Reflections of A Wave in the Ocean at Venice
This year, seven short films from Aotearoa screened at the Venice International Film Festival in a dedicated tribute programme to Jane Campion’s A Wave in the Ocean (AWITO) film school. Of the seven, three include work from DEGANZ members.
The programme ran in Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington across 12 months under the tutelage of industry legends Jane Campion and Phillipa Campbell. As part of the programme, the selected participant directors received funding to create an original short film.
With the festival come and gone, we reached out to our involved members for a reflection on the experience of having their work screened at such a prestigious event.
DEGANZ member Eleanor Bishop wrote, directed, and co-edited her film Girl Time. Inspired by how childhood trauma lives on inside us, the film follows Marianne as she gets ready for a dreaded family dinner. But she is interrupted by two mysterious young girls who appear and ask her to play with them.
It was such an honor to have ‘Girl Time’ screen at Venice and I was so proud to be screened alongside my other Wave in the Ocean filmmakers. It was an inspiring experience seeing brilliant work by other amazing filmmakers and taking part in invigorating conversations with filmmakers and audiences.
Fellow member Brendon Chan edited A Very Good Boy. In the film, a temporarily unemployed father and husband has a visitor while his wife is out of town. A decision he makes to ensure his son’s silence costs him more than he would like, changing their lives forever.
I’m so proud to have been part of something screening at Venice, but honestly, I’m really excited about where filmmaking in Aotearoa is heading. The films have such a confident authorship and if this programme keeps running beyond the two years its had so far, it’s going to have a massive impact.
I’ve always really believed in Ana’s artistic vision, so when she told me her idea for a short film about a girl who was kind of like a dog – I knew I really wanted to work on it! No matter what sort of accolades are acquired along the way, I think I am always most interested in integrity of story, and AWITO is helping to tell these stories at a level that isn’t seen often in NZ, especially not in short films.
Last updated on 18 September 2025
