DEGANZ Watch List: Across Genres and Generations

DEGANZ members have been keeping busy! This Watch List features new work across music, drama, children’s content, and factual, showcasing work that crosses genres and generations.

From a striking new music video and a whimsical children’s series to a quietly intense feature trailer and the return of a competitive equestrian web series, these recent releases highlight the diversity of voices and formats shaping the local screen landscape right now.

Chemistry

Music Video

Director & Editor: Gwen Lin

New song and music video from local artist Tyrun.

 

Moss & Freud

Drama Feature Trailer

Film Editor: Nick Carew

The newly released trailer offers a glimpse of the film’s quiet intensity and teases the charged dialogue and growing trust between Moss and Freud.  Set in London in 2002, the film follows Moss at the height of her fame as she agrees to sit for the notoriously private Lucian Freud. Over months of sittings in his studio, the encounter becomes far more than a portrait commission, evolving into a deep creative exchange that challenged both artist and muse.

 

Mr. Hugo’s Little Library

Kids Series

Director: Caroline Bell-Booth

Join Mr Hugo (aka Hugo Grrrl) in his eccentric library for a spectacle of storytelling! With Mr Hugo’s bookwork bestie, Dewey, each episode invites young viewers inside the magical books where they’ll find a world of larger-than-life characters, incredible outfits, hilarious lip-syncing, and show-stopping songs.

 

Young Riders (season 6)

Factual Web Series

Post Director: Carolyn Sylvester

Young Riders returns with a brand new series, following Aotearoa’s most talented young showjumpers as they compete to reach top rankings in the 2025/26 season. Fans can expect a mix of familiar faces – including hilarious breakout stars Wiremu and Tama – as well as three debuting riders, all vying to be top of the leaderboard.

 

Last updated on 23 April 2026

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Spare A Thought For Production… But Not at The Expense of Crew

View from the Top banner

Petrol and diesel are inescapable costs for production.

It doesn’t matter if it’s a two-person crew with a director, or a 3-500 crew on an international show; they all need fuel, particularly diesel.

Gaffer, grip, and unit trucks, four wheel drives, SUVs, vans, personal cars—all those production vehicles clock up the mileage, and the IRD rate of approximately $1.20 isn’t cutting it any more.

I just filled up my 4WD, and it was $3.99 a litre for diesel.

Productions, whether in planning, prep, or underway, will be looking sideways at their contingency and overhead and at ways to cut costs. And of course, thought will turn to cast and crew rates and how to squeeze them.

Collectively negotiated agreements under the Screen Industry Workers Act, should we achieve them, will provide some protection for cast and crew in this case, and any other. Production will not be able to go below the base negotiated rate, preventing the worst cases of exploitation. So the old chestnut of: “If you won’t accept this terrible offer, we’ll find someone else,” will be harder to pull off, because the occupational negotiated base rate will apply to everybody. In other words, there will be a floor that will be impossible to go below. And it won’t just be base rates that will be negotiated. Occupational terms and conditions will also be on the table for discussion.

Collective agreements will help to deal with the cowboy producers and productions. And there are a few. We are fortunate, though, that most producers try to do the best they can for those who work for them.

We are all facing an uphill battle right now, which has been made worse by the Middle East situation. Rising costs were an issue before that mess happened. And will remain so even if a way through that disaster is found.

New Zealand’s funding bodies are going to have to factor all of this in going forward. Production budgets will rise, and not just because of the cost of petrol and diesel. There are myriad other things that have gotten costlier.

In the meantime, spare a thought for your producer, line producer, and production manager who are grappling with how to make budgets work right now. Just make sure you are not the one paying for it.

 

Tui Ruwhiu
Executive Director

 

Last updated on 9 April 2026

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McClymont Wins the Axis Emerging Talent Award

Congratulations to DEGANZ member Liv McClymont, who recently won the Emerging Talent Award at the Axis Awards in March!

Hosted by the Commercial Communications Council, the Axis Awards highlight creative excellence in the advertising and marketing industry. It celebrates, showcases, and rewards outstanding work that combines strategy, insight, and craft in advertising.

Liv’s win highlights her growing body of work and impact in advertising. In 2025, she signed with the independent production studio, Supernormal. Since then, she has directed Qantas’ Connecting Kiwis and Aussies campaign. Her other TVC work includes the 2degrees campaign NOtifications to promote digital well-being. Outside of commercials, Liv has also directed documentaries,  I Stand for Consent and The Man Outside, as well as the dramedy web series The Sender. Through her work, she has established herself as a rising, vibrant voice in both the commercial and narrative spaces.

 

Last updated on 9 April 2026

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Maire’s ‘Flock’ Flies to Beverly Hills

DEGANZ member Harriett Maire‘s latest short film, Flock, is heading to Hollywood for the Beverly Hills Film Festival this April.

Written and directed by Harriett and produced by Film Construction, the film was made in collaboration with Media Design School, with an array of visual effects created by the senior cohort of students.

Set in a small coastal town in Aotearoa, the film parallels the journey of a young woman arriving in an unfamiliar place with the migratory journey of the bar-tailed godwit. It tells a quiet and emotionally grounded story about connection, movement, and finding your place.

Harriett shared with M+AD!,

I’m drawn to stories about people finding their place. The godwit’s journey is extraordinary, but it’s also instinctive. There’s something very human in that. We wanted the emotional truth of the performance to sit comfortably alongside the scale of the animation.

Congratulations, Harriett! We look forward to seeing where Flock flies next.

 

Last updated on 9 April 2026

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‘Taiarahia: Te Kākahu Tawhito’ Wins Rimu Award at Māoriland

This year’s Māoriland Film Festival wrapped on 28 March with DEGANZ member Nicholas Te Hiko O Te Rangi Riini‘s Taiarahia: Te Kākahu Tawhito taking home the Rimu Award – People’s Choice for Best Feature Documentary. Fellow members Kim Webby and Mike Jonothan (on left) also worked on the doco as Executive Producer and Director of Photography, respectively.

Taiarahia: Te Kākahu Tawhito revisits the 1985 protest and occupation of the sacred mountain Taiarahia in the Ruatoki valley. When their sacred maunga was threatened to be stripped of its ancient native forest and replanted with pine for financial gain, the people of Te Māhurehure hapū stood up to protect the land. Forty years later, Taiarahia: Te Kākahu Tawhito reflects on that stand as a powerful reminder that the value of whenua, whakapapa and kotahitanga will always outweigh the value of a dollar.

It premiered at Māoriland as a feature documentary, but will be released on RNZ later this year as a docuseries. You can follow the project’s journey on social media on Instagram and Facebook.

Last updated on 9 April 2026

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