Kuek Announced as Recipient of Every Voice Initiative

Well done to our member Becky Kuek, who has just been announced as a recipient of the very first Every Voice initiative, run by NZ On Air, Screen Australia, and Tik Tok. Becky has received funding for her 10-part scripted comedy series Long x Xia, which she will be co-writing and co-directing alongside Gwen Lin.

Long x Xia follows Ruby and CJ (a.k.a Long and Xia), two cousins who find themselves embracing the vigilante life after hijacking a live lobster from a Chinese restaurant.

Every Voice is aimed at supporting “diverse and distinct creators” to create innovative content exclusively for the platform TikTok. Four teams from New Zealand have been chosen and three from Australia. Each team receives up to AUD $50,000 to cover development and production costs for their projects. In addition to this funding, recipients like Becky will participate in virtual workshops to develop their storytelling skills, and learn how to create the best content for TikTok.

Amie Mills, Head of Funding for NZ On Air says they are “thrilled to support each of the talented emerging creative teams to tell their unique stories, in their own voices, in authentic and exciting new ways.”

Lee Naimo, Screen Australia’s Head of Online, sees exciting potential in supporting the development of these projects; “These distinct scripted and documentary series all reflect one of the greatest strengths of TikTok – that it is a platform for creators to connect with audiences and build their online communities.”

Last updated on 16 November 2021

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NZIFF 2021: Akuhata-Brown Announced as NZ’s Best 2021 Jury Award Winner

Congratulations to director Kath Akuhata-Brown (DEGANZ) for receiving the Vista Group Award for Best Short Film for Washday. Kath shares the award and cash prize of $7,500 with director Josephine Stewart-Te Whiu, who won for the film When We Were Kids.

Kath’s film Washday is the story of eight-year-old Hine who mourns for her mother. When her father is busy working, Hine devises a plan to relieve him of his sadness.

The jurors for this year were filmmakers Annie Collins (DEGANZ) and Gaysorn Thavat (DEGANZ), and Matthew Liebmann from Vista Group. The judges called both Akuhata-Brown and Stewart-Te Whiu’s films “very accomplished works of art”, which “demonstrated the best craft” and the “most fully realised storytelling”.

This year marks the tenth anniversary of New Zealand’s Best short film competition. See the full list of winners on NZIFF’s website.

Last updated on 16 November 2021

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Educators: The Craft of the Laugh – Online

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Comedy isn’t just canned laughter and superficial gags, it has depth and the ability to reveal home truths about ourselves and human nature.

To close the year, director Jesse Griffin and editor Stuart Boone join DEGANZ to discuss the fascinating process of writing, directing and editing the hit, unscripted comedy series Educators. Discover how to mine a scene for golden nuggets of truth, how to find the funniest moments in the edit suite and bring order to improvised comedy. As the duo admits, “It’s like putting together a jigsaw puzzle except the pieces have nothing on them…”

Join us on Zoom on Tuesday 23 November from 7:30 – 9pm.

Members/Non-members – Free
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Educators

Set behind the scenes of an ordinary Kiwi secondary school, this unscripted comedy series follows the hopelessly and hilariously inept people in charge of educating the next generation. Created by Jesse Griffin, Jackie van Beek and Jonathan Brugh, and made with the support of NZ On Air. Available on TVNZ OnDemand.

About Jesse Griffin

Jesse started doing sketch comedy while at Otago University in the early 90’s with Duncan Sarkies, Te Radar and Aaron Watson. After training in physical theatre at the John Bolton School in Melbourne in 1995, he formed the comedy trio the 4 Noels and performed throughout Australia, the UK and NZ until 2007. Jesse began performing country music character Wilson Dixon in 2004, performing live and on televised galas throughout NZ, Australia and the UK, along with a series for BBC Radio and a TVNZ comedy special.

He was the creative exec producer, writer and director for Comedy For Cure Kids from 2012 to 2015 making the song “Feel Inside” with the FOTC amongst other things. He has acted, written and directed for TV since 2010. His credits include 7 Days, Jono and Ben, Would I Lie To You, Word Up, Have You Been Paying Attention, Funny Girls, Educators, Last at 11, 800 Words, and Talkback.

About Stuart Boone

Stuart Boone is an accomplished television editor with over 25 years experience. Specialising in factual and documentary series, Stu is sought after for his skill at crafting story with humanity and humour.

He has a long line of credits including New York Festivals 2020 award-winning unscripted comedy series Educators, Grand Designs series 3-5, Forensics NZ, Making New Zealand, My Big Blue Backyard, Channel 4 UK’s Orangutan Jungle School, Animal Planet’s Redwood Kings, as well as The NZ Film Commission’s 100 Men.

Last updated on 15 November 2021

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Members Involved in Latest TVNZ Cold Case Episode

The real-life crime-solving series Cold Case is back with another instalment, with the latest episode edited by DEGANZ board member Steven Chow and reconstructions directed by member Michael Duignan. Cold Case offers viewers a rare opportunity to follow and help the New Zealand Police as they reassess some of our most chilling unsolved murders.

The latest episode looks into the case of 34-year-old Timothy Pridding, who mysteriously vanished from Dunedin in 1994. Following the episode’s premiere on Tuesday on TV 2, the Police received an influx of tip-offs, which the Police are now reviewing.

Watch the episode on TVNZ OnDemand.

Last updated on 12 November 2021

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Freshwater Wins Sun Jury Prize at imagineNATIVE

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Congratulations to Matasila Freshwater (DEGANZ) for winning the Sun Jury Prize at this year’s imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival. The prize was won for her work as director and writer on Hiama, an “amazing reclamation of the horror genre through a Solomon Islands lens.”

Hiama tells the story of a teenage girl and her Hiama (shamanic guardian spirit), who teaches her to invoke her inner power when she encounters racism and microaggressions at her high school.

Matasila spoke of her motives for telling this story, which included the desire to subvert the traditionally Euro-centric horror genre. Matasila observed how in the horror genre “blackness and darkness was something to be fearful of.” By subverting this narrative, she instead makes blackness “empowering”.

The episode is part of the wider series Teina Sā: The Ancient Ones, which centers around stories of modern day issues that impact Pasifika women. Matasila’s award-winning episode is available to watch for free on The CoconetTV’s Youtube channel.

See the full list of the 2021 imagineNATIVE award winners here.

Last updated on 18 November 2021

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