‘Teine’ and the Bonds that Bind Us

DEGANZ member Giselle Ilaoa celebrated the premiere of her debut short film Teine at the Third Culture Film Festival. The film screened as part of The Bonds that Bind Us programme, a collection of films with themes of putting family before oneself.

Teine focuses on the dutiful eldest daughter within a Samoan household. With the weight of her responsibility and expectations from her family, she struggles to maintain a grasp on her own aspirations in life.

Giselle shared with PISA,

Through ‘Teine’, I aim to share the profound alofa and respect I hold for the women in my life, my elders, and my Samoan heritage, and I hope audiences are able to watch it and feel the same connection woven throughout.

Congratulations Giselle!

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Incubator Alumi’s Mahi at Melbourne Women in Film Festival

The Melbourne Women in Film Festival (MWFF) recognises Incubator alumni Mary-Lyn Chambers (2022) and Ella Gilbert (Rongowhakaata/Ngāti Kahungunu) (2023) at this year’s festival. Each year, MWFF celebrates women’s stories on screen by facilitating the participation of women and gender-diverse creatives and audiences.

Mary-Lyn’s Karanga is one of two films to open the festival. The 17-minute short is a dance and spoken word exploration of the intersectionality of descendants of both Māori and Pākehā. It centres on the late Tiahuia Te Puea Hērangi Ramahana Gray (Ngāi Tahu, Rangitāne, Tainui), well-known for her extensive public service in Wellington. Her daughter, Merenia Gray, choreographed the piece. The work is a love letter to Tiahuia and a tribute to all mothers. Mary-Lyn and Merenia will both be in attendance at the festival’s opening night.

Mary Mary, written and directed by Ella, will screen in the Freshly Squeezed Shorts 1 programme. Set in 1963 Aotearoa, an out-of-wedlock pregnancy forces 18-year-old Mary to take things into her own hands, at great personal risk. The short was funded and made through the 2022 Someday Stories initiative (now called Day One Shorts).

See the festival’s full programme here.

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‘Avatar: The Last Airbender’ is on Fire

Netflix’s live-action adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender takes the number one ranking on the global streaming service, with 21.2 million views (so far!) this week alone. DEGANZ member Roseanne Liang is a series co-executive producer and one of four directors, with fans and critics alike agreeing that her episodes are some of the season’s best.

The series reimagines the acclaimed animated Nickelodeon series of the same name, literally bringing the characters and fantasy world to life. Young Aang, the Avatar and master of all four elements, must hone his powers to save the world rampaged by war at the hand of the ruthless Fire Nation.

Roseanne directed episodes five and six of the eight-part series, which explore the Spirit Realm and dive deeper into the character’s backstories. Episode six, Masks, is receiving particular approval for the way it balances the show’s extensive lore, character development, and action.

All episodes are available to stream on Netflix now.

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Maihi is a Berlinale Talent

DEGANZ member and 2017 Incubator alum Renae Maihi attended the 2024 Berlinale Talents Summit as a selected writer/director.

Each year, the renowned Berlinale Film Festival hosts the talent development programme to foster the growth of the world’s top emerging filmmakers. Participants attend The Summit in Berlin for a week of discipline-specific workshops, talks with acclaimed guests, and project development labs. They also join the Berlinale Global Community, an exclusive group of filmmakers and professionals to find support, inspiration, and potential collaborators.

This year, Renae and 201 other talents were selected from a record 3,832 applications from 131 countries. She attended the highly competitive programme as the sole participant from Aotearoa and the only Indigenous filmmaker in the group.

She shared with DEGANZ about her time at The Summit,

Highlights of my time at Berlinale Talents include listening to Martin Scorsese and Lupita Nyong’o talk for us about their careers, dinner with director Wes Anderson’s Art Department collaborator, the lovely Simon Weisse, as well as a direct invitation from the European branch of the Academy to be a member. I found some future collaborators who were also talents in the program working at the top level in their countries. Definitely an excellent time in Berlin.

The Summit took place from 17-22 February with the theme, Common Toungues: Speaking Out in the Language of Cinema.

It’s great to see Renae being recognised for her mahi on such a large international scale!

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Songs of Praise for ‘Miles from Nowhere’

The new comedy-drama series Miles From Nowhere, directed by 2021 Incubator alum Ghazaleh Golbakhsh (DEGANZ) and co-edited by DEGANZ board member Ben Powdrell, dropped on 21 February to great praise.

The show centres on Said, a young Kiwi-Muslim songwriter in the middle of a crisis. His fiance left him, his career’s non-existent, and his mum worries he’s losing touch with his faith. Yet, he risks it all when he befriends the Security Intelligence Services agent monitoring him.

While Said is the series’ protagonist, the show has been praised for the cast of characters that builds the community around him. Critics have also applauded the show’s dry wit that calls out and shatters stereotypes of the Muslim community in Aotearoa.

Season 1 is out now on SkyGo and Neon.

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