‘Cradle & Grave’ is Coming to Life

After six years of development and disruptions due to COVID-19, DEGANZ member Tema Pua‘s Cradle & Grace is finally coming to life and needs a final push to get over the finish line of its Boosted campaign! Fellow member Brendon Chan is also attached as the film’s editor.

The short initially gained support through the 2019 PASC Short Cuts Development Lab, before receiving Fresh Shorts funding from the Film Commission in 2020. While this funding will cover some production costs, the team is raising an additional $16,000 to ensure pay parity for the crew.

Cradle & Grace, written by Malinna Liang, follows 22-year-old Olivia, who must help the ghost of her hard-to-please, Chinese mother cross over—or be stuck with her forever. The story delves into the complexities of mothers and daughters, shifting perceptions, and death administration (aka ‘sadmin’).

On the Boosted page, Tema shares about the project’s importance,

Cradle & Grave is both a love letter to our mothers and a love letter to any woman who has lost her mum growing up. I believe that through this little film, we can say something authentic about the complex, life-shaping bond between mothers and daughters.

Fun fact: Tema and Malinna met while working at DEGANZ! After Malinna finished her internship with the guild, she and Tema began working on the short together.

If you’d like to check out the project and the team’s mahi, you can find the Boosted campaign here!

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‘Vivie’ to Premiere at SXSW Sydney

South by South West (SXSW) Sydney announced the first four short films selected for the festival this year, with Vivie written and directed by 2021 Incubator alum Hweiling Ow (DEGANZ) set to premiere.

It follows a sexually frustrated young woman who is desperate to persuade her vagina to open up when she bumps into an ex-boyfriend.

SXSW Sydney Screen brings together global creatives across a wide range of specialties, with a particular focus on talent from the Asia-Pacific region. The program includes features, shorts, TV premieres, music videos, and extended reality. Along with the festival, SXSW hosts the Screen Industry and Curated Mentorship Programs to help creatives develop their craft and careers.

The SXSW Sydney 2024 Conference, including the Screen Industry sessions and mentoring, will take place 14-18 October 2024, with the festival running 15-20 October 2024.

Congratulations, Hweiling!

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‘Motherhood’ Out on Mother’s Day

TVNZ’s newest anthology series, Motherhood, drops this Mother’s Day, with mahi from DEGANZ members Michelle Ang (2020 Incubator), Jack Brown, Ankita Singh, and Calvin Sang.

The series features five different stories across a range of genres and is inspired by the Māori, Pasifika, Pan-Asian, and LGBTIA+ communities of Aotearoa, all unified by the theme of motherhood.

A M A H

Directed by Michelle Ang

Edited by Jack Brown

Torn between ambition and parenthood, a career-driven mother enlists an Artificially Maternal Android Helper to raise her son in accordance with traditional Malaysian-Chinese values. When the nanny judges the woman to be an unfit mother, she must fight for her family and her sanity.

Give Me Babies

Written by Ankita Singh

Directed by Calvin Sang

Meet Ari, a late 20-something MMA fighter living with her parents. Her coach and mum, Mei, has put her on a strict dating regime to find the perfect partner so she can have a baby while her eggs are in peak condition. The only problem is Ari doesn’t want kids. Rather than break her mother’s heart, Ari spins a web of lies and enters an illegal MMA fight to win enough cash to escape to Thailand. Obviously, things don’t really go according to plan…

Catch Motherhood on TVNZ+ 11 May.

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Luping’s Animated Drama Receives Fresh Shorts Funding

Script to Screen announced the three films selected for the 2024 Kōpere Hou – Fresh Shorts fund. DEGANZ member and current Incubator participant Jo Luping is attached as director for the animated drama I Duok om I Bohuntung – The Owl and the Rainbow.

Kōpere Hou Fresh Shorts is a short film fund offering development resources and a grant of $30,000 per film from the NZ Film Commission. Across six weeks, the teams will participate in workshops and receive mentorships to refine their stories, visions, and production plans.

This year was particularly competitive, with 119 applications submitted for the grant.

Congratulations to Jo and the team! We look forward to watching I Duok om I Bohuntung – The Owl and the Rainbow when it is out.

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DEGANZ Members Make the (Short) Cut(s)

DEGANZ members Gal Hochman, Gwen Lin, Ashley Pitman, and Isabelle Hoskyn are in the 2024 cohort of PASC’s Short Cuts Lab.

Gal and Gwen have been selected as the writer/directors of their projects Lure and The Food Baby, respectively. Ashley is joining PASCies Charisse Uy and Raul Sharma as the director of Phoenix. DEGANZ’s own Izzi is joining Gwen and Sara Chen as co-producer of The Food Baby.

Short Cuts is a short film development lab, designed to improve Pan-Asian representation in the scripted short film space. It aims to help participants advance applications for production grants and strengthen their projects to pursue independent funding. Participants will take part in a series of workshops and discussions over a weekend intensive, led by Dr Shuchi Kothari.

Find out more about the participants here.

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