Watch: Writing & Directing Fresh Eggs for TV

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Go behind-the-scenes into the creative process of making Fresh Eggs with co-creator/writer Nick Ward and producer/lead director Britta Hawkins. Fresh Eggs is a six-part black comedy for TVNZ 2, which follows a couple’s quest for “the good life” that goes wickedly awry. Q&A moderated by Gaysorn Thavat, another director on the show.

 

“If you’re ever doing a story table, ever working with other writers, just never say, ‘no’. Never ever say, ‘no’. The minute you start saying, ‘no’, is that’s when things get really messy.”

– Nick Ward

“There were lots of things that we did differently. We three directors ended up working as like one ensemble cast of directors, which is also not typical. Normally you come in and you do your block and then you go away. And you tend not to cross paths with the other directors at all.”

– Britta Hawkins

 

This event was part of DEGNZ’s Screenlink series, hosted with the New Zealand Writers Guild.

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Watch: Daffodils Q&A with Writer Rochelle Bright

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Writer Rochelle Bright discusses Kiwi musical Daffodils and the process of adapting her critically acclaimed stage play for the screen. Here’s a snippet from the Q&A. On finding whose story it was:

 

“I think what makes the script a little bit different is it’s completely structured by the songs, and so the songs kind of force the storytelling and whose role it is quite a bit. But we had so many discussions throughout where we’d go back and forward between Eric and Rose.” – Rochelle Bright

 

Directed by David Stubbs and produced by Richard Fletcher, Daffodils is a bittersweet love story told with beautiful re-imaginings of iconic New Zealand songs, including tracks by Crowded House, LIPS, Bic Runga, and Dave Dobbyn.

Leaving her dying father’s bedside, singer Maisie rushes to perform at an indie music gig in town. But as she sings the opening song, it’s hard for her to ignore the heartfelt story she’s just been told – the story of how her dad met and fell in love with her mother, and how it all devastatingly fell apart.

This event was part of the Film Talk Series, presented by DEGNZ and Rialto Cinemas in Auckland.

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Watch: In The Zone Q&A with Robyn Paterson & Terrance Wallace

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In The Zone film

Director Robyn Paterson and Terrance Wallace, founder of the InZone Project, share on the process of making their 2018 feature documentary In The Zone. The film follows Terrance’s journey to establish first a home for minority teens in New Zealand’s most sought after school zone, and then in his own community back in Chicago with political and racial tensions rising in the USA.

Throughout its powerful narrative, In The Zone raises poignant questions about education, privilege, diversity, and cycles of inequality across the Western world.

 

“You are pulling people together and having to get the trust and build the trust with people from really different walks of life, really different ends of the political spectrum, different ends of the socio-economic spectrum. For me, as a filmmaker, I think my biggest job was building those relationships.” – Robyn Paterson

 

This event was part of the Film Talk Series, presented by DEGNZ and Rialto Cinemas in Auckland.

 

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Watch: Stray Q&A with Director Dustin Feneley

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Stray key still

Writer/director Dustin Feneley answers questions about his debut feature film Stray (2018). Dustin talks about not compromising his cinematic, arthouse vision, despite modest means while making the film.

 

“We wanted a very formalised, considered cinematography in kind of like master shots and I want things to play out longer. But the implication production-wise was that we could milk all of that one hour set aside for that scene … It meant that art department, lighting, camera, everyone had so much time relatively speaking to nail that one shot.”

 

This event was part of the Film Talk Series, presented by DEGNZ and Rialto Cinemas in Auckland.

 

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The Making of NZ Music Doco ‘Swagger of Thieves’

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Swagger of Thieves film still

Director Julian Boshier chatted about his music documentary Swagger of Thieves as part of Film Talk, a series of special Q&A screenings presented by DEGNZ and Rialto Cinemas.

The film charts Kiwi rock bank Head Like a Hole’s continuing quest for glory and relevance. A decade in the making, Swagger of Thieves first premiered in 2017 at the New Zealand International Film Festival, which praised it as “one of the most intelligently assembled and truthfully told documentaries New Zealand has ever produced”.

Watch the Film Talk highlights

In this short video, Julian shares with audience members and moderator James Solomon about:

  • How he approached filming the band’s real and intimate relationships.
  • The reasons behind the film’s black and white.
  • What the editing process was like.
  • Knowing when the film was finished.

Swagger of Thieves is currently in NZ cinemas. See here for information on movie times.

 

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