DEGANZ members heavily populated the selection lineup this year, with many of their projects going on to win awards. Well done to all members involved, and congratulations to the winners!
Best Music Video, NZ
Don’t Expect the World
Director & Editor: Joe Murdie
Best Performance, NZ Short Fiction
Romain Mereau – Solitaire
Writer/Director: Brian Gill
NZ Web Series
Best Trailer
Ahikāroa
Series Editor, Writer, Storyliner, & Script Editor: Onehou Strickland
https://www.deganz.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/NZWF-Winners.jpg4561200admin/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/DEGANZ_logo_home.pngadmin2023-11-17 11:31:112023-11-23 14:42:15… and We Have the (NZ Web Fest) Winners!
Welcome to the 2023-2024 DEGANZ Board, elected at the recent AGM on 21 October!
Thank you to returning members Robyn Paterson (President), Steven Chow (Vice-President), Phil Gore (Treasurer), Margot Francis, Rāhera Herewini-Mulligan (Ngāi Tūhoe/Ngāi Tai/Te Whānau a Apanui), Celia Jaspers, Te Rurehe Paki, Ben Powdrell, and Gaysorn Thavat together with our three new members for taking on another year of advocating for Aotearoa’s directors, editors, and assistant editors.
We warmly welcome new members, Chris Dudman, Justin Scott (Ngāpuhi), and Rebecca Tansley.
Chris Dudman
Chris Dudman’s film-making career started in 1990 when ‘Blackwater Summer’, his graduation film at the Royal College of Art in London, was nominated for a Student Oscar and went on to win numerous international awards. He spent several years directing and editing arts documentaries for television in the UK before moving back to New Zealand. He has written and directed one off documentaries and documentary series for New Zealand television including New Zealand at War, Zoo, Protecting the Border and the critically acclaimed, The Day That Changed My Life. He directed two NZFC short films – The Graffiti of Mr. Tupaia and Choice Night – and he was also the lead director and co-writer of Harry, the gritty TV3 crime series starring Sam Neill and Oscar Kightley. More recently directed two episodes of James Patterson’s true crime anthology drama series Murder Is Forever for Discovery ID USA and the dramatic sequences in the award-winning TVNZ docu-drama By the Balls. Chris has also directed Television commercials throughout his career, firstly with Silverscreen and then through his own production company Robber’s Dog Films. His latest offering is New Zealand’s favourite ad of the moment, the three-legged dog for Trustpower.
Justin Scott
Justin Scott (Ngāpuhi) is a Director and Producer who prides himself in sharing stories from underrepresented communities. As a Queer, Māori, Neurodiverse man living with ADHD, his practice often touches upon stories from these communities and explores intersectionality. Currently, Justin is working as a director and associate producer for upcoming TVNZ series Four Go Flatting – following four young men with intellectual disabilities tackling flatting and independence for the first time. He has been working as a director for Sunday morning series Attitude for the past four years, also directing on the company’s children’s show George and Me for HEIHEI, and intersectional series What’s the Disabili-tea for RNZ. Alongside his directing work, Justin has produced numerous short films with a Te Ao Māori focus including He Hekenga Tūhura and HAKA HAHA. Both of these films have had successful international festival runs, with both premiering internationally at the world’s largest indigenous film festival ImagineNATIVE in Toronto. Prior to his work in the documentary space, Justin cut his teeth working in Children’s television including Let’s Get Inventin’ and Sticky TV.
Rebecca Tansley
Drawing on a long career in storytelling across the media Rebecca has been focused on telling stories for the screen for more than ten years as a director, writer and producer working across documentary, drama and the performing arts. Her award-winning documentaries Crossing Rachmaninoff and The Heart Dances have screened at festivals around the world, in cinemas throughout New Zealand and on Netflix and HBO respectively. Her film of a live opera, Semele, won a 2022 NZTV award for best Entertainment Programme while her short film of the same year, The Finding enjoyed more than a dozen festival outings including Academy Award-accredited In the Palace and Show Me Shorts. Her latest film with NZ Opera, The Strangest of Angels, premiered in the New Zealand International Film Festival in 2023 and was awarded Special Mention for Extraordinary Artistic Achievement at the 60th Golden Prague International Television Festival. Rebecca is currently developing her third feature documentary and has a feature screenplay in development.
A special thank you to Caroline Bell-Booth, Sam Kelly, and Annie Collins, who are stepping away after dutifully serving on the board.
https://www.deganz.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/DEGANZ-Board-2023-24.jpg4561200admin/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/DEGANZ_logo_home.pngadmin2023-10-26 13:54:272023-10-26 16:53:01Welcome to this Year’s DEGANZ Board
The New Zealand Television Awards (NZTVA) announced the finalists for 2023, with over 20 DEGANZ members’ mahi receiving nominations.
Each year, the NZTVA recognise and honour the excellence, special skills, and unique talents of those working in television. This year, the awards will be held in Tāmaki Makaurau on 5 December.
Check out the DEGANZ finalists in the list below:
Screen Auckland Best Director: Drama / Comedy Drama
Jesse Griffin
Educators
South Pacific Pictures / TVNZ+ and TVNZ 2
Best Editing: Documentary or Factual
Cushla Dillon
No Māori Allowed
Kindred Films / TVNZ 1 and TVNZ+
Emma Patterson
Kids Wired Differently
Ruckus / TVNZ 1 and TVNZ+
Best Editing: Drama / Comedy Drama
Jonno Woodford-Robinson
One Lane Bridge
Great Southern Television / TVNZ 1 and TVNZ+
NZ On Air Best Drama
The Brokenwood Mysteries
South Pacific Pictures / TVNZ 1 and TVNZ+
Directors: Katie Wolfe (Ep1), David de Lautour (Ep2), and Jacqueline Nairn (Ep5)
Editor: Kerrie Roggio (Ep1 and 5)
The Gone
Kingfisher Films / Keeper Pictures / Southern Light Films / TVNZ 1 and TVNZ+
Director: Peter Burger (Ep3 and 6)
Best Comedy
Homebound 3.0: Season 1 Episode 1
Kevin & Co / Warner Bros. Discovery ANZ / ThreeNow and Three
https://www.deganz.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/NZTVA-2023.jpg4561200admin/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/DEGANZ_logo_home.pngadmin2023-10-26 13:38:552023-10-26 16:56:3020+ DEGANZ Members as NZTV Award Finalists
Danika’s short, Shredded, follows two young men when one must race the clock to find a missing phone number to save his best friend’s life.
In Solitaire, written and directed by Brian, a desperately lonely security guard’s playing cards come to life during a game of solitaire.
The festival is Top of the South Filmmakers Incorporated’s (TSF) primary annual fundraiser. This year’s festival director, appointed by the TSF Executive Committee, is fellow member Douglas Brooks.
TSF is a non-profit collective of filmmakers from across the Nelson, Marlborough, and Tasman regions looking to push the boundaries of creativity in film. The society aims to support the growth of the film industry in the region by facilitating professional development opportunities for filmmakers and providing opportunities for them to showcase their films and techniques.
https://www.deganz.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/TSF-FF.jpg4561200admin/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/DEGANZ_logo_home.pngadmin2023-10-25 16:12:562023-10-26 17:00:03Bop to the Top of the South Film Festival
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.
