‘Murderbot’ Earns Killer Reviews

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The first four episodes of Apple TV’s Murderbot are out now, with episodes to come from DEGANZ member Roseanne Liang. The ten-part series drops weekly on Fridays, with Roseanne’s episodes coming out on 20 June and 4 July.

Since releasing on 16 May, the show has earned itself many rave reviews. NPR claims it is ‘the best new comedy of 2025‘ and the show currently has a 97% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

The goofy sci-fi series takes place in a high-tech future, where a rogue security robot secretly gains free will. To stay hidden, it reluctantly joins a new mission protecting scientists on a dangerous planet… even though it just wants to binge soap operas.

Keep up with the series on Apple TV to be in the loop for Roseanne’s episodes!

 

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DEGANZ Watch List: Music & Mayhem

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Check out these new works from DEGANZ members!

The local screen and music industries have come together this month for NZ Music Month. Members Mia Blake and Miryam Jacobi were behind the new music video for local artist Len Blake. Meanwhile, fellow member Gal Hochman marked her series debut with the launch of Beyond the Beat—a vibrant, genre-bending music production series shaking up how we experience iconic Kiwi tracks.

Beloved comedy series Homebound 3.0 has made its comeback for season two, with Hweiling Ow (DEGANZ) directing half of the episodes this season.

In the short film space, DEGANZ member Tema Pua celebrates the online release of her micro-budget short, It Lies at Night.

Alone

Music Video

Director: Mia Blake

Producer: Miryam Jacobi

Watch the official music video for Len Blake’s latest single, Alone.


Beyond the Beat

Factual Web Series

Director and Creator: Gal Hochman

Beyond the Beat is a bold music series that flips the script on Aotearoa’s most iconic tracks. Each episode pairs a rising Remake Artist with a legendary hitmaker to reimagine a beloved tune in a completely new style. Guided by visionary producer Mazbou Q, the Remake Artist infuses the track with fresh energy and cultural flair—blending collaboration, experimentation, and creativity. The reimagined song is then dropped live on air, as the original artist hears it for the very first time. Five artists. Five massive hits. One mission: to redefine the future sound of Aotearoa.


Homebound 3.0

Comedy Series

Director: Hweiling Ow 

After successfully navigating a fake relationship that has now become real, Henry and Melissa fake a pregnancy to obtain an early inheritance from their cashed-up, overseas relatives obsessed with furthering the family line.


It Lies at Night

Drama Short Film

Director: Tema Pua

Anne and her sister have spent years on the run. Despite befriending a neighbour and finding an old promise from their beloved dad, Anne’s unease grows. Forced into a fight to protect her mind, Anne must grasp her father’s message if she’s to survive the night.

 

To see more recent work from DEGANZ members, check out our other DEGANZ Watch Lists!

 

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‘Myths & Maidens’ Wins at Voyager Media Awards

Myths & Maidens, edited by DEGANZ member Cushla Dillon, won the Best Current Affairs (long) or Documentary category at the 2025 Voyager Media Awards.

The annual awards ceremony encourages, showcases, and acknowledges the best of Atearoa’s news media across all platforms. Since 1973, the awards have recognised the work of journalists, reporters, feature writers, columnists, cartoonists, reviewers, photographers, and video journalists.

Myths & Maidens is a self-proclaimed love letter to Moana women. It delves into collective trauma, challenges, and inequities faced by women across Pasifika. By sharing women’s stories, the Coconet TV documentary tackles issues of colourism, fat-phobia, and how our societies have been taught to view women of colour across the ages. Yet in the face of all this, Myths & Maidens highlights how Pasifika women’s resilience and celebration of themselves is an act of colonial resistance.

The judges commented on the doco saying,

‘Myths & Maidens’ is a wildly original and thought-provoking documentary about female identity in Pasifika society. The producers used creative devices and structured the story in a clever way to make the subject matter compelling. With the western gaze of artists like Paul Gauguin and the historical representation of indigenous societies now facing closer scrutiny, this documentary is an important addition to that very important cultural reckoning.

Congratulations, Cushla and the entire Myths & Maidens team, on the win!

 

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‘1978’ Seeks a Boost for Post-Prodctuion

April Phillips (DEGANZ) is crowdfunding to finish post-production on 1978, a feature film she co-wrote and is co-directing.

Set in 1978, the film follows the lives of a rural Māori-Pākehā family fighting on two fronts: the loss of ancestral land and the closure of their small country school. Inspired by one of the team’s childhood, 1978 shines a light on the strength of community and identity in the face of change.

So far, the team has self-funded the film over the past three years. It is now 80% complete but needs a final push to make it over the finish line. All funds raised from the Boosted campaign will go towards visual effects, colour grading, and the final delivery costs.

You can find out more about the project and support it on the Boosted page.

All the best to the team on the crowdfunding, and we look forward to seeing 1978 once it’s finished!

 

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DEGANZ Members are ImagineNATIVE

Seven DEGANZ members’ mahi is being showcased in this year’s programme of imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival, the world’s largest exhibition for film, video, audio, and digital, and interactive media made by Indigenous creators.

Starting in 2000, this year marks imagineNATIVE’s 25th run with 55 Indigenous nations from 16 countries included in the line up. The theme this year is seed keeping and the passing down of seeds to the next generation. The festival reflects on the theme saying,

Like ancestors planting their seeds to grow and harvest sustenance for the people, we look back on 25 years of Indigenous artists breaking barriers, opening doors for each other, connecting, collaborating, and inspiring fearlessness in storytelling for future generations.

imagineNATIVE will run 3-8 June in Toronto and 9-25 June online. Congratulations to all those selected!

Features

Kōka

Editor: Te Rurehe Paki

Worlds collide when Māori Elder Hamo accidentally hits Jo, a rough-around-the-edges wahine, with her car. Feeling responsible for her care, Hamo tries to help Jo back on her feet, only to find herself entangled in Jo’s antics after Jo lost her only home and family — a group of misfits who outlived their stay in an encampment. Hamo reluctantly agrees to take Jo under her wing, bringing her along on the trip back home. While on the road, the women form an unlikely bond that leads them to face the past and lean on each other on the path to healing.

The Haka Part Incident

Writer, Director & Producer: Katie Wolfe

This impressively candid documentary revisits the three-minute-long “incident” at the University of Auckland, which triggered race relations between Māori and non-Māori in 1970s New Zealand. Current Interviews with the engineering students who participated in the mocking haka party and members of the activist group that disrupted it, now adults, reflect on their versions of what happened. Directed by Katie Wolfe (one of the directors of 2017’s Waru) this doc, originally a theatre piece, is the ultimate telling of this true story. With archival footage and insights from those who were there, The Haka Party Incident brings forgotten history to life.

Ka Whawhai Tonu – Struggle Without End

Editors: Te Rurehe Paki & Martin Brinkler

Writer: Tim Worrall

It’s 1864 and against impossible odds, the Māori in the Waikato region valiantly face an army of colonial settlers to fight for their lands and people. Haki is a half-Māori and half-European teenager fighting on the side of the New Zealand military and taken prisoner by the Māori resistance. He befriends Kopu, a Māori girl who is imprisoned in her own right as she is believed to be the vessel for manifesting a Māori god of war, used for guidance as a resistance tactic in her people’s battle for sovereignty. Haki and Kopu find themselves caught between many concurrent battles of identity politics, physical and spiritual warfare, and friends and enemies, as they both discover there is no escape without a fight.

Short Film Programme: Knee Slappers

Honey Kaha

Writer, Director & Co-Editor: Te Waiarangi Ratana

The low-budget adventures of streetwise fisheries officer Honey Kaha are brought to life by star Dr. Julia Love and her dastardly former husband, Kent Barry.

Chatterbox

Editor: Amarbir Singh

A woman struggles with her relationship with her body. It’s not that she hates it, she just wishes her vagina would stop calling her a bitch.

Short Film Programme: Elder Stories

Rapido

Co-Writer, Director & Co-Editor: Richard J Curtis 

A young Māori boy’s fascination with war comics comes closer to home than he could ever imagine.

 

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