Elected DEGANZ Board for 2021/2022

Headshots of DEGANZ Board Members

Directors and Editors Guild of Aotearoa New Zealand is thrilled to present our board for 2021/2022. Members elected to the board at the 2021 Annual General Meeting are:

Director Robyn Paterson, President
Director Gabriel Reid, Vice-President
Accountant Phil Gore, Treasurer

National Executive:

Director/Editor Steven Chow
Editor Annie Collins
Editor Margot Francis
Editor Francis Glenday
Director Renae Maihi
Director Howard Taylor
Director Gaysorn Thavat
Director Stallone Vaiaoga-Ioasa

We welcome Gaysorn Thavat who joins the National Executive for the first time, while Howard Taylor has accepted his automatic seat as former President.

We look forward to working with our board across a number of new and ongoing initiatives and industry issues. Furthermore, we want to say a huge thank you to our returning board members for their service during a particularly busy year last year.

Learn more about our board members

Finally, thank you to all members who voted during the AGM.

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A New Name for the Guild

DEGANZ logo appearing as 'deganz'

At the 2021 Annual General Meeting, members voted in favour of a remit to include Aotearoa in the Guild’s name. We proudly present our new name as the Directors and Editors Guild of Aotearoa New Zealand (DEGANZ).

Subsequently, we have a new, easier to pronounce acronym (deg·anz) and a refreshed logo.

In other changes, members also passed a remit to expand the Constitution’s definition of ‘editors’ to include assistant editors. This is because the Guild has over time moved to officially support and represent assistant editors as well, explained Executive Director Tui Ruwhiu.

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Hawai’i International Film Festival: Members’ Films Selected

Congratulations to DEGANZ members whose films have been selected for this year’s Hawai’i International Film Festival (HIFF) in November. Furthermore, several films will be having their US Premieres.

Annually, an average of 150 narrative features, documentaries and shorts are chosen from around 1,500 films. HIFF endeavours to recognise new and emerging talent. In addition, the festival spotlights work that explores social and cultural issues.

High Tide, Don’t Hide is a full-length documentary about teenagers discovering that activism, authority and awareness make for a steep learning curve in the race for existence. The film was written by Niva Kay, DEGANZ member and participant in our Emerging Women Filmmakers Incubator 2021. Niva is one of four producer-directors on this film, which is having its US Premiere at HIFF.

Earlier this year, High Tide, Don’t Hide had its World Premiere at the New Zealand Doc Edge Festival, where it won an award for Best New Zealand Editing and a Special Mention in the Best New Zealand Feature category.

The short film Disrupt (pictured above) follows the aftermath of a burglary gone wrong. In it CJ must choose between his whānau or his next fix. DEGANZ member Lisa Greenfield was the editor with Margot Francis (DEGANZ board member) as the supervising editor.

Celia Jasper, writer, director and editor of short film Milk, explores what happens when a young girl sees an old man unable to pay for his milk. It recently won Best Editing at the Venezia Shorts in Italy and is nominated for Best Screenplay at Show Me Shorts.

Teine Sā is a supernatural anthology series based on legends of the Pacific. After centuries of slumber, the ‘Teine Sā’ or ‘the ancient ones’ have been evoked to come into the world once again. Having its US Premiere at HIFF, Teine Sā has a couple of DEGANZ members behind it. Jack Woon was the editor, while Zoey Zhao worked on episode 3 as his assistant editor. Zoey is part of our Incubator 2021.

Inspired by the Black Panther Party in the USA, a group of young radicals from New Zealand follow suit in The Panthers. The six-part mini series made history as the strongest opening week for a drama on TVNZ OnDemand. DEGANZ member Vea Mafile’o directed two episodes.

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Kāinga Funded: Spotlight on Pan-Asian Female Immigrant Stories

Following the success of feature films Waru and Vai comes Kāinga. With funding through NZ On Air, Kāinga will be an anthology of short films led by Pan-Asian filmmakers that celebrates the experience of eight different Pan-Asian women as they navigate what it means to become ‘at home’ in Aotearoa.

The movie will be produced by Brown Sugar Apple Grunt Productions for RNZ.co.nz. It closes a  film trilogy written and directed by underrepresented female filmmakers in the New Zealand screen industry.

We are delighted that DEGANZ members are among the eleven female creative leads in this project!

Writer Mia Maramara 

Director Michelle Ang 

Writer/director Ghazaleh Golbakhsh 

Director Julie Zhu 

Writer/director Nahyeon Lee

 

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Live Performance and Film Collide in New Opera Movie

DEGANZ member Rebecca Tansley directed the New Zealand Opera film Semele, which opens in selected cinemas from 28 October.

Filmed live in Auckland’s Holy Trinity Cathedral, Rebecca had just one live performance to get the film right which required a lot of careful pre-production planning, including bringing camera operators into rehearsals.

Semele is a sensual love triangle between Jupiter, King of the Gods, his wife Juno, and his lover, the mortal princess Semele.

Although the film’s premiere was back in May in Auckland, this nationwide release enables New Zealand Opera to travel from major cities to the regions. Find out more information on the film and see if it’s screening near you.

Meanwhile, Rebecca’s short film The Finding has been selected for Montecatini International Short Film Festival in Italy, one of Europe’s longest running short film festivals. The film, written and directed by Rebecca, was shot on Kodak 16mm in Central Otago and Dunedin. In The Finding, a teenager’s efforts to reconnect with her estranged father forces them to confront a secret in their past.

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