DEGANZ Members at Māoriland

Many DEGANZ members’ mahi have been selected to show during the 2024 Māoriland Film Festival!

This year marks the biggest one yet for the festival with 168 films and video works from over 130 Indigenous nations. The festival will take place in Ōtaki on the Kapiti Coast across five days in late March.

Congratulations to the members selected!

Kokako

Directed by Douglas Brooks

An aspiring ornithologist is forced to process the loss of her grandmother while isolated in the South Island bush as she looks for the thought-to-be-extinct kokako bird.

Maggie

Directed by Cian Elyse White

In 1923, Te Arawa was the first Māori woman to complete her doctorate at Oxford University in England. 100 years later, her granddaughter honours her by painting a 24ft mural in the heart of Rotorua CBD.

Lea Tupu’anga / Mother Tongue

Directed by Vea Mafile’o

Katherine, a young speech therapist of Tongan and European heritage lies about her Tongan language skills to get a job with an elderly Tongan patient who has lost his ability to speak English. When communication breaks down, Katherine must find a way to communicate with her patient or risk jeopardising his health and her career.

Inky Pinky Ponky

Co-directed by Ramon Te Wake

A young fakaleiti (Tongan trans woman) must navigate her way through the world of rugby players, Island mums, gender fluidity, and teenage micro-aggressions to find happiness in an unexpected place.

What’s the Disabili-Tea: Misty Frequency

Directed by Justin Scott (Board Member)

Co-produced by Robyn Paterson (Board President)

Misty Frequency is a non-binary, takatāpui, pansexual drag performer, fashion designer, and make-up artist living in Tāmaki Makaurau. As they prepare for a performance for Drag Wars, a drag competition with $500 on the line, they also process a new diagnosis for Autism.

Hey Brainy Man

Co-directed by Loren Taylor

Co-produced by Jaimee Poipoi (Incubator 2023)

A group of evolutionary losers give humankind a performance appraisal. They love Homo Sapiens’ achievements but want to make sure we don’t mess the world up too much in the process.

Maunga Cassino

Directed by Paolo Rotondo

A battle-hardened Māori soldier and an Italian deserter both find shelter in an abandoned stable in WWII Italy. Despite the circumstances they meet, the connection between the two is not lost.

Māori Time

Directed by Tim Worrall

While caught in a full-blown, alpha-male, mid-life crisis, Quinn has to confront his fear of death and abandonment when an ancient skull is unearthed by builders on the building site of his new grandiose house.

Daisy Does Lunch

Co-produced by Jaimee Poipoi (Incubator 2023)

An unsuspecting Danni is lured to a seemingly chill lunch with her social hockey teammates, only to find a messy intervention where each guest has their own agenda. Tensions rise, noses break, and friendships are tested when Danni has to ask herself if she’s really okay.

 

Check out the festival’s full schedule or watch the trailer for a sneak peek!

Last updated on 15 February 2024

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Te Wake Celebrates Community in ‘The Boy, The Queen and Everything in Between’

DEGANZ member Ramon Te Wake‘s new series The Boy, The Queen and Everything in Between is out now.

The series, co-directed, co-produced, and written by Ramon, follows Jacob, a young father fresh out of prison and in desperate need of a job. Dire circumstances push him to seek out his estranged father Max, Aotearoa’s most famous drag queen. While the titular boy and queen’s relationship is the show’s focal point, the show also delves into the Karangahape Road club Max runs and the community within and around it.

Ramon shares in an interview with Stuff that the series is a love letter to her community,

K’ Road will always be a source of inspiration for me for anything I do.

With Ramon at the helm, the production also prioritised authentic casting, wanting the queer roles to be “of lived experience.” Ramon has always been and continues to be a massive advocate for authentic representation of queer people on screen.

Celebrate K’ Road and the queer community with Ramon by watching The Boy, The Queen and Everything in Between on TVNZ+.

Last updated on 12 February 2024

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‘PleasureDora’ Needs a Boost

Mark Prebble (DEGANZ) and the PleasureDora team are crowdfunding $10,000 to finish post-production on the short film.

The film questions meaningful connection in the age of AI and machine learning with the titular PleasureDora, a glitchy sex bot at the end of her shelf life. In her final service with lonely customer Colin, both man and robot confront mortality, their desire to reach their full potential, and authentic connection.

So far, the team has shot and edited the short. With this final stretch of funding, they will be able to finish the last stages of post-production to make the film as cinematic as possible. They plan to dedicate the funds to colour grading, visual effects, sound design, and music composition.

They’ll also use the remaining budget to work with Festival Formula to devise a festival strategy and to cover a few festival submission fees.

If you’d like to check out the project and the team’s mahi, you can check out their Boosted campaign here!

Last updated on 12 February 2024

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The Cost of Screening

View from the Top banner

Greetings from DEGANZ for 2024!

Currently overseas on a personal trip and headed back as I write this. I’ve had a couple of goes at this op-ed but still felt I wasn’t getting the tone right.

As I reflect back on what has passed and what we face in 2024, it’s hard not to be pessimistic.

The global screen industry has undergone seismic shifts and continues to do so. These have long-term impacts for us as a domestic screen industry. Yet, we seem to move so slowly in adapting to those changes here in New Zealand that we are constantly forced to play catch-up. And we’re not catching up.

At the same time, we face a year of economic challenges that’s pushed Arts and Culture off the government agenda—with a government that doesn’t have an Arts and Culture policy.

The Minister of Finance has just announced the cuts expected across all ministries, including a 7.5% cut to the Ministry of Culture and Heritage’s spending. This on top of the belt-tightening that’s underway at the NZ Film Commission now.

NZFC has just released  a draft strategy for review. On the face of it, it seems to have some positives, but like all strategic plans that don’t outline concrete tactical objectives, it is widely open to interpretation. We shall have to wait and see. All the screen orgs are preparing their feedback now, including us.

At a certain level, there is ongoing funding available for domestic production, albeit at budgets that remain low across all genres in film and TV. At the same time in the last two years alone, the cost of living in New Zealand rose 7.4% in the 2021 – 2022 year, and 7.2% this last year.

Most directors and editors rates have moved little in the last 10 – 15 years. Crew rates meanwhile have increased with the introduction of the techos guild’s new rate card. While international productions can afford these rates, domestic productions are finding it difficult, particularly in film. This will worsen when the competition for crew increases. It’s clear that there aren’t going to be increases in funding for our funding bodies, so who’s going to pay? Or do we still expect everybody to do it for the love?

On the positive side, the NZ Screen Production Rebate for domestic TV productions now allows for both the rebate and funding body funding for all genres. But the requirement for a free-to-air broadcast either up front or at some point still significantly hinders our ability to capitalise on global opportunities.

Another positive is that international production shooting in New Zealand is on the up. That is good news, especially as our international rebate at 20 – 25% is no longer directly competitive with many other countries.

It’s also good that SPADA has finally woken up to the need for a levy on streamers. Many other countries already have them in place. The joint effort recently announced by SPADA and other international producer associations to drive streamer levies is encouraging. Read here.

I was always of the belief that with great change comes great opportunity. You only have to look at the Australian screen sector to see that’s true there—even with the lower number of streamer commissions there now, the Aussie industry is buoyant.

For us though more concerned with domestic NZ production, if our funding bodies and we don’t find other sources of revenue for making NZ films and programmes, sooner or later the question has to come: Are we going to continue to make a lot for a little, or are we going to fund things appropriately but at much smaller numbers?

2024 is not going to be easy for NZ’s domestic production sector, but there will undoubtedly be rays of hope amidst the gloom we are facing.

 

Tui Ruwhiu
Executive Director

 

Last updated on 1 February 2024

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DEGANZ Members Investigate ‘Black Coast Vanishings’

DEGANZ members dive into the mysterious disappearances in Piha with new true-crime docuseries, Black Coast Vanishings. Megan Jones (DEGANZ) co-directed the series with Candida Beveridge, while, board member Margot Francis was one of the editors. Additionally, fellow member Alyx Duncan directed the series’ dramatisations.

The four-part limited series works to uncover if there’s a link between six missing person cases from the small coastal town over the past 30 years. While some of the disappearances were thoroughly investigated at the time, others were not and were deemed caused by the hostile natural environment. Despite the police reports, many locals believe there is something more sinister going on in the community.

The show investigates both the past and present, shedding light on new allegations from several women who survived encounters with threatening men.

Since its release, Black Coast Vanishings has made a strong impression, inciting public pressure for police to reexamine some of the closed cases from the area.

Well done to Megan, Margot, and Alyx on the series’ successful release!

Last updated on 30 January 2024

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