This year’s Show Me Shorts, Aotearoa’s leading international short film festival, is chock full of DEGANZ members’ mahi!
Check this complete list to see which programmes their films are screening in and make sure to book your seats for your local screenings from 6-29 October.
The Sampler Programme
Described as some of the top short films from this year’s festival selection. This collection is designed to entertain, delight, and show off rising filmmaking talent in Aotearoa and abroad.
Just Kidding, I Actually Love You
A runaway fiancée breaks in to execute an ill-advised romantic gesture and finds evidence her ex is happier without her.
Writer/Director: Anna Rose Duckworth (Incubator 2019)
* Nominated for Best Screenplay
Whānau Friendly 1 Programme
This collection aims to ignite a love of cinema in our tamariki. Best suited for ages 7-12 years old, these shorts are fun for children and their families to enjoy together.
The Polycees
After a run-in with his slimy deputy, the Prime Minister’s young daughter is shocked to find a magical creature living in Parliament under her Dad’s desk!
Writer/Director/Producer/Editor: Celia Jaspers
Crime Spree Programme
The festival brings you to the edge of your seat with this collection of criminal acts caught on screen.
Day Job
The daily grind of the nine-to-five breeds a murderous intent in this music video from Soft Plastics.
Director: Stella Reid (Incubator 2020)
When The Spirit Takes Flight Programme
This collection of shorts hones into out of this world characters, searching for the answers that will inspire them to improve their lives and reconcile their losses.
Mako
17-year-old Mako has the mental age of a small child; when he realises his father is ashamed of him he goes all out to make him proud, succeeding in the most unexpected way.
Producer: April Phillips
Aotearoa Te Ōhākī Programme
Themed around Te Ao Māori concept of Te Ōhākī (meaning cultural and identity reclamation), these shorts tell the stories of people from many different cultures who are feeling displaced or disconnected and seeking their place in the world.
Buttons and Dumplings
The heartwarming migration story of a Chinese family, takeaway food, mahjong, and the Prime Minister of New Zealand.
Directors: Calvin Sang and Mei Ling Lee
* Nominated for Department of Post Best New Zealand Film
Anu
When a recent widow moves to New Zealand from India, she’s forced to confront her grief by completing an ordinary ritual in an extraordinary circumstance: quarantine.
Writer/Director: Pulkit Arora
Editor: Jolin Lee (Incubator 2022)
* Nominated for Toi Whakaari Best Actor, DEGANZ Best Director, and Department of Post Best New Zealand Film
Lǎo Lao Lǎo Le
A young boy is left home alone with his increasingly unwell grandmother and is forced to come to terms with her deterioration.
Writer/Director/Producer: Julie Zhu
* Nominated for Toi Whakaari Best Actor, DEGANZ Best Director, and Department of Post Best New Zealand Film
Daughter of God
When an arranged marriage is sprung upon an Iranian-Kiwi daughter, she must either dishonour family tradition or lose the woman she loves.
Writer/Director: Maza White
* Nominated for Best Screenplay
What’s the Disabili-Tea: Misty Frequency
Drag icon Misty Frequency’s kaupapa is to celebrate autistic and takatāpui excellence. They are looking to storm the stage at the Drag Wars competition with a cash prize up for grabs.
Editor: Brendon Chan
Producer: Robyn Paterson
Women Rock the World Programme
Show Me Shorts invites audiences to step into the world of queens, dreamers, and vengeful angels. Wherever these women are stifled they will find a way to realise their goals.
Kingmaker
This music video for Tami Neilson’s Kingmaker features a group of women, alive and powerful, rising from the ashes of the old colonial institutions that once oppressed them.
Director: Alyx Duncan
* Nominated for NZ on Air Best Music Video Award
Love Unconditional Programme
The bonds the characters in these stories share run deep, despite some testing times. This programme leaves audiences with some no-nonsense life advice and a renewed sense of appreciation for their parents.
Nai / Milk
A single Chinese woman struggles to bridge the cultural and societal expectations of motherhood in a Western setting until she finds release in the most unlikely way.
Writer/Director/Producer: Michelle Ang (Incubator 2020)
Co-Editor: Jack Brown
* Nominated for Toi Whakaari Best Actor, DEGANZ Best Director, and DEGANZ Best Editor
Whāna Friendly 2 Programme
Best suited and specially curated for 4-10 year olds, this programme will inspire and delight tamariki.
Star Sailors
Philly is with her neighbour, Agent Star Shine, taking on an early morning adventure when an alien lands in her backyard to eat all the strawberries!
Director: Jaimee Poipoi (Ngati Kahungunu/Ngāpuhi) (Incubator 2023)
Writer: Ben Powdrell
Congratulations to all 15 members involved with selected films; we look forward to watching!
