DEGANZ Members Selected for 44th HIFF

The full selection of films for the 44th running of Hawai’i International Film Festival (HIFF) has been announced, 10 of which feature DEGANZ members.

The festival will include 92 features and 114 short films, with the largest selection of Hawai’i films in competition in the festival’s history. HIFF will present multiple films that explore Indigenous perspectives, narrative sovereignty, and the nurturing of cultural identity. Additionally, HIFF is launching a new spotlight showcasing the best in television.

Feature Films

Tinā

HIFF’s opening film this year!

Struggling after the death of her daughter in the Christchurch earthquakes, Mareta reluctantly takes on a role as a substitute teacher at an elite private school and is surprised to find children in desperate need of guidance, inspiration, and love.

Editor: Luke Haigh

Grafted

When a brilliant but disfigured Chinese scholarship student is shunned by her fellow classmates at a prestigious New Zealand university, she decides to achieve the popularity she so desperately craves by putting her science studies to a new and terrifying use.

Director: Sasha Rainbow

Writers: Mia Maramara, Hweiling Ow, Sasha Rainbow, & Lee Murray

Ka Whawhai Tonu – Struggle Without End

Set in 1864 in Waikato, the film tells the story of a pivotal battle in the first land wars between Māori and Colonial forces through the eyes of two teenagers. Amidst the chaos and violence of the conflict, the two forge an unlikely friendship and take control of their destiny.

Editors: Te Rurehe Paki & Martin Brinkler (ACE)

Writer: Tim Worrall

Marimari

Paul Wolffram’s urgent documentary takes us into the remote highlands of Papua New Guinea and one Indigenous woman’s fight against the insidious influence of sanguma – sorcery violence.

Editor: Annie Collins

The Mountain

Sam, a young girl raised outside of her Māori culture, is determined to connect with her mountain in the hope of curing her cancer. Along the way, she meets misfits Mallory and Bronco, each on their own missions. As they journey further off the beaten track, they learn the true spirit of adventure and the magic of friendship.

Co-Editor: Cushla Dillon

Short Films

Chatterbox

Today is the first day of Tui’s dream life. She snuggles in bed with her well-meaning paakeha (white) boyfriend, Edward. Everything’s perfect until her vagina, Teke, calls him a loser.

Editor: Amarbir Singh

First Horse

It’s 1826, and Aotearoa is on the cusp of colonisation. A young Māori girl’s encounter with a dying man and his horse exposes her to the best and worst of her rapidly changing world.

Editor: Cushla Dillon

Honey Kaha

Dr Julia Love welcomes you on a journey to rediscover her infamous TV character Honey Kaha, an Indigenous action legend who wages war on colonisation and oppression – in the form of seafood poachers who steal her son’s favourite delicacy! Honey Kaha is going to find the stolen seafood and bring the sinister villain to justice.

Writer/Director: Te Waiarangi Ratana (MIFF 2024)

Lea Tupu’anga/Mother Tongue

A young speech therapist who has lied about her language skills to get a job must find a new way to communicate when she is assigned to an elderly Tongan patient with aphasia who can no longer speak English.

Director: Vea Mafile’o (MIFF 2024)

Teine

Tala, a devoted daughter navigates the burdens of being the eldest daughter in a Samoan household. Faced with a pivotal decision, she must choose between her duty to her family or the pursuit of her own personal dreams.

Director: Giselle Ilaoa

Turning The Tide – Mātauranga-Led Restoration

Our marine environment is facing enormous pressure from human activities such as excess sediment, nutrients, and plastic pollution, along with impacts at sea from commercial and recreational fishing, aquaculture, extraction of natural resources, introduction of non-indigenous species, and coastal development. These cumulative stressors are being made worse by a changing climate, leading to increased ocean acidification, sea-level rise, and sea-surface temperatures. Turning the Tide: Mātauranga-led Restoration highlights the work of researchers as they pool their knowledge and resources to improve the health of the seas around Aotearoa New Zealand. In Ōhiwa Harbour, Kura Paul-Burke of the University of Waikato is working with doctoral and undergraduate students Kiri Reihana, Megan Ranapia, Te Amai Moana Paul-Burke and Te Waikamihi Lambert to research and restore mussel beds in a Mātauranga-led approach.

Director: Magnolia Lowe

Editor: Amanda Mulderry

Producer: Tui Ruwhiu

 

Congratulations to everyone involved in the selected films!

Last updated on 17 September 2024

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Shingade’s ‘Blue Lights’ Follows a Theatre Show’s Drama On and Off the Stage

DEGANZ member Bala Murali Shingade‘s one-take short film Blue Lights is out on YouTube.

The real-time drama witnesses the unravelling of a theatre show and the consequences of seeking personal glory. In the middle of the show, an unfavourable review drives a young actor’s ambition and insecurities to cause disaster for his troupe. Delivered in one take, the film takes audiences along for the ride revealing the characters’ drama both on and off the stage.

Bala, who comes from both a film and theatre background, wrote, directed, and edited the short. The film was produced by Joyce Wong for Bala’s production company Rocket Park Productions.

The release marks the one year anniversary of the project’s filming as part of the 2023 Toi Film programme. The initiative is a final-year multi-disciplinary production project that partners Toi Whakaari students with some of the local industry’s top emerging and mid-career filmmakers. This round’s films will premiere at The Embassy Theatre in Wellington on 7 November.

You can check out the film on Rocket Park Production’s YouTube channel now!

 

Last updated on 11 September 2024

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Murray Assist Edits on ‘Breaking Silence’

This news piece contains references to domestic violence. Please proceed with care.

DEGANZ member Benjamin Murray was an assistant editor for season 3 of the documentary series Breaking Silence.

The series investigates allegations of systemic failings of  New Zealand’s Family Court in the context of women and children fleeing a violent partner. With each episode highlighting a different case, the show brings together many voices to enforce its main message that abuse thrives in secrecy. By sharing these personal stories, the series challenges the beliefs that allow abuse to continue and encourages the community to call out abuse when they see signs of it. It stresses the importance of awareness and the need to actively intervene, showing that breaking the cycle of abuse requires both the bravery of survivors and the involvement of everyone around them.

You can find all seasons of the show on Māori+ and TP+.

Last updated on 11 September 2024

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All Aboard for NZ Web Fest

DEGANZ members are dominating this year’s NZ Web Fest! Check out the 16 projects below with 24 members involved as directors, editors, and producers.

This year marks the 24th annual run of the festival. It celebrates international online content, including podcasts, short films, and web series.

Short Films (Documentary)

Taurewarewa

Editor: Amanda Mulderry

Short Films (Narrative)

Behind the White Wall

Writer/Director: Suenghoon Sung

Producer: Joshua Siu

Dive

Director: Tyler Redmond

For Thom

Writer/Director: Rafa Yam

Editor: Guillaume Arnoulet

Heatbeat

Director: Amelia Addis

Monster State

Director: Julie Zhu

Editor: Isaiah Tour

The Balloon

On her birthday, an earnest, young girl finds unexpected solace when her mother seemingly fails to make any plans.

Writer/Director: James Fink-Jensen

The Polycees

Writer/Director & Editor: Celia Jaspers

Wilbert Wire

Writer/Director & Editor: Ricky Townsend

Web Series (Factual)

TE ARA the Path

Holly Beckham (Ngāpuhi) is on a mission to be the first Māori woman to scale Everest. She has no alpine experience, but she has survived the depths of addiction and is climbing a mountain to recovery. Back in 1988, New Zealand’s Lydia Bradey, ONZM, was the first woman to climb Everest without supplemental oxygen. But instead of accolades, she became the subject of public bullying and misinformation, as people challenged her claims.

Together these two ‘wāhine toa’ (warrior women) venture into New Zealand’s mountains, developing a deep partnership of trust, honesty and grit as they attempt to summit Holly’s first peak, the iconic Tititea, Mt Aspiring.

Director: Alexis Smith

The Turning Point

The Turning Point follows a new generation of kaitiaki who value the well-being of their whenua. From north to south, they’re helping their communities protect and connect with Aotearoa’s natural environment despite the very real anxieties of the climate crisis.  They have only one thing on their minds: to make a difference!

Director: Steph Miller

Turning The Tide

The Turning the Tide six-part short documentary series highlights the work of researchers, kaitiaki, and community members as they pool their knowledge and resources to improve the health of the seas around Aotearoa New Zealand.

Director: Magnolia Lowe

Editor: Amanda Mulderry

Producer: Tui Ruwhiu

Web Series (Narrative)

ADHD & Me

Director: Michelle Ang (Incubator 2020)

Co-editor: Jack Brown

Ahikāroa

Co-editor: Jack Woon

Writer & Storyliner: Onehou Strickland

The Creature

Stuck in the online dating rut of endlessly swiping with no results, Aidan is ecstatic when he matches with his ‘dream man’. However, to leave for his date, Aidan must face the perturbed Creature lurking in the shadows of his home.

Writer/Director: Jake Tabata

Producer: Isabelle (Izzi) Hoskyn

Well Well Wellness

A comedy web series that follows a silent retreat run by some well-meaning but hopeless wellness gurus. It follows the bumbling owners trying to save their haven, the mystic teachers who aren’t as deep as they seem, and the assorted mix of weird, wonderful, and worrisome retreatants who come to stay, find peace, or otherwise.

Director: Jack Nicol

 

Congratulations to all those selected!

 

Last updated on 12 September 2024

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‘Dame Valerie Adams: MORE THAN GOLD’ Now Streaming

Edited by DEGANZ board member Margot Francis and produced by Leanne Pooley (DEGANZ), Dame Valerie Adams: MORE THAN GOLD is now on NEON and Sky Go.

The 90-minute film tells the inspirational story of Olympic champion, Kiwi icon, Tongan leader, mother, daughter, sister, and survivor Dame Valerie Adams. She shares her story with profound honesty and vulnerability which is rare among professional athletes. Both funny and gut-wrenching, Dame Valerie shows us what it means to be a world-class competitor and someone for whom winning means more than gold. The documentary speaks to anyone who has faced hardship, loss, or pursued a dream.

After releasing in cinemas in 2022, Dame Valerie Adams: MORE THAN GOLD was selected for the International Oceanian Documentary Film Festival (FIFO) 2023. The feature documentary went on to win 1st Special Jury and the Youth Jury Awards, winning a total of 700,000 XPF (about NZ$10,000).

Available to watch on NEON or Sky Go now!

Last updated on 11 September 2024

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