DEGANZ Watch List: In Case You Missed It… Motel Murders and Sex Robots

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In case you missed it… Here are some recent works from DEGANZ members that dropped over the holiday period.

First up is NZ on Air’s latest crime drama, Blue Murder Motel, with DEGANZ member Josh Frizzell as one of the directors of the premiere season.

Quirky sci-fi short PleasureDora, directed and edited by fellow member Mark Prebble, has just been released online. This follows a successful run on the festival circuit, which finished in November 2025 with awards for Best International Film and Best Actor at Reel East Texas Film Festival.

Check them out below.

Blue Murder Motel

Crime Drama Series

Director: Josh Frizzell

When an Aussie cop couple trade their badges for a quiet life managing a beachside motel in New Zealand, they plan to leave police work behind them – that is, until crime comes to them!

 

PleasureDora

Drama Short Film

Director & Editor: Mark Prebble

A glitchy AI love companion from the ‘semi-mature’ range and her lonely final customer confront mortality, second chances, and life on the scrap heap.

 

Last updated on 29 January 2026

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Vale Aroha Awarau

It is with deep sadness that we mark the death of DEGANZ member Aroha Awarau, who passed away peacefully on 14 January 2026 in hospice after a short battle with cancer.

Aroha joined DEGANZ in 2025 and was selected to participate in the Melbourne International Film Festival’s Accelerator Lab as one of seven directors from Aotearoa to attend with the Guild. He began his career as a journalist and a playwright and quickly became known and respected for highlighting Māori perspectives in current affairs. In 2015, he made his screen debut as a writer with his short film Home, followed by Disrupt in 2021. His more recent screen works include Puti (2025), which screened at Whānau Mārama NZIFF’s Ngā Whanaunga Aotearoa: New Zealand’s Best short film programme. At the time of his passing, Aroha was developing his first feature film, Hidden, a story about human trafficking in Auckland, which he wrote during the screenwriting accelerator at Māoriland. He was also writing Redemption League, a feature about a troubled and disgraced rugby league star who finds purpose and redemption in prison.

Aroha will be at Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Te Kōtuku (92 Simpson Road, Ranui, Auckland 0614) on Thursday, 15 January and Friday, 16 January during the updated open times of 8am, 10am, and 12pm. All are welcome to join and pay final respects.

Moe mai rā ki a Aroha Awarau.

 

Last updated on 29 January 2026

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