‘Bookworm’ Wins Audiences’ Hearts at Fantasia

After opening Fantasia International Film Festival, NZ feature Bookworm, edited by DEGANZ member Dan Kircher, won the Audience Award for Best International Film.

This year was the festival’s 28th run with a record attendance and various sold-out screenings rivalling the festival’s pre-pandemic years. After counting up thousands of votes from the attendees, Bookworm came out on top followed by Le Comte de Monte Cristo in silver and Rats! in third.

New Zealand audiences can now catch the film in local cinemas to see the newly introduced father and daughter head to the wilderness on a camping trip for the ultimate test of family bonding, watched from afar by a deadly black beast that could be the answer to all their woes.

Congratulations to Dan and the rest of the Bookworm team on the win and local theatrical release!

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Even More DEGANZ Members in the NZ Web Fest Mix This Year

Five more projects from DEGANZ members have been selected for this year’s NZ Web Fest. These projects join the five others selected earlier this year.

This year marks the 24th annual run of the festival celebrating international online content, including podcasts, short films, and web series.

Dive

Short Film (Narrative)

Director: Tyler Redmond

Monster State

Short Film (Narrative)

Director: Julie Zhu

Editor: Isaiah Tour

The Polycees

Short Film (Narrative)

Writer/Director & Editor: Celia Jaspers

ADHD & Me

Web Series (Narrative)

Director: Michelle Ang (Incubator 2020)

Co-editor: Jack Brown

Ahikāroa

Web Series (Narrative)

Co-editor: Jack Woon

Writer & Storyliner: Onehou Strickland

 

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‘What Is Left Unsaid’ Seeks a Boost

DEGANZ member Danika Leigh Ciullo‘s production company Herstory Collective is crowdfunding on Boosted for the short film What Is Left Unsaid. Fellow member Guillaume Arnoulet is attached as the project’s editor.

The team is looking to raise $5,000 for the film that examines the ripple effects of sexual assault. When Carrie and Ava meet, they fall hard and fast. It’s honeymoon phase bliss until their world shatters when Carrie is assaulted. The two must figure out how to navigate Carrie’s trauma within their intimate relationship.

Danika and the team hope that the film will educate audiences about how far the effects of assault travel, while also painting a message of hope. While Carrie is shaped by her experience, it does not define her as she begins her healing journey. While Ava’s physical and emotional needs aren’t met in the wake of Carrie’s assault, her faith in their bond and her love for Carrie triumphs.

Funds raised on Boosted will go towards cast and crew payments, gear and tech rentals, catering, marketing, post-production, and film festival submissions.

You can find out more about the project on their Boosted page!

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DEGANZ to Manage NZ’s MIFF Accelerator Lab Participation

The Directors and Editors Guild of Aotearoa New Zealand (DEGANZ) is pleased to announce that it will be managing the participation of New Zealand short filmmakers in the Melbourne International Film Festival’s Accelerator Lab, having signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Lab for 2024.

Previously, New Zealand’s participation in the MIFF Accelerator Lab was handled internally by the New Zealand Film Commission, but this initiative has gone out to industry as part of the NZFC’s change in strategy.

“Our thanks go to NZFC for putting its trust in DEGANZ to deliver this key talent development initiative for emerging New Zealand filmmakers,” said DEGANZ Executive Director Tui Ruwhiu. “We appreciate, and are sure the industry does too, the NZFC’s ongoing commitment to NZ filmmaking talent and this initiative in particular.”

The MIFF Accelerator Lab is held for four days during the Melbourne International Film Festival, which this year runs from 8 – 25 August. It is designed to nurture tomorrow’s top screen directors on the journey towards their first long-form works.

Accelerator Lab participants are selected from all short film entries to the MIFF program of the year in question. Their films are screened to the general public as part of the specially branded Accelerator Shorts package (while their films are distributed to producers and visiting financiers), giving their work wide exposure among audiences and industry decision-makers alike.

The selective-entry lab provides up to 20 short film directors with four days of workshops, screenings, seminars, and networking events on the business and creative aspects of the film industry with leading local and international screen practitioners.

“DEGANZ looks forward to working with the MIFF Accelerator Lab to ensure the selected NZ filmmakers get the most out of this highly focused opportunity to help further their careers,” Ruwhiu added.

Previous participants in the MIFF Accelerator Lab include Michelle Savill (Millie Lies Low), Jeremiah Tauamiti (For My Father’s Kingdom), Zoe Macintosh (Stylebender), Sam Kelly (Savage), Matthew J. Saville (Juniper), Jackie van Beek (Nude Tuesdays), Gaysorn Thavat (The Justice of Bunny King) and Taika Waititi (Hunt For The Wilderpeople).

DEGANZ ED Tui Ruwhiu will attend the Accelerator Lab to assist NZ’s participants, observe the sessions and participate in panels scheduled in the Lab programme.

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‘Bookworm’ is a Joyride into the Wild at Fantasia

Bookworm, edited by Dan Kircher (DEGANZ), kicked off this year’s Fantasia International Film Festival in Montreal as the opening night film. This was the feature’s world premiere, earning many positive reviews leading up to its wider cinematic release.

The film explores universal themes of fatherhood, survival, and overcoming fear against the rugged South Island landscape. When eleven-year-old Mildred’s mum lands in hospital, her life is flipped upside down when her estranged and strange father, played by Elijah Wood, flies to Aotearoa to look after her. In an attempt to bond, he takes Mildred on a wilderness camping adventure in search of the mythological Canterbury Panther. A string of increasingly absurd and treacherous adventures unfold.

Fantasia is North America’s largest genre film festival, hosting sci-fi, fantasy, horror, and action films from across the globe. By juxtaposing pop and alternative cultures in its programming, it has earned notoriety as one of the top festivals in the industry for emerging and established filmmakers alike.

You can catch Bookworm in cinemas across New Zealand from 8 August.

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