Tag Archive for: shortland street

Winter Ain’t Coming, It’s Here

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House Stark could just as well have been referring to the long, cold chill settling on the domestic New Zealand screen industry right now, even though the Minister is single-handedly about to save Shortland Street, no doubt due to some serious prodding. But there’s a ray of sunshine that comes every winter in New Zealand, and that’s the NZ International Film Festival.

Festival Artistic Director Paolo Bertilin ruffled a few feathers when he arrived. He has, though, with his programming of 86 features and 19 shorts, kept the tradition of the best of contemporary cinema from New Zealand and the world alive, which was so firmly set in place by the long-serving previous director, Bill Gosden.

As is often the case, a good number of the films at NZIFF won’t get NZ releases, which is why I always make the most of it. Arthouse films just don’t get the support they used to with disruption by the streamers and Hollywood doing its best to beat us to death with franchises and killing off even the US mid-budget indie dramas.

There’s a good range of New Zealand films on offer, too, showcasing the talent we have in this country, both in features and in shorts. It’s extremely gratifying to see so many DEGANZ members names attached to films this year, with some involved with more than one.

We get to see 30 years after its first release the film that cemented Sir Peter Jackson’s directing career. Heavenly Creatures also highlights his eye for acting talent, with outstanding performances from the little-known at the time Kate Winslet and the unknown Melanie Lynskey.

DEGANZ will as usual be supporting NZIFF, with involvement in the masterclasses by visiting animation director Gints Zilbalodos. If you can’t get along to one of the masterclasses, do make an effort to see his film Flow. You’ll be well rewarded.

The Civic continues as the spiritual and literal heart of the festival in Auckland, but as usual you’ll have to put up with the loooong rows and uncomfortable chairs. It’s always worth it, though, and I never tire of looking up to watch the shooting star across the ceiling before the screening starts.

I do miss the between-movie shawarmas of Sjoerd and Marjan Rustenhoven at what was the iconic Middle East Café on Wellesley St West. They were great food for the stomach to accompany the great films for the mind and the soul that I have always found in the NZIFF programme.

It may be literally and figuratively chilly at the moment for a good many of us, but winter is the perfect time for NZIFF. Enjoy your film-watching this year and I’ll see you on the other side.

On a different note, I want to make personal mention on the passing of director Grant Campbell on Tuesday morning. Grant was on the DEGANZ board when I stepped into the role as ED. He made great contributions to the guild behind the scenes across decades, even after he stepped off the board due to his illness, by taking up a position on the ASDACS board as NZ representative for a number of years. He was full of life, full of fun and full of laughter. I will miss him. And so will many others.

Kua hinga he totara i te wao nui a Tane

Tui Ruwhiu
Executive Director

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Director Ghazaleh Golbakhsh: How I Got Started in the Industry

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My family and I fled Iran for Aotearoa in the late 1980s due to war and an oppressive regime. As a six year old I was yelled at by teachers for not understanding English, so I set about reading and writing as much as I could to learn the language. This was aided by a family love of film. I feel like the two have become intertwined and I now have the privilege of working as a writer and filmmaker.

Being a creative means constant rejection – whether it’s work opportunities, funding or criticisms of your work. Early in my career, I wanted to become an actor so this sense of persisting despite the setbacks became ingrained in me. I also became disappointed with the lack of roles for women, particularly women of colour. So I started writing those very roles that I would have wanted myself and soon I began directing them too. At one point, I dropped out of a certain film school, bought a one way ticket to London and set about working as a runner – often for free – but loving the freedom and people I met along the way. I remember literally door-knocking around all of Soho until someone finally let me in for an interview. What I wasn’t prepared for was the bullshit sexism, racism, classism and self-indulgent nonsense that the industry was awash in. It is changing, slowly, but it’s changing.

When I returned to Aotearoa, I decided to go through the University route by completing a BA in Film, TV and Media Studies at the University of Auckland then a Masters in Documentary under Annie Goldson. It was here I serendipitously met a Fulbright advisor and randomly decided to apply for the University of Southern California. The year in Los Angeles was fundamental to me learning how to write for film as we were writing constantly. It was also an introduction to the US system which is its own beast. USC was not just a film school (what we learn here is just as good) but their resources and connections make it more like a country club for Hollywood wannabes. However, I got to work in the documentary department at the Sundance Institute – a relationship I am keen to continue fostering as I thoroughly support their mantra on supporting independent filmmaking.

Director Ghazaleh and the all female crew of This is Us (for RNZ/NZ on Air) photographed by Ainsley Duyvestyn Smith / Photo: Supplied

For me, much of my work came through the connections I made through University, including the formidable producer and writer Shuchi Kothari, plus constantly applying for funding, workshops and programs that our hard working guilds here run such as the Women’s Incubator and filmmaker workshops through DEGANZ. These events are great to meet people. It was at an early Story Camp run by Script to Screen where over a sneaky wine, I met the incredible Ainsley Gardiner, who is now producing my first solo feature with Georgina Conder and Miss Conception Films. The best way to network is to be yourself.

I am currently directing on Shortland Street. Learning to work within a multi-camera, fast turnaround format is an invaluable experience and the perfect place to hone your directing skills as you get to direct regularly. I’m also really proud of what Oliver Driver and the team at Shorty are doing with actively supporting and encouraging more representation behind and, in front of the camera.

One of my favourite speeches comes from actor and musician Riz Ahmed. Regarding representation he notes that being represented means being a part of the story. If we are absent from that story, then we feel that we do not matter. It is not enough to just put different faces on screen (as great as that is) but it is also vital to have the right people tell those stories and make the decisions behind the screen too. In my career I’ve been lucky to have had other POC women leaders as mentors who have not only helped me with work but also helped me see myself in that leadership role one day.

 

About Ghazaleh Golbakhsh

Ghazaleh is an Iranian-New Zealand award-winning writer and director. She has directed award-winning short films including This is Us, Iran in Transit and The Waiting Room. Ghazaleh was also one of the writer/directors on feature anthology film Kāinga, which premiered at NZIFF and the Melbourne International Film Festival this year. She is currently working on her debut feature as well as directing on Shortland Street.

ghazalehgolbakhsh.com

How I Got Started in the Industry is a guest blog series from the Directors and Editors Guild of Aotearoa New Zealand (DEGANZ). Our members reflect on how they made their way into assistant editing, editing, and directing—with no two stories the same. They offer advice for those starting out. Get in touch with admin@deganz.co.nz if you’re a member and would like to share your story.

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Ch-ch-changes

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Just when you thought we were all stuck in our ways, along came COVID-19. Now changes are flowing thick and fast to adapt to the brave new world this deadly virus has inflicted upon us.

The Resource Management Act is being given the flick to allow for shovel-ready infrastructure projects. Tourism operators are now having to give a toss about Kiwi tourists. (I’m surprised nobody has questioned yet whether we really want all those international tourists to return and put the strain back onto our environment and infrastructure.) The Australian and New Zealand governments are figuring out how to hold hands and sing kumbaya in a Trans-Tasman bubble. We might even have a new National Party leader by the end of the week.

Just look at the changes the NZ screen sector has gone through in two months. We have temporary Terms of Trade at NZFC that say, amongst other things, goodbye to the NZ theatrical distribution requirement and hello to a VOD platform. TVNZ is commissioning Maori and Pacific genre drama with its supernatural anthology RFP. Domestic production has all of a sudden become vitally important to crew.

South Pacific Pictures took the bit between its teeth and developed its own COVID Health & Safety (H&S) protocols signed off by WorkSafe to allow Shortland Street to get back up. We now have the WorkSafe-approved COVID Protocols and Standard thanks to the hard work of individuals from the Screen Industry Guild of Aotearoa (Techos), the NZ Advertising Producers Group and a number of others.

And the draft Screen Sector Strategy unleashed on us during the lockdown? Well after further ‘feedback’ it’s going through some additional ch-ch-changes as well.

But what’s happening out there in the big wide screen world? Iceland, South Korea and Sweden are already in production, with Iceland unveiling details on how international productions can get back up and running there with a special immigration channel and quarantine rules. Some Eastern European countries, which get a lot of US and UK runaway projects, are restarting with the Czech Republic and Poland leading the way.

The UK government is allowing film and TV production to restart. A coalition of Britain’s top platforms have published a guide for TV production, while The UK’s new protocols for film and high-end drama are expected at the end of May. In the US, though, production is still at a standstill. Directors Guild of America board member and Contagion director Steven Soderbergh has been put in charge of the guild’s efforts to address COVID. According to an article in the LA Times, it’s the guilds and the unions that will determine when production will start there.

Across the ditch, Neighbours is up and running and Wentworth is supposedly about to restart. The guilds there have been working hard on their COVID-19 H&S protocols and expect government sign off on them shortly.

Thankfully, Level 2 is allowing production in film and TV here to get going, so we’re in a good place. But there’s much further to go, and more changes that need to occur before we can have the New Zealand screen industry humming again. Each one of us has a part to play in making this happen, whether it’s helping to effect the changes necessary, or just washing our hands, maintaining social distance and staying home when sick.

As we head into this next phase of life under COVID, stay safe, stay well and remember you can call on us here at DEGNZ at any time. We will do our best to help you out.

Tui Ruwhiu
Executive Director

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