Show Me Shorts 2022: DEGANZ Best Director and Best Editor Winners

Congratulations are in order for the winners of the DEGANZ Best Director and DEGANZ Best Editor awards at the 2022 Show Me Shorts Film Festival. Best Director went to Brendan Canty for Atali’i O Le Crezent (Sons of the Crezent), while Richard Shaw took home the prize for Best Editor for his work on Breathe.

Stephen Kang’s Breathe follows a gifted twelve-year-old who develops an unorthodox healing method that propels her into conflict with her overbearing father.

The judges commented that “whilst cinematography, sound design and the compelling talent of the young lead actor all stand out, the key to this film’s achievement is its editing: it solidifies the film’s initial unease as an ever-growing force that triggers all the intended reactions in the audience.

“However, even more importantly so, it does not overshadow the film’s underlying main story line, the father and daughter relationship, and the negotiation thereof – it treads the very fine line that unites them both.”

Brendan Canty’s poetic dance film, Atali’i O Le Crezent (Sons of the Crezent) follows a young man as he recalls his youth and upbringing when his neighborhood is under threat from gentrification. Lead actor Villa Junior Lemanu also won the Toi Whakaari Best Actor award, and accepted the award on the director’s behalf as he was overseas.

The judges wrote that “Atali’i O Le Crezent (Sons of the Crezent) is directed, with a strong visual sense of surroundings and connection. This abstract narration of a young man’s changing life and community presents an original solo storytelling journey.

“Brendan Canty’s choice of location, choreography and trust in his actor takes the complexities of this young man’s sense of what has been and allows us into those memories using movement and solid character development. Through his direction we can engage in the internal mindset of a young Pacific Man and his emotional response to his changing life.”

Since 2009, the Guild has proudly sponsored both of these awards at Show Me Shorts, an Academy Awards-accredited festival.

See the full list of winners here.

Last updated on 20 October 2022

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Watch Beyond Conversion Doco on TVNZ+

From production company Eight, the powerful documentary film Beyond Conversion is available to watch on TVNZ+.

Produced by DEGANZ member Leanne Pooley and directed by Loren Prendiville, Beyond Conversion is an intimate look at the fight to ban conversion practices in Aotearoa.

The story is told through the voices of Kiwi survivors, who have laid themselves bare to shed light on the impacts of conversion practices. The film explores the complexities of this divisive issue, along with the spectrum of voices and opinions that came to light during the political process.

The documentary was produced via Eight’s The Story Department, which was launched in 2020 with an aim to tell stories about strong females, underrepresented voices, superhuman fighters and incredible achievers.

Beyond Conversion explores religious freedom, personal identity and the meaning of choice. Watch the trailer here.

Last updated on 19 October 2022

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Ms. Information Seeks Your Support

The documentary feature Ms. Information is running an all-or-nothing fundraising campaign on Boosted right now. Director Gwen Isaac and producing team Phillida Perry and Alex Reed would love your help to get this nearly finished film, Ms. Information, out into the world. The campaign finishes midday November 8, 2022.

In March 2020 Gwen found herself in the house of non-conforming microbiologist Siouxsie Wiles. Seeing a pandemic about to hit her adopted country, Siouxsie stepped into the public eye and spoke out to keep New Zealanders science-informed.

Ms. Information is the resulting documentary feature! The team followed Siouxsie’s story over two unrelenting years of public service. The film reveals a small nation under pressure, confronting a new type of leadership that excites, incites and polarizes.

Ms. Information traverses motherhood, misogyny, misinformation and identity through the lens of a pink-haired microbiologist who “just wants to give people information”.

The film is nearly finished so they are crowd-funding to get through the most expensive part, post-production. The team hopes you can find it in your heart – and pocket  – to support Ms. Information – a story about all of us in turbulent times. Your money will make all the difference.

You can donate here.

Good luck to Gwen and the team!

Last updated on 17 October 2022

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The Tortoise and the Hare

Select committee oral submissions are underway on the Aotearoa New Zealand Public Media Bill, which will ultimately become the act for the new entity ANZPM, combining TVNZ and RNZ.

There were 892 written submissions on the Bill. It was introduced to the House on the 23rd of June this year. With the new entity ANZPM intended to be up and running on 1 March 2023, this effectively means that the Third Reading of the Bill needs to be done before the end of the year. Six months in total in the House. Hare speed for such a complex and crucial piece of legislation.

Tortoise speed defines the passage of the Screen Industry Workers Bill in comparison. It was introduced into the house on the 18th of February 2020. It had its Third Reading on the 27th of September this year. Which means it’s a done deal. Yay!

Granted, COVID sat within the two and a half year passage of the SIWB. But what it gave us was two years of Film Industry Working Group effort to work through the many issues of moving thoughts, ideas and good intentions onto paper, and then into a two and a half-year government process to become legislation.

From watching a number of the oral submissions for the ANZPM Bill, it’s pretty clear that while most support it, very few think a good job has been done in coming up with the current proposed legislation under consideration. There’s so much wrong with what’s been put up—or more pertinently what’s lacking/missing from what’s been proposed—that it’s clear that a lot more time and careful thought is required to get it right.

Problem is, the Government is on a seeming agenda to get it through in case they lose the election, hence the 1 March 2023 start date for the new entity. So much money, time and effort will have been spent getting it done that it won’t make sense for the Opposition to reverse it if they come into Government late 2023.

This approach doesn’t serve the wider New Zealand media industry, including us in the screen sector, all of whom are nervous or quaking at the thought of ANZPM as the behemoth it will become.

The attitude from Government seems to be: trust us and trust the new media entity. All will be okay. And TVNZ smiles and says it promises to play nicely and look after us all as it licks its chops at the thought of being able to go its merry commercial way as a bigger, richer beast.

The hare is definitely getting across the line first in this particular race. The tortoise… here’s hoping it doesn’t end up in the summer sun, wondering how it’s going to right itself while being picked over by vultures.

The only thing we can pray for now is that in the remaining months a significant effort goes into rewriting the current draft into something that’s going to work for public media service and the sustainability of the independent media sector.

A big ask.

 

Tui Ruwhiu
Executive Director

Last updated on 7 October 2022

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Jochen FitzHerbert Edits Rings of Power Episode 6

Episode 6 of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, edited by DEGANZ member Jochen FitzHerbert, was released on Amazon Prime in the weekend.

Titled Udûn, the sixth episode has been hailed as one of the best of the season so far. Andy Welch of The Guardian called it a fantastic episode “with giant orcs, astonishing action sequences and the best CGI ever seen on screen”. Well done to Jochen for working his magic in the edit suite and weaving together the episode.

In our guest blog series How I Got Started in the Industry, Jochen talks about how he made the jump from assistant editor to editor and how making long lasting connections is extremely important in this industry. He edited the international Emmy winning series INSiDE, which also won him a Webfest Award for Best Editing.

The last two episodes of Season 1 of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power will be released within the next couple of weeks.

Last updated on 19 October 2022

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