s high standards. Meanwhile, Troy struggles with financial problems and the possibility of losing their home. As the national swimming competition approaches, tensions rise between father and daughter, and Paula begins to question her passion for the sport.
Director: Tyler Redmond
A lonely teenage girl tries reconnecting with her best friend in an attempt to fix her fragile mental state.
Writer/Director: Rafa Yam
Editor: Guillaume Arnoulet
A short film about a young girl who uses Drum and Bass raves to escape her toxic household.
Director: Amelia Addis
A young mother tries to keep her son safe.
Director: Julie Zhu
Editor: Isaiah Tour
On her birthday, an earnest, young girl finds unexpected solace when her mother seemingly fails to make any plans.
Writer/Director: James Fink-Jensen
In a clandestine world under government buildings around the world, a puppet dynasty has secretly controlled global politics for centuries. Until the daughter of the new Prime Minister of New Zealand accidentally discovers them, they must keep the secret from the humans while helping her bumbling father in his new job.
Writer/Director & Editor: Celia Jaspers
Wilbert, an autistic-coded robot and art student, is tasked to make a painting about love. Wilbert’s mission to create this magnum opus takes him on a quest of slapstick miming, invisible trains, and a very special Mother’s Day gift.
Writer/Director & Editor: Ricky Townsend
Web Series (Factual)
Holly Beckham (Ngāpuhi) is on a mission to be the first Māori woman to scale Everest. She has no alpine experience, but she has survived the depths of addiction and is climbing a mountain to recovery. Back in 1988, New Zealand’s Lydia Bradey, ONZM, was the first woman to climb Everest without supplemental oxygen. But instead of accolades, she became the subject of public bullying and misinformation, as people challenged her claims.
Together these two ‘wāhine toa’ (warrior women) venture into New Zealand’s mountains, developing a deep partnership of trust, honesty and grit as they attempt to summit Holly’s first peak, the iconic Tititea, Mt Aspiring.
Director: Alexis Smith
The Turning Point follows a new generation of kaitiaki who value the well-being of their whenua. From north to south, they’re helping their communities protect and connect with Aotearoa’s natural environment despite the very real anxieties of the climate crisis. They have only one thing on their minds: to make a difference!
Director: Steph Miller
The Turning the Tide six-part short documentary series highlights the work of researchers, kaitiaki, and community members as they pool their knowledge and resources to improve the health of the seas around Aotearoa New Zealand.
Director: Magnolia Lowe
Editor: Amanda Mulderry
Producer: Tui Ruwhiu
Web Series (Narrative)
A comedy web series about a woman who unexpectedly receives a late ADHD diagnosis. When her ADHD manifests as a person that only she can see, she must reevaluate how well she knows her own brain.
Director: Michelle Ang (Incubator 2020)
Co-editor: Jack Brown
A Māori bilingual series following a crazy group of city-based rangatahi. They’re young, kura kaupapa raised and dangerously onto it. Their world orbits around getting cash, cutting corners and charging their phones.
Co-editor: Jack Woon
Writer & Storyliner: Onehou Strickland
Stuck in the online dating rut of endlessly swiping with no results, Aidan is ecstatic when he matches with his ‘dream man’. However, to leave for his date, Aidan must face the perturbed Creature lurking in the shadows of his home.
Writer/Director: Jake Tabata
Producer: Isabelle (Izzi) Hoskyn
A comedy web series that follows a silent retreat run by some well-meaning but hopeless wellness gurus. It follows the bumbling owners trying to save their haven, the mystic teachers who aren’t as deep as they seem, and the assorted mix of weird, wonderful, and worrisome retreatants who come to stay, find peace, or otherwise.
Director: Jack Nicol
Congratulations to all those selected!
