Day One Showing Shorts at Show Me Shorts
Day One Hāpai te Haeata is partnering with Show Me Shorts to host the world premiere of this year’s eight Day One Shorts, which involve the work of five DEGANZ members.
Day One is a supportive community that provides rangatahi with the tools, guidance, and opportunities to share stories on screen. Each year, it commissions a series of short films by new filmmakers from across Aotearoa that explore cultural, social and political issues by taking story risks, pushing the envelope, and looking to the future.
Show Me Shorts is Aotearoa’s leading international short film festival, connecting local audiences with short films and sharing Aotearoa’s short films with the world. Its annual competitive festival is Academy Awards® and BAFTA-accredited and screens in more than 35 cinemas nationwide.
In the press release announcing the collaboration, Day One Hāpai te Haeata Executive Director Chris Widdup says,
Since 2017, Day One has commissioned over fifty films from new screen voices, and we are very excited and honoured to be partnering with Show Me Shorts to help connect the filmmakers to as broad an audience as possible for our latest crop of films. For the films to be setting out into the world with the stamp of approval that Show Me Shorts represents is an amazing tautoko.
Read more about DEGANZ members’ films below:
O Alofa Nei, O Alofa Nā (Love Me, Love You)
Writer/Director: Giselle Ilaoa
Manaia, a young woman caught between expectation and self-acceptance, finds herself confronting her repressed sexuality when a chance reunion with her first love stirs old feelings.
Ata Pūao
Producer: Angel Kameta
Amid the nightlife of a new city, a young Māori trans woman reckons with safety, isolation, and the fragile bonds of old friendships outgrown — as the promise of belonging rises just beyond the horizon.
Fearlessli
Writer/Director: Lee Li
Producer & Editor: Tyler Redmond
After her gender identity was denied in her homeland, Lee Li, a transgender asylum seeker, embarks on a journey toward belonging, freedom, and self-empowerment.
Frozen – My Eggs and Me
Writer/Director/Co-Producer: Shamin Yazdani
Single and approaching a mid-thirties birthday, Shamin, a first-generation New Zealander, confronts the question she’s long been avoiding: should she freeze her eggs?
Show Me Shorts will host the Day One Shorts Premiere at Academy Cinemas Auckland on Saturday, 11 October at 3:45pm. Tickets are sold out!
Last updated on 4 September 2025
