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.

 

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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.
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DEGANZ Members Among First Picks for NZ Web Fest

Short films Pākehā, written and directed by Mana Hira Davis, and The Whole Thing, directed by fellow member Calvin Sang, are among the first projects selected for this year’s NZ Web Fest. DEGANZ member Sofia Misa’s T for Taupou has also secured a spot in the festival’s student film section.

Since its inception in 2015, the virtual festival has curated and celebrated online short films, web series, and podcasts from around the world. This year’s event will run from 13–23 November.

Read more about the selected projects below:

Fiction Shorts

Pākehā

Writer/Director: Mana Hira Davis

In 1980s, New Zealand, a young Pakeha mother’s determination to learn Te Reo Māori exposes her struggles, resilience, and courage, in an inspiring true story of cultural reconciliation.

This selection follows the film’s recent success at the 2026 International Oceanian Documentary Film Festival (FIFO), winning Best Fiction Short Film.

The Whole Thing

Director: Calvin Sang

Two strangers meet at a crematorium while picking up their loved ones’ remains. They decide to spend the day together, killing time and watching the world go by.

Fiction Shorts (Student)

T for Taupou

Writer, Director, and Editor: Sofia Misa

A fast-paced, chaotic story that takes place in real-time, all in a backstage room as a Poly Club of tertiary students prepares to take the stage for a competition.

 

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DEGANZ Watch List: Heroes and Heroines

From powerful true stories to deeply personal journeys of grief and resilience, this DEGANZ Watch List highlights heroes’ stories.

Editor Francis Glenday (DEGANZ) is behind the upcoming wartime docu-drama Sgt. Haane, which recently dropped its second trailer.

Meanwhile, the smash hit Tinā, edited by fellow member Luke Haigh, is available to stream on Three Now. If you somehow missed it in cinemas last year, now is your chance to see the film that broke local box office records.

Sgt. Haane

Feature Docu-Drama Trailer

Film Editor: Francis Glenday

The second trailer for this gripping WWII docu-drama comes one month before its nationwide premiere.

Haane Manahi of the 28th Māori Battalion is told that taking the enemy desert fortress of Takrouna, Tunisia, will be a cakewalk. It is not. When the chain of command collapses under enemy fire, Haane leads a small band of B Company soldiers – all cousins, all related – up the precipitous cliff face that his commanders had deemed too formidable for thousands of men to take. What follows changes the course of WWII in North Africa. Three generals and a field marshal sign a Victoria Cross recommendation. One anonymous British official strikes it out. Haane’s legacy lives on through his descendants to this day.

 

Tinā

Drama Feature

Editor: Luke Haigh

A grieving mother becomes a substitute teacher at an elite school after her daughter dies in the Christchurch quakes, where she finds neglected students and steps in to guide and inspire them.

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Mafile’o Named Woman to Watch at 2026 WIFT Awards

DEGANZ member Vea Mafile’o has been named the recipient of the Hinterland Woman to Watch Award at the 2026 WIFT Awards, held on 12 March in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland.

Vea was working overseas at the time of the ceremony, so her son and mother accepted the award on her behalf.

In recognising her achievement, WIFT described Vea as:

[A]n award-winning Tongan filmmaker whose work bridges art, drama, documentary, and social impact. Her dramatic short film Lea Tupu’anga / Mother Tongue was selected from 17,000 submissions for the Sundance Film Festival, while her feature-length documentary For My Father’s Kingdom premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival.

Established in 2004, the WIFT Awards celebrate and support the achievements of women working across film, television, and digital media.

Congratulations to Vea and to all of this year’s finalists and winners.

 

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