Tag Archive for: awards ceremony

Show Me (Shorts) Winners

Show Me Shorts had a wonderful Awards Night on Sunday 8 October, with multiple members nominated for and receiving awards.

DEGANZ member Julie Zhu‘s Lǎo Lao Lǎo Le swept up three of the eight awards. Julie not only won DEGANZ’s very own Best Director award, but she and fellow producers scooped up the coveted Department of Post Best NZ Film award, one of the festival’s Oscar-qualifying categories.

The jury commented on the film saying,

Lǎo Lao Lǎo Le is the type of film that balances the light and dark of the human experience splendidly. It lays bare the struggles of a young boy tasked with the care of his ailing Lǎo Lao, who is losing her mind to Alzhemiers. It’s a short film that is full of struggle and fight, connection and loneliness, love and hate. It is many things but, above all, it is undeniably moving and a film that will stay with the jury for some time to come.

Eight-year-old lead actor, Yan Lin, also earned the film the Toi Whakaari Best Actor award. However, this category was exceptionally difficult to choose this year, causing the judges to share the award between Lin and Prabha Ravi for her performance in Anu, written and directed by Pulkit Arora (DEGANZ).

They commented,

After much deliberation with so many wonderful performances to choose from, the jury felt that we couldn’t choose just one winner for the Toi Whakaari Best Actor award and decided to share this award between two equally outstanding performances and exceptional actors.

Keeping the success going, fellow member Maza White won Best Screenplay for her film, Daughter of God.

Other members were also honoured at the awards with nominations. Alongside Lǎo Lao Lǎo Le, Anu written and directed by Pulkit and Buttons & Dumplings co-directed by Calvin Sang (DEGANZ) were up for the Department of Post Best NZ Film Award. DEGANZ members dominated the Best Director nominations, with Pulkit and Michelle Ang (Incubator 2020) nominated alongside Julie for Anu and Nai/Milk respectively.

Michelle was also nominated for Best Actor for her role in Nai/Milk, while the film’s editors Jack Brown (DEGANZ) and Kevin Schlanser were up for Best Editor. Fellow member Jonno Woodford-Robinson was also nominated for Best Editor for The Ballad of Maddog Quinn.

Meanwhile, Anna Rose Duckworth (Incubator 2019) was nominated for Best Screenplay for Just Kidding, I Actually Love You and Kingmaker directed by Alyx Duncan (DEGANZ) was nominated for the NZ on Air Best Music Video.

Full List of Award Winners

Department of Post Best NZ Film

Jazz dos Santos, Puteri Raja Ariff, and Julie Zhu for Lǎo Lao Lǎo Le

Cause and FX Best International Film

Khozy Rizal, John Badalu, Sue Turley for Basri & Salma in a Never Ending Comedy

DEGANZ Best Director

Julie Zhu for Lǎo Lao Lǎo Le

DEGANZ Best Editor

Jeremy Leatinu’u and Ian Powell for Te Wakawhitinga

Best Screenplay

Maza White for Daughter of God

Best Cinematographer

Marty Williams for The Ballad of Maddog Quinn

Toi Whakaari Best Actor

Prabha Ravi for Anu

Yan Lin for Lǎo Lao Lǎo Le

NZ on Air Best Music Video

Ian Sweeny and Johnny Gilbert for When You Went Away – The Transits

 

If you’ve seen any of this year’s screenings, don’t forget to vote for your favourite film for the People’s Choice Award!

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DEGANZ Members Make Waves at Doc Edge Awards 2023

Congratulations to DEGANZ members Katherine McRae and Blandine Massiet du Biest for winning big at this year’s Doc Edge festival!

Katherine’s Pacific Mother won Best NZ Feature, Editing, and Cinematography, while she took home Best NZ Director. By winning the Best NZ Feature, the film now has the opportunity to qualify for consideration for the 2024 Academy Awards.

The jury commented on the film’s exploration of traditional birthing knowledge and the connection between caring for the planet and nurturing families:

This film took the judges on a beautiful cinematic journey that was hugely emotional and told an empowering conversation with indigenous women front and centre of its telling.

Meanwhile, Bladine’s directorial debut has proven successful with her Best NZ Emerging Filmmaker win. Her feature Frances Hodgkins, Anything but a Still Life also won Best New Zealand Sound. The film retraces the modernist painter’s footsteps, traversing the places she lived and worked and highlighting her dedication to her art.

Both films and two other winners of some of the festival’s key international categories received encore screenings in Auckland over the holiday weekend. The festival is now moving on to its Wellington run. Following the four award sweep, Pacific Mother’s screening and Q&A session with the filmmakers at the Roxy Cinema is sold out.

Well done, Katherine and Blandine, on the wins!

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DEGANZ Partners with CLIPPED Music Video Festival

A panel of speakers in front of a festival audience.

We are excited to have partnered with CLIPPED Music Video Festival to support directing and editing talent behind New Zealand’s top music videos!

As its name suggests, CLIPPED Music Video Festival is the only festival in Australia and NZ dedicated to celebrating the music video art-form and the creators behind them.

A one night only event this year, the Festival is set to showcase the high calibre works in the Music Video Awards Competition, award over AU$20,000 worth of prizes, and feature artist and filmmaker Q&As.

DEGANZ is putting its support behind the NZ awards categories for Best Directing and Best Editing. We would like to congratulate all of the awesome Top 10 New Zealand finalists! The winning directors and editors will be chosen from among the Top 10.

 

 

On Friday 25 March, CLIPPED 2021-22 will be taking place at Ritz Cinemas in Randwick, Sydney. But for folks in Aotearoa, you can tune into the live streamed event with the NZ finalists screening at 9pm NZDT.

DEGANZ members can also attend the live stream for free! Check out the Industry Events in our member newsletter out Thursday for a link to VIP tickets.

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Green Wins SAE People’s Choice Award

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A wonderful recognition for writer/director Rachel Ross (2020 Incubator alumna), who has won the SAE People’s Choice Award at the Show Me Shorts Film Festival! Rachel received the award for her film Green, a short comedy drama which delighted audiences nationwide after its world premiere at Show Me Shorts.

Green tells the tale of an estranged father and his daughter Blake who are both diagnosed with life-altering illnesses. The pair decide to smoke weed together for the first time, which becomes healing in more ways than one.

Rachel’s life and her relationship with her father inspired the making of Green. With her father suffering from prostate cancer, and having just been diagnosed with inflammatory bowel disease herself, Rachel had a simple plan. With some marijuana in tow, she decided to give her father a visit, and ‘light it up’, so to speak.

When speaking of this decision to smoke weed together to alleviate their pain, Rachel called it “a moment that bound us infinitely closer together, a moment I will never forget.”

After receiving the award, Rachel commented, “This film is an incredibly personal story, I knew it was an important story to be told… I want to thank my WONDERFUL creative team who pulled this together so brilliantly and most importantly my Dad, for without him this story wouldn’t exist.”

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Show Me Shorts 2021: Nominees for Best Director and Best Editor

Show Me Shorts Film Festival 2021 have announced the nominees for their annual Awards Ceremony. Seventeen short films were nominated across eight categories including Best Director and Best Editor. As proud sponsors of these awards, DEGNZ warmly congratulates the nominees below and we look forward to seeing your mahi screen across the country.

The Awards Ceremony will take place on Sunday 17 October in Auckland where the winners will be announced alongside the award-winning films.

Nominations for DEGNZ Best Director

Isaac Bell for Space Invader

Max is a small boy with a big imagination and a loyal co-pilot of a dad. But when Dad gets a new girlfriend, Max must find a way to confront this new menace before she steals his dad forever.

Kaitiaki Rodger for Matua

Manaaki returns home after the death of his mother. After the tangi, he is approached by two strangers to provide Te Reo Māori lessons to them. Manaaki reluctantly accepts, unaware that he is about to uncover hidden family secrets.

Dwayne Cameron for June

Willow and David receive a serious diagnosis from their doctor and attempt to deal with the mundane as their world disintegrates in the following 24 hours. This one day for the couple holds raw despair, unleashing carnal natures but a transcendent occurrence offers them the hope of new life.

 

Nominations for DEGNZ Best Editor

Peter Roberts and Dwayne Cameron for June

Willow and David receive a serious diagnosis from their doctor and attempt to deal with the mundane as their world disintegrates in the following 24 hours. This one day for the couple holds raw despair, unleashing carnal natures but a transcendent occurrence offers them the hope of new life.

Brendon Chan for Blood and Gold

New Zealand, 1861. Man’s hunt for gold is feverish. Through the snow-capped mountains a woman flees on horseback. When she encounters a horrific scene, she makes a decision which will alter the course of two lives…

Joseph Grigg for Blue Lake

Monster-hunting youtube sensations Phil and Angie are on the road again, searching to uncover Otago’s supernatural secrets. An eerie trip to Blue Lake could finally get them on the cover of the Otago Daily Times, or maybe the obituaries

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