How’s Theatrical Doing?

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The New Zealand International Film Festival kicked off last night with the screening of Big Girls Don’t Cry, directed by Paloma Schneiderman. A very accomplished and cinematic execution by a first-time feature filmmaker.

The programme has expanded from last year’s, with more than 130 films showing in Auckland. Prior to COVID, the number of films screening was over 200, which helps to illustrate how tough it has been for NZIFF to get back on its feet. COVID impacted the Melbourne International Film Festival just as severely.

With the changing viewer habits of audiences, along with the incredible growth of streamers and other online content channels like YouTube, it’s still proving hard to get people back into cinemas to pre-COVID levels.

The incredible success of Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, which has taken close to US$700 million worldwide in just two weeks, seems to fly in the face of naysayers about the health of cinema. But it is Christopher Nolan, it is an event film shot on IMAX, and it has a swirling mass of controversy around it that clearly helps its marketing, together with the US$150 million or so that Universal has spent pushing it.

A more interesting perspective is given by Olivia Wilde’s The Invite; a ‘small’ film adapted from a play. While the budget is not known, it sold to A24 at Sundance in a bidding war for US$12 million for domestic (US) rights. A guess would put it in the US$10 – 20 million budget range. The Invite is a month into its theatrical release and has made US$32 million so far. Some reviewers have said that it’s the kind of Hollywood indie drama that wasn’t getting made anymore, so it’s proving surprising.

A look at NZ’s box office gross (US$) from the year prior to COVID adds additional insight:

 

Total Gross%± LYReleasesAverage#1 Release
2026$55,746,577–706$78,961Michael
2025$88,342,903+0.6%1,341$65,878A Minecraft Movie
2024$87,784,785-10.4%1,038$84,571Inside Out 2
2023$98,011,323+9.8%852$115,036Barbie
2022$89,227,396+37.5%737$121,068Avatar: The Way of Water
2021$64,881,995+0.4%737$88,035F9: The Fast Saga
2020$64,630,524-47.6%750$86,174The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
2019$123,284,717+6.7%656$187,934Avengers: Endgame

You could hazard a guess that 2026 will top 2025’s take, but it’s still a long way off 2019’s number. The No. 1 release for each year, though, tells you how important it is for Hollywood blockbusters to get it right, even if more films like The Invite get made. There is concern, however, that the Hollywood takeover by tech giants is going to negatively impact theatrical.

The tech firms, who for the most part see some value in theatrical, are much more interested in generating subscribers and revenue from their digital platforms. It’s pretty much accepted, therefore, that theatrical will continue to contract, but at what pace is uncertain.

In New Zealand, theatrical still has an important part to play for Kiwi filmmakers—it’s difficult to get NZFC funding without a commitment to theatrical distribution. The up to $500k grant and willingness to experiment around the $1 million mark provides wriggle room. But once you are over a million, it’s theatrical upfront or nothing for now. And that’s all there is as far as Christopher Nolan is concerned.

Nolan is renowned for refusing to work with streamers, saying that movies belong on the big screen. Thankfully for him, he has the talent and the ability to ensure that his movies show there. But not everybody is as fortunate.

NZIFF and other festivals provide a welcome opportunity for New Zealand and other independent filmmakers to get their films seen on big screens in front of an audience.

Long may they continue.

 

Tui Ruwhiu
Executive Director

Last updated on 30 July 2026

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DEGANZ Supports Seven Directors Attending the MIFF Accelerator Lab 2026

DEGANZ is proud to announce the seven filmmakers from Aotearoa New Zealand attending the 2026 Melbourne International Film Festival’s (MIFF) Accelerator Lab.

Directors Todd Karehana, Ahmed Osman, Prisca Bouchet, and Nick Mayow all have shorts selected for the MIFF Accelerator Shorts programmes, also earning them spots at the Accelerator Lab. The shorts programme showcases new bold voices from a new generation of filmmakers across Australia and Aotearoa.

In addition to these selected filmmakers, DEGANZ has put forward fellow directors Victoria Boult, Mīria George, and Pon Torthienchai to attend the Lab as Express participants. While not having films in MIFF this year, these participants will take part in the Accelerator Lab alongside the festival’s selected filmmakers.

The Accelerator Lab is designed to help short film directors move towards their first long-form work. Across four days during the festival, participants attend workshops, screenings, seminars, and networking events to learn more about the creative and business aspects of filmmaking.

This year marks the third time DEGANZ has managed the participation of local filmmakers at MIFF with the financial support of the New Zealand Film Commission.

Read more about the participants and their films below.

2026 MIFF ACCELERATOR LAB DIRECTORS

Todd Karehana is a Māori and Queer writer-director. Since completing his MA in Screen Production at the University of Auckland in 2017, he has taken on leading roles as a writer, story consultant, storyliner, and script editor across series and features including Ahikāroa, The Exceptional Squad, We Are Still Here, and Ture. Between 2020 and 2023, Todd served as co-creator on two scripted series: Ngā Hau E Whā, an LGBTQA+ high-school drama that received NZ On Air development funding, and The River, a supernatural audio drama that won Best Experimental Audio at the 2023 imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival.

Todd has also contributed to the sector in key advisory and leadership roles: as a Funding Advisor at NZ On Air, an external advisor to Te Māngai Pāho and Fresh Shorts, and a board member of Ngā Aho Whakaari and Proud Voices on Screen.

As a director, Todd has led the creation of short films spanning documentary and fiction, including My Brother Mitchell, Young and on the Paepae, Night Ride, and Socks. He recently completed Jane Campion’s prestigious, Netflix-funded two-year director’s intensive, A Wave in the Ocean.

Todd is passionate about nuanced stories that give voice to working-class, Māori, and queer lives.

Socks

A beautifully restrained tale of queer yearning, in which a young Māori boy develops an unlikely bond with a Mormon missionary in rural New Zealand. Filmed in timeless black-and-white and anchored by a phenomenal performance by young star Monty Walker, Todd Karehana’s gentle coming-of-ager – executive-produced by Jane Campion, and debuting at the Venice International Film Festival – has all the makings of a crowd-pleasing queer classic. Socks is an evocative look at male friendship that transcends culture, religion and desire.

 

Ahmed Osman is a producer and filmmaker born in Somalia and raised in Wellington. Motivated by telling diverse and inclusive stories, Ahmed has directed the award-winning docu-series Third Culture Minds for TVNZ+, a series on the mental health and wellbeing of young migrants and refugees in Aotearoa. He is the producer of the SKY Originals NZ series Miles From Nowhere and co-founder of Homegrown Pictures. 

Arrival

After arriving in Aotearoa as refugees, a mother and daughter find their roles upended in the face of a new and unfamiliar world. The tension between leaving home and facing the unknown is at the core of this sensitive, emotionally engaging drama from Somalian-born, Wellington-raised filmmaker Ahmed Osman, who drew upon his own memories to evoke the experience of a child forced to navigate the world on behalf of their parent. A delicate, playful work about loss, memory and the cost of starting anew.

 

Prisca Bouchet and Nick Mayow are award-winning filmmakers based in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland. Their short documentaries have screened at major film festivals including: Hot Docs, Dok Leipzig and DOC NYC. Lion Rock, their first narrative short film, had its premiere in the Orizzonti International Short Films Competition of the 2025 Venice International Film Festival.

Lion Rock

While driving along an eerie ocean road, a teenage boy and his mother hit something with their car. She insists it was nothing, but he begins to doubt her story. Inspired by a trip through Auckland’s spooky Waitākere Ranges, the latest work from award-winning filmmakers Prisca Bouchet and Nick Mayow is a unique take on the coming-of-age drama, transforming a routine drive into a mysterious thriller told from the boy’s perspective. Produced in conjunction with Jane Campion’s film school A Wave in the Ocean, this brilliantly executed short film premiered at Venice last year.

 

2026 MIFF ACCELERATOR EXPRESS LAB DIRECTORS

Victoria Boult (Ngāi Tahu) is an indigenous 28-year-old writer and director. She is best known for her debut television series n00b (Netflix, Canal+), which she wrote and co-directed. n00b was selected for Berlinale and Canneseries. Victoria has written for series Happiness (HBO Max), A Remarkable Place to Die (ZDF, NINE), and Ahikāroa (Whakaata Māori). She also directed Episode 4 of A Remarkable Place to Die S2. Victoria’s debut short film Invisible Dragons won Best Indigenous Short at the 2025 Bend Film Festival and was selected for the Hawai’i and Santa Barbara International Film Festivals and the Netherlands Film Festival.

 

 

Mīria George (Te Arawa, Ngāti Awa, Enuamanu, Tumutevarovaro) is a poet, writer, director, and producer of theatre and film. The feature film VAI premiered at Berlinale in 2019, marking Mīria’s debut as a writer and director of film. The award-winning short film Fire in the Water, Fire in the Sky (2021) screened internationally. Her most recent short film, Open Looks (2025), screened in Aotearoa New Zealand, Australia and the United States. An award-winning theatremaker, Mīria’s work has toured Aotearoa New Zealand, Australia, Hawai’i, Canada and the United Kingdom. Miria is currently in development with two feature films.

 

 

Pon Torthienchai is a writer/director whose work explores identity, ambition, and belonging through a distinctly Thai-Kiwi lens. Working across narrative and documentary, he crafts character-driven stories that move between the everyday and the visceral world of martial arts. His credits include Brother (2020), Majesty (2021), Pincher (2013), and Rice Run (2025). He is currently in post-production on the documentary Bamboo on the Borderlines (2026), and developing his short film Shin & Bone through New Zealand’s He Kauahi Catalyst programme.

 

 

 

Last updated on 30 July 2026

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Liang Set to Direct Netflix ANZ Commissioned Series ‘Queenstown’

DEGANZ member Roseanne Liang is set to direct the upcoming drama Queenstown, alongside Australian director Glendyn Ivin. 

The eight-part series is the first production commissioned by the Netflix Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) content team since its establishment in 2020. While set and produced in Aotearoa New Zealand, the series is headed by Australian production companies Silent Firework and its subsidiary Runaway Unicorn. The production is being made with support from the International Screen Production Rebate. 

Following a privileged ski-resort family in Tāhuna Queenstown, the series is set to explore themes around power, class and family.

Amongst the predominantly Australian cast is Kiwi actor Te Kohe Tuhaka. 

We look forward to following more updates on the show and seeing it come to life in due course!

 

Last updated on 30 July 2026

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History Brought to Life: Curtis’ New Historical Documentary

Now streaming on RNZ, NZ Wars: Stories of Waerenga-a-Hika, co-directed by DEGANZ member Richard J Curtis, brings a pivotal moment in Aotearoa’s history to the screen. 

Drawing on the perspectives of iwi historians and Dr Vincent O’Malley, a historian whose work specialises in Māori and Pakeha relations, the documentary presents the story of Waerenga-a-Hika, one of the most devastating battles of the New Zealand Wars in 1865. Focusing on the descendants of those who fought and survived, NZ Wars: Stories of Waerenga-a-Hika sheds new light on a history that has long been overlooked in Aotearoa.

Aiming to honour the communities that suffered from the war and land loss, the series serves as an act of remembrance and reclamation.

The 43-minute doco is a mix of drama reenactments with interviews and footage from present day. Richard wrote and directed the drama scenes, while co-director Cameron Bennett took the lead on the factual aspects. 

You can watch NZ Wars: Stories of Waerenga-a-Hika on RNZ now!

 

Last updated on 30 July 2026

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From Aotearoa to New York: ‘Rice Run’ Selected for AAIFF

DEGANZ member Pon Torthienchai’s short film Rice Run is scheduled to screen at the 49th annual Asian American International Film Festival in New York City. This follows its premiere at the 20th Tasveer Film Festival in Seattle in September of 2025.

​The Asian American International Film Festival (AAIFF) is the first and longest-running film festival in the United States dedicated exclusively to showcasing works by media artists of Asian descent and highlighting the Asian diaspora experience.

Rice Run follows a 9-year-old boy named Tent who is tasked with delivering a sack of rice to his family’s restaurant. His sense of duty and familial commitment are tested when he encounters an older, unruly group of teenagers who challenge his obligations. This coming-of-age drama explores notions of duty and burden.

The film was developed through the PASC Short Cuts lab and funded by the New Zealand Film Commission’s Fresh Shorts programme.

Congratulations, Pon and the Rice Run team, on the selection!

 

Last updated on 30 July 2026

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