Congratulations to director Vanessa Wells (DEGANZ) and editor Emma Smart (DEGANZ) on the success of Mighty Indeed at the 2025 Doc Edge Awards! The film won both the Best New Zealand Feature and the Best Director awards, making it eligible for consideration for the 2026 Academy Awards.
Spanning four decades, Mighty Indeed follows three women working in Antarctica as they explore science, climate, and survival in one of the world’s harshest environments. By weaving personal stories with rich archival footage and groundbreaking science, the feature offers an intimate and deeply human portrait shared with grit, wit, and surprising warmth, set against the immense scale of Antarctica.
The Best NZ Feature’s Special Mention went to fellow member Edward Simpson‘s Devils on Horses.
You can catch Mighty Indeed in cinemas in Ōtautahi Christchurch on 16 and 18 July and in Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington on 18 July.
http://degnz.sensedesign.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Mighty-Indeed-Doc-Edge-Awards-2025.jpg4561200admin/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/DEGANZ_logo_home.pngadmin2025-07-09 17:43:312025-07-10 12:57:42‘Mighty Indeed’ is Indeed Mighty, Winning Doc Edge Best NZ Feature and Best Director Awards
The rom-com short follows two kung fu masters who turn to martial arts to settle scores.
Fantasia’s Rupert Bottenberg describes the film,
Two Chinese New Zealanders meet up for a blind date, and as family histories are revealed over dinner, a longstanding rivalry is revived. Better get the dishes safely out of the way, because kung-fu, comedy, and romance are about to collide!
Fantasia is North America’s largest genre film festival, hosting sci-fi, fantasy, horror, and action films from across the globe. It’s earned notoriety as one of the top festivals in the industry for emerging and established filmmakers alike by juxtaposing pop and alternative cultures in its programming.
http://degnz.sensedesign.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Lets-Settle-This.jpg4561200admin/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/DEGANZ_logo_home.pngadmin2025-07-09 16:31:162025-07-10 13:00:18‘Let’s Settle This!’ Fights its Way to Fantasia
DEGANZ member Liv McClymont is the newest director signed to the local independent production studio Supernormal.
Liv has been building her portfolio over the past few years with documentaries I Stand for Consent and The Man Outside and, most recently, the dramedy web series The Sender. Commercially, she directed the 2degrees campaign NOtifications to promote digital well-being. Her work tackles the sensitive topics of consent, online abuse, and other social issues with empathy and compassion.
Through her work, she has established herself as a rising, vibrant voice in both the commercial and narrative spaces.
Liv has a fearless, emotionally intelligent approach to story and a strong sense of style and rhythm. […] She brings a kind of boldness that feels both vital and incredibly watchable and we’re excited to support her across commercial and narrative work.
Congratulations, Liv! We can’t wait to see what comes next.
This week’s DEGANZ Watch List includes stories of new pathways.
In Dead Ahead, edited by DEGANZ member Ben Wildish, a family moves back to Aotearoa and finds themselves on an unknown path that sends their whānau, from the past and present, into a frenzy.
Board member Robyn Paterson‘s company Sweet Productions highlights the path to greater independence for folks living with disability as they learn to drive in Licence to Drive.
Motuhaketanga, co-edited by Cushla Dillon (DEGANZ), follows the paths of three wāhine Māori as they begin the raw process of rebuilding their lives, identities, and futures after incarceration.
Executive Producer & Series Producer : Robyn Paterson
This unique series follows a cast of Kiwi learner drivers – each with a disability – as they navigate the realm of the road. It captures their triumphs, challenges, and occasional mishaps with a generous dose of heart and humour.
Motuhaketanga is a 2 x 1 hour documentary that follows three wāhine Māori preparing to leave prison, and the challenges they face once they walk out the prison gates, on the path to creating their own versions of motuhaketanga.
11 DEGANZ members have worked on eight films in the lineup this year, most of which make up the new Ngā Whanaunga: Aotearoa New Zealand’s Best programme.
NZIFF continues to be where audiences discover New Zealand films before the rest of the world. This year’s programme will […] include local stories that are ready to make their mark internationally.
Check out the films from DEGANZ members below and keep up to date with NZIFF to know when you can catch them on the big screen!
Editors: Cushla Dillon, Brendon Chan and Huhana Ruri-Panapa
Unprecedented insight into the curation of the Toi Tū Toi Ora: Contemporary Māori Art exhibition reveals the struggle for Māori artistic sovereignty within the structures of Aotearoa New Zealand’s cultural institutions.
Since 2012, NZIFF have curated both the New Zealand’s Best and the Ngā Whanaunga Māori Pasifika short film programmes. This year, it has evolved to Ngā Whanaunga: Aotearoa New Zealand’s Best, combining the two programmes. The films will screen in two parts: Programme One and Programme Two.
An elderly woman wilting away in a retirement home longs to commune with the vibrant natural world outside. This magical short offers a positive spin on our impending mortality.
Ala is a Samoan woman living with dissociative identity disorder. In therapy, she shifts between different versions of herself — from young Flo to fierce ancestor Puipui — and confronts her deepest trauma.
It is a hard life on the street for Puti; perhaps she best not follow her mother’s footsteps. With hope, there is another journey, another possibility.
Shy Ali joins a group of zealous schoolgirls creating a stage challenge concept that will both wow audiences and distract the girls from their concerns for the future.
A young filly struggles to break from the stable in this absurd and wildly original fable, starkly reminding us of the past dehumanisation of Indigenous whānau.
http://degnz.sensedesign.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/NZIFF25.jpg4561200admin/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/DEGANZ_logo_home.pngadmin2025-06-26 13:59:092026-01-28 16:33:23Whānau Mārama NZIFF Celebrates 16 Years with 100(ish) Films
