Zhu’s ‘Unknown, Unknown’ Secures Short Cuts Production Funding

Congratulations to director Julie Zhu (DEGANZ), whose drama short film Unknown, Unknown has been selected as one of two projects to receive production funding through the Pan Asian Screen Collective’s Short Cuts initiative.

Julie is working with writer Carolyn Deng and producer Matilda Boese-Wong on the project, which was awarded a $40,000 production grant from PASC with support by the New Zealand Film Commission.

Established by PASC in 2019, Short Cuts was created to address the need for greater Pan-Asian representation on screen and provide career pathways for emerging practitioners through the development and production of short films. Now in its sixth iteration, the programme brought together nine production teams for a weekend of specialised development. Two projects were ultimately selected to receive production funding following a rigorous assessment process by acclaimed filmmakers Fran Borgia, Philippa Campbell and Steven Chow.

Short Cuts designer and course convenor Dr Shuchi Kothari MNZM commented on this year’s selections:

While the three assessors were unanimous in their decision to fund the two projects, they were just as vocal in their recognition of the breadth of ideas across all nine applications. Though the assessors’tastes are ultimately subjective, their adjudication took into account freshness of the story, teams ability to deliver, feasibility of the project, accuracy of budget, and trajectory of the director.

We look forward to hearing more about Unknown, Unknown in due time and eventually seeing it on the big screen!

Last updated on 24 September 2026