Members stopping work to take parental leave can contact the National Office to receive six months of free Parental Leave Membership. Members on parental leave shall continue to receive Guild communications but their access to other membership benefits will be paused until they are financial again.
i. For members on Annual Billing who have already paid their annual subscription, their remaining membership period will be pro-rated and credited as an extension when they return.
ii. Members on Monthly Billing who are part-way through their annual commitment may contact the National Office to switch to Parental Leave Membership and terminate their current term.
Please contact us if you have recently had a child or have a baby on the way to enquire about DEGNZ Parental Leave Membership.
Member Rob Sarkies, director of the 2006 film Out of the Blue, which told the story of the 1990 Aramoana massacre, sat down with RNZโs The Detail to discuss the delicate nature of filming a real-life tragedy.
The important discussion surrounding portraying a real-life tragedy was brought to the forefront, after news broke that Hollywood producers were planning a film around the March 15 terror attacks in Christchurch.
Films like these wrestle with similar questions, who should make it? Who has the right to make it? What story will actually be told and whether itโs too soon. Rob acknowledges that there is no easy answer. On his own experience making Out of the Blue, Rob said:
โI felt that, if it was to be made, it needed to be made responsibly. It needed to be made by someone who could have empathy, and basically do it right. And I felt, being from Dunedin and having some concerns about how that story might be told in the wrong hands, I trusted myself to tell it. I took on the responsibility.โ
Members of the Aramoana community worked closely with the production.
As a storyteller, Rob feels that storytelling can help a nation collectively process a tragic event. There is healing power in storytelling.
http://degnz.sensedesign.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/3-1.png321845admin/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/DEGANZ_logo_home.pngadmin2021-06-30 15:21:292021-06-30 15:46:26Portraying Real Life Tragedy on Screen
On July 29, following its world premiere at Tribeca Film Festival, DEGNZ is excited to be hosting a screening of The Justice of Bunny King, in association with Rialto Cinemas. The film follows Bunny King (Essie Davis), a mother of two who’s a rough cut diamond with a sketchy past. While battling the system to reunite with her children, a confrontation leads her to take her niece Tonyah (Thomasin McKenzie) under her wing. With the world against her and Tonyah, Bunny’s battle has just begun.
Following the screening, audiences will be joined by director Gaysorn Thavat for a Q&A session, moderated by Lucy Wigmore.
http://degnz.sensedesign.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Justice-of-Bunny-King-2.jpeg321845admin/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/DEGANZ_logo_home.pngadmin2021-06-28 15:08:492021-06-30 16:11:11Film Talk: The Justice of Bunny King
On July 24, esteemed documentary director Leanne Pooley will explore how a director crafts and communicates the tone of a film, a fine finish to our workshop series on tone for 2021, which seeks to pin down this elusive subject.
When you are dealing with the stories of real people and portraying them on screen, getting the tone wrong can lead to significant problems. Tone is part of everything a documentary director does when approaching a story. Itโs part of the narrative, the pace, the look, the music.
Tone is part of every decision a director makes, and in this workshop, Leanne will share practically using examples from her films on how directors make these decisions.
About Leanne Pooley
A documentary filmmaker for over 25 years, Leanne has directed films all over the world and has won numerous awards (including Best Documentary at TIFF). Leanne is a New Zealand Arts Laureate, a member of The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and was named an โOfficer of the New Zealand Order of Meritโ for Services to Documentary Filmmaking in the 2017 New Yearโs Honours List.
Her work includes The Girl on the Bridge on suicide survivor and activist Jazz Thornton, We Need to Talk About A.I. for Universal Pictures and GFC, animated feature documentary 25 April and acclaimed local box office success Topp Twins: Untouchable Girls.
Whoโs it for?
Documentary directors wanting to better understand tone – you’ll come away with useful ideas that can be applied to your own process, whether youโre directing on your first short film or moving onto longer content (e.g. a first feature documentary, a webseries).
Workshop Details
When:ย Saturday 24 July 2021, 9:30am – 4pm
Where:ย Saint Columba Centre, 40 Vermont Street, Ponsonby, Auckland 1011
Price:
DEGNZ member – Free Non-member – $95
Lunch, tea and coffee included.
Travel Allowances
DEGNZ Full members based outside of Auckland can apply to the Guild for travel support up to the value of $250 (incl GST). We have six grants available.
To apply you must meet these criteria:
You live outside of the Auckland region.
You are a NZ Citizen or permanent resident.
You have a confirmed place in one of the Tone workshops.
Please indicate if you wish to apply for a travel allowance when you register. For additional information and criteria, see here.
To Apply
Applications close: Tuesday 20 July, 3PM
Submit the application form below.
Email your CV or a bio with filmography to tema@deganz.co.nz. Please include links to your work.
We will then review your application and email you to confirm that you have a place. Spaces are limited and applications will be reviewed as they are received.
Mark Jennings, co-editor of online news platform Newsroom, and former head of News at TV3, has penned an article on Discoveryโs plans for TV3.
As Jennings writes, after Discoveryโs merger with WarnerMedia., TV3 is now part of the second largest media business in the world after Disney. That in itself is a serious game changer for New Zealand.
TV3 has had an up and down history, moving from private ownership into the Canadian-owned hands of media conglomerate Canwest, before shifting to private equity ownership with Ironbridge Capital and then Oaktree Capital Management. Itโs financial fortunes also swung about, going from high profitability before plunging twice into receivership.
TVNZ and SKY in more recent times have kept TV3 impoverished but no longer.
Already the owner of NZโs Choice TV and HGTV and with six of its own channels on the SKY service, Discovery has, as Jennings points out, brought its might to bear on acquisitions by driving down the prices it pays for content for TV3. With staff cutbacks and other efficiencies, AUNZ GM for Discovery Glen Kyne told Jennings that the channel will be looking to more domestic shows as it competes with TVNZ and Prime in the domestic free-to-air market for viewers.
But what kinds of shows are they after? Kyne didnโt exactly reveal what they are looking for.
In April Juliet Peterson, former GM TVNZ Digital Content, was appointed as Senior Director, Programming at Three, while Australian Darren Chau was appointed Senior Director, Production. Chau has been in New Zealand recently having meetings with some New Zealand producers. Undoubtedly, others have been banging on Julietโs door. They are certainly looking for ideas.
With its merger with WarnerMedia, Discovery has moved from reality and factual into scripted film and TV as well, with an annual US$20 billion commissioning chestโbigger than Netflixโs. There has been speculation as to whether or not the new CEO of the combined organisation, David Zaslav, is going to adapt when it comes to scripted. This could well play out in TV3โs commissioning stance.
Supposedly, Three is looking for NZ content that can travel internationally as well. It will be interesting to see, though, whether or not the network will continue to rely primarily on NZ On Air and NZ Screen Production Grant funding to get content made in New Zealand. Hopefully, theyโll ante up more than low license fees and become equity investors in NZ shows that could go on one or more of the international distribution channels the newly-branded Warner Bros. Discovery conglomerate owns.
Will it be new beginnings for NZโs free-to-air market or just more of the same? Watch this space.
