An exciting update of DEGANZ member Loren Taylor‘s directorial debut: The Moon is Upside Down won Best First Feature Film at the PÖFF Tallinn Black Night Film Festival! The film screened in the First Feature Competition, a collection of first features by promising global talents.
The jury commented:
The film is a bittersweet, multi-layered combination of three stories intervending in a perfect way about people who try to find their place in the world. Shot magnificiously in the outbacks on a distant land in a very impressive and smart way, especially for a first feature.
Along with the accolade, Taylor won a grant of €5,000 to be shared with the film’s producers Phillipa Campbell and Georgina Conder.
PÖFF is one of 15 festivals with an International Federation of Film Producers Association credential. Other festivals in this A-list group include Cannes, Venice, and Berlin.
Keep an eye out for The Moon is Upside Down when it hits screens in Aotearoa in 2024.
http://degnz.sensedesign.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/TMIUD.jpg4561200admin/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/DEGANZ_logo_home.pngadmin2023-11-22 13:46:052023-11-22 13:46:05‘The Moon is Upside Down’ Wins at PÖFF
Script to Screen announced the 2024/23 FilmUp participants, with five of the eight being DEGANZ members. Writer/directors Pulkit Arora, Ella Gilbert (Incubator 2023), Maza White, and Harry Wynn, with 2019 Incubator alum Anna Rose Duckworth, will partake in the six-month professional development and mentorship programme.
FilmUp aims to aid filmmakers in taking the next step in their careers. Through the programme, participants are paired with an industry mentor to receive support for their feature film projects, currently in development. They will also attend three FilmUp Hubs, which include round tables, group workshops, and guest speakers.
Check out the DEGANZ members’ projects and bios below, or see the complete list of participants here.
Pulkit Arora
Soft – Feature Film
Pulkit is a writer-director from India based in New Zealand. After spending five years as a non-profit teacher and fundraiser for at-risk children in New Delhi, he transitioned to film with the AIB First Draft fellowship in 2016. One of 10 fellows selected from 4000+ applicants, he was then mentored in screenwriting by Indian National Award-winning filmmaker Satyanshu Singh. Since then, he has worked as a screenwriter for both series and feature film projects with Netflix India and Disney+Hotstar (Home Stories, This Is My Hood). He began directing his own work in 2020 with the short Milk Toffee, which screened at Tribeca Film Festival in 2021. His follow-up, Anu, premiered in the New Zealand’s Best section of NZIFF in 2023, winning him the Audience and Emerging Talent awards. It then screened in competition at the Melbourne International Film Festival and 13 others, winning Jury Mentions at IFFLA and Kaohsiung International Film Festival. He recently directed Sold, a short written by Shuchi Kothari and produced by Maoriland. His feature film Soft was supported by the Seed Grant in 2023.
Ella Gilbert (Rongowhakaata, Ngāti Kaipoho, Ngāti Kahungunu)
The Desert Road – Feature Film
Ella is an actor, acting coach, and filmmaker from Pukerua Bay. She is committed to making movies that centre on women and celebrate everyday people in Aotearoa. Ella discovered the joys of creating her own work whilst studying at Toi Whakaari. This year, she was selected for DEGANZ’s Emerging Women Directors Incubator and the Write Room Wellington, through which she completed draft one of her debut feature screenplay, The Desert Road. She was also the Director’s Attachment for Rob Sarkie on his feature film, PIKE. In 2022, her short film Mary Mary (funded by Someday Stories) was selected for the Clermont-Ferrand Festival (Short Film Market Picks 2023) and The Sydney Women’s International Film Festival. Her previous films, made on Super8mm, have screened and successfully competed in London, Portugal, Mumbai and Aotearoa.
Maza White
Ruptured – Feature Film
Maza is a writer and director with a rich multicultural perspective, weaving impactful storytelling into diverse narratives. Whether through comedy or drama, Maza draws from her personal experiences to shed light on poignant issues, focusing on those affecting women of colour. Originally from Iran, she earned First Class Honours for her Master’s in Creative Writing from AUT. Her NZFC-funded short film Daughter of God recently secured the Best Screenplay award at the Show Me Shorts Festival and was selected as one of six for NZIFF’s New Zealand’s Best. Currently managing a full writing slate alongside her commissioned TV writing contracts, she is deeply immersed in the development of multiple feature films and TV series across different genres, with the aim of directing some of these projects.
Harry Wynn
Zyzz (Working Title) – Feature Documentary
Harry is a filmmaker from Tāmaki Makaurau. His filmmaking journey began with the documentary Three Ticks Chlöe, produced by The Spinoff and Wrestler, about ChlöeSwarbrick’ss campaign for Auckland Central and the Cannabis Referendum. Young & Hooked on Chemsex, his second documentary, shed light on Auckland’s hidden world of methamphetamine-driven ” party and play’’ scenes. His third documentary, Shred, explored the teen bodybuilding community and the growing issue of ‘bigorexia’’ illuminating a global trend fuelled by platforms such as TikTok. Additionally, TVNZ has picked up Harry’s original concept docu-series, We’ve Always Been Here, which highlights Aotearoa’s queer history through comedy. He is currently developing a feature-length documentary focused on the world-famous bodybuilder and social media star Zyzz, with the support of development funding from Screen Australia.
Anna Rose Duckworth
Put a Baby in Me – Feature Film
Anna has worked in film and television for a decade, both in NYC and Auckland. She adds a distinctly Kiwi sense of humour and explores taboo or challenging themes. Anna has written and directed several short films, including NZFC-funded Pain – screened as part of 2020NZIFF’ssNZ’ss Best Programme, and has gone on to be selected at over 30 international festivals. Anna has also written and directed several self-funded short films: Full V (2021), selected for the Aesthetica Film Festival, and Mum Jeans, which screened at NZIFF 2018. Directing the comedy web series Psusy S2, she won the Best Episodic Jury Prize at the 2018 LA Film Festival. Off the back ofPsusy’ss success, she wrote and directed TVNZ-funded comedy web series Butt Dial. Recent highlights include being awarded an NZWG Seed Grant to develop the feature Put a Baby in Me about queer motherhood and winning the People’s Choice Award for her rom-com short Just Kidding I Actually Love You at Show Me Shorts 2023.
http://degnz.sensedesign.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/FilmUp.jpg4561200admin/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/DEGANZ_logo_home.pngadmin2023-11-22 13:44:472023-11-22 13:44:48FilmUp Features DEGANZ Members
Web series TransGenerations won Best Web Series at the Berlin Short Film Festival. The production’s core team is chock full of DEGANZ members, with Naashon Zalk as Producer and DOP, Jai Waite as Editor, and Ramon Te Wake as Executive Producer.
Since its release, the series has screened in a plethora of festivals ranging from the US, the UK, Canada, Australia, Korea, and now Germany.
The series platforms trans rights activists to share their stories and shine a light on trans experiences in Aotearoa. Across eight parts, trans people in their 20s to their 70s talk openly about their lives, identities, and passions, while discussing stereotypes, politics, and prejudice.
In the past few years, there has been an alarming international rise in anti-trans rhetoric, anti-trans violence and anti-trans legislation. We hope this series helps, in its own small way, to counterbalance that by showing the realities of what it means to be trans in this day and age.
http://degnz.sensedesign.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/TransGenerations-Berlin.jpg4561200admin/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/DEGANZ_logo_home.pngadmin2023-11-21 14:58:222023-11-21 14:58:22‘TransGenerations’ Wins at Berlin Short Film Festival
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
http://degnz.sensedesign.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!
Across the Tasman, the Australians are still pushing for a 20% levy on streamers, but you need to look to Europe to see what can be achieved by countries who truly understand the contribution that their own screen industries make to their creative, cultural and financial well-being.
Rather than write about it, I have included this table compiled by The imec-SMIT-VUB research group in September 2022 (the latest comprehensive data I could find). There’s a lot of food for thought here for SPADA and the rest of us.
