Strong DEGANZ Presence in 2026 imagineNATIVE Selection

The imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival has unveiled its 2026 programme, with six projects from DEGANZ members selected for this year’s line-up.

Recognised as the world’s largest festival dedicated to Indigenous screen content, imagineNATIVE returns to Toronto from 2–7 June, followed by an online programme running 8–14 June. This year marks the festival’s 26th iteration and features works representing 56 Indigenous Nations across 20 countries.

The 2026 programme is centred on creating space for urgent dialogue while championing stories of resistance, solidarity and truth-telling. This year’s theme also emphasises Indigenous knowledge systems as vital pathways toward a more sustainable future and a shared sense of humanity.

Check out the DEGANZ members and their mahi below:

I Duok om I Bohuntung – The Owl and the Rainbow

Short Film Programme: Parenting Under Pressure

Director: Jo Luping

Writer: Lynda Chanwai-Earle

When depression pulls her daughter into darkness, a mother must transform to restore hope and bring colour back to their lives.

I am Not Your Dusky Maiden

Short Film Programme: Witching Hour

Director: Vea Mafile’o

Editors: Lisa Greenfield & Jolin Lee

When a Samoan woman enters therapy, she must navigate a series of alter egos protecting her from painful memories.

O Alofa Nei, O Alofa Nā (Love Me, Love You)

Short Film Programme: Love Has No Gender

Writer, Director & Producer: Giselle Ilaoa

Manaia, a young woman caught between expectation and self-acceptance, finds herself confronting her repressed sexuality when a chance reunion with her first love stirs old feelings.

Pouākai (Raptor)

Short Film Programme: Survivance*

Editor: Te Rurehe Paki

When his only child is snatched by a legendary giant raptor, a young Māori chief must confront his deepest fears and summon the strength of his ancestors to face the creature in its mountaintop eyrie.

ACE

Short Film Programme: Survivance*

Writer/Director: Raymond Edwards

On a quest to save his parents’ marriage, 10-year-old Jimmy takes a mythical journey through his imagination to the underworld, where he learns the ways of courage and sacrifice.

First Horse

Short Film Programme: Survivance*

Editor: Cushla Dillon

In 1826 Aotearoa, a small girl in an isolated setting comes into first contact with two facets of colonisation: a foreign infectious disease and the first horse she’s ever seen.

 

*Survivance, coined by Anishinaabe writer Gerald Vizenor, is the combination of survival and resistance where culture, imagination, and ancestral connection thrive.

 

Last updated on 21 May 2026

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‘Choir Games’ Wins International Recognition at SeriesFest

DEGANZ member Leanne Pooley‘s Choir Games has taken home top honours at SeriesFest, winning both Best Unscripted Pilot and the Unscripted Audience Award.

SeriesFest is considered one of the world’s leading festivals dedicated to episodic storytelling, showcasing innovative television and digital series from around the globe. Choir Games was one of only eight unscripted projects in competition in 2026.

When awarding Choir Games Best Unscripted Pilot, the festival shared:

Its moving depiction of the uplifting and healing power of music, and its engaging ensemble of children and their dedicated teachers […] left us wanting more.

Congratulations, Leanne and the Choir Games team!

Choir Games is available to stream in Aotearoa on Neon and Sky Go.

 

Last updated on 21 May 2026

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DEGANZ Watch List: Editors Spotlight

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This week’s DEGANZ Watch List celebrates the incredible work of our editor members, spotlighting a diverse line-up of projects spanning feature film, comedy, and emerging web series pilots.

Leading the list is Caterpillar, the highly anticipated directorial debut from Chelsie Preston-Crayford. Edited by DEGANZ member Jonno Woodford-Robinson (ANZSE), the local drama was released just ahead of Mother’s Day and has already generated a variety of positive reviews.

Also featured is the new comedy series New Zealand Spy from Paul Williams, with fellow member Nadia Darby serving as assistant editor on the production.

Rounding out the Watch List are three pilot episodes developed through PASC’s Episode One Redux (Ep1 Redux) programme. This is the second iteration of the Episode One Web Series Development and Pilot Production initiative originally launched in 2022. Designed to strengthen the presence of Pan-Asian creatives both on screen and behind the camera in Aotearoa, the programme aims to foster exciting new voices in local storytelling. The featured pilots showcase the work of editor DEGANZ members Jack Woon, Adam-Luka Turjak, and Sam Small.

Find out more about each of these projects below:

Caterpillar

Feature Film

Editor: Jonno Woodford-Robinson

Set in a run-down Wellington villa in 2003, Caterpillar follows three women living separate lives under one leaky roof. Sixteen-year-old Cassie is all bravado and vulnerability, drifting into risky territory as she searches for belonging. Her mother, Maxine, is a formidable single parent and filmmaker on the brink of a long-awaited breakthrough. Holding everything together is Huia, Cassie’s grandmother, whose life has been defined by quiet service to family and a private obsession with raising monarch caterpillars, dreaming of one day witnessing the legendary butterfly migration in Mexico.

Now in cinemas across Aotearoa! Find a screening near you here.

 

New Zealand Spy

Drama Series

Assistant Editor: Nadia Darby

New Zealand’s newest spies – and the only three who applied – are tasked with protecting our nation from incoming threats, most notably those noisy neighbours in Australia. Starring Rose Matafeo, Paul Williams, Bret McKenzie and Joe Thomas.

Available to watch on TVNZ+.

 

Duel Weddings

PASC Ep1 Redux | Drama Series Pilot Episode

Editor: Jack Woon

When polar-opposite sisters are forced into a double wedding, sparring over their Chinese mother’s approval derails all plans – particularly as one is marrying a white man and the other, a woman!

Available to watch on RNZ.

Jani Bros

PASC Ep1 Redux | Drama Series Pilot Episode

Editor: Adam-Luka Turjak

Two codependent brothers are forced to support their family’s struggling crop-growing business, but their burning desire to forge their own paths throws their brotherhood into turmoil.

Available to watch on RNZ.

Strange Brew

PASC Ep1 Redux | Drama Series Pilot Episode

Editor: Sam Small

Surpassed by a perfect Machine, an aspiring Barista Champion enters a virtual realm to seek the knowledge of her Hero.

Available to watch on RNZ.

 

Last updated on 21 May 2026

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Party! Party! Party!

View from the Top banner

It’s election year.

We need to examine what each of the main parties’ views are on the Screen industry, Arts, Culture and Heritage, as well as what they are going to do for society and the economy. Here’s a first cursory look from a screen perspective.

To date, NATIONAL has shown its hand. Funding cuts for Screen and Arts. Maintenance of the New Zealand Screen Production Rebate NZSPR International. The NZSPR Domestic is currently under review. As is the possibility of a levy on streamers. No Arts policy on the website. It doesn’t seem to fit in “Fixing the Basics” and “Building the Future”. I’d have to admit to being pleasantly surprised by MCH Minister Paul Goldsmith. When he took over from Melissa Lee, I thought, “Here we go…not.” Goldsmith, it turns out, is willing to listen, learn, and it seems to do what he can for Arts and Screen while sitting in a party that’s not showing a whole lot of interest in us.

LABOUR is pretty much bereft of policy at this point. Intentionally, they kept telling us. And it’s supposedly working for them if you look at the polls. Reuben Davidson, Labour’s Media and Communications spokesperson, is in on the streamer levy if they get back into power, though. We’ll just have to wait to learn what else they have to offer. Labour has, as we know, always been a strong supporter of Screen and the Arts. And in Davidson and the Arts, Culture and Heritage spokesperson Rachel Boyack, we have two keen supporters.

ACT would do away with the NZSPR altogether if they had their way. Nothing in the way of policy on Arts on their website, which pretty much tells us all we need to know.

The GREENS are speaking our language with a full Arts, Culture and Heritage Policy on their website here. Nuff said.

TE PĀTI MĀORI tells us: “Hang tight! We’re working on our policies and will be back soon.” Don’t expect a huge amount of attention from this direction for screen in general, though. Past policy has been primarily focused on Māori Arts, Culture and Heritage, as you would expect from a Māori party.

Over at the OPPORTUNITY PARTY, former Labour Party Minister Iain Lees-Galloway is General Manager for the fifth leader there in 10 years, Quilae Wong. Their focus is the environment and business, mainly, it seems. Nothing to say on their website about the Arts at this point. A ‘wait and see’ here.

I forgot about Winnie… a late addition here. Go to the NEW ZEALAND FIRST website and the latest policy they’ve got there is for 2023. They obviously think they’re such a shoo-in they don’t have to worry. If we go back in time to their ’23 manifesto, Media gets a reasonable amount of attention but not the Arts. Jenny Marcroft, a former broadcaster, is Parliamentary Under-Secretary to the Minister for Media and Communications and NZ First spokesperson for Arts, Culture and Heritage. I don’t recollect Marcroft speaking on anything about the Arts, which possibly says a lot… about NZ First, or my memory.

In the next few months, there will be chances to hear more from all the parties on the policies that affect our industry. There is always at least one screen-focused evening with party reps in the lead-up to election day. If you can’t make it along, check party websites for policy releases and updates.

AND VOTE!

Make your voice heard.

 

Tui Ruwhiu
Executive Director

Last updated on 7 May 2026

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Macleod Takes the Next Leap with Springboard Award

Congratulations to Isla Macleod (DEGANZ) for being one of 16 recipients of the 2026 Arts Foundation Te Tumu Toi Springboard Awards!

Springboard aims to kickstart sustainable arts careers for artists at a formative stage of their practice in Aotearoa. During the programme, each participant receives a $15k grant and a year-long mentorship from the Arts Foundation artist alumni.

Isla has been paired with fellow DEGANZ member, 2025 Laureate, and acclaimed director Roseanne Liang.

The Springboard Selection Panel commented,

Isla has been turning heads as an emerging theatre director.  With a background in film and television, Isla has quickly developed a strong and self-determined voice.  Dedicated and insightful, approaching her craft with both an intellectual and somatic approach – Isla has the potential to have a significant and impacting career as a New Zealand director.

Isla is a writer and director working across screen and theatre. She began her career in 2018 as a co-creator of Oddly Even, a series for TVNZ OnDemand. From there, she was selected for the inaugural Tāhuna Screenwriting Residency and has since written and directed multiple short films that have screened internationally, as well as two sell-out theatre productions under her company, Hekerua Bay Productions. In 2023, Isla was a participant in DEGANZ’s Emerging Women Filmmakers Incubator. Most recently, she directed second unit on season two of Secret at Red Rocks, and is currently developing her next short film through Jane Campion’s A Wave in the Ocean programme.

We wish Isla and Roseanne well in their Springboard journey!

 

Last updated on 7 May 2026

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