Documentary Film ‘Every Body Speaks’ Wins in Taiwan

DEGANZ member Paula Whetu Jones’ documentary in development, Every Body Speaks, has won the Taiwan Mobile Content Power x Best International Potential Award at CCDF-17, one of the biggest documentary industry forums in the Chinese-Speaking World.

Every Body Speaks follows a dancer through her recovery from a brain injury. Set in Taiwan, the film captures the essence of community and the limitless potential of performance and collective art. This story lends itself well to Paula’s preexisting work, which often focuses on social issues. She directed the award-winning documentary Gang Girls and created the semi-autobiographical series Spinal Destination, about a woman learning to live with being paralysed. 

While at CCDF, Paula and the team worked with industry mentors to sharpen their pitches. They also had the opportunity to meet with a variety of documentary-focused festivals and programmers, including Sundance Film Festival, Sheffield DocFest, Tokyo Docs, and AIDC, as well as sales agents and distributors.

The film was first pitched at Doc Edge in Tamaki Makaurau, where it won the CNEX award, leading to an invitation to Taipei.

Congratulations, Paula, on this exciting project and can’t wait to see it develop further!

Last updated on 22 October 2026