Rupture Selects DEGANZ Members Currie and Tuiburelevu

Max Currie (DEGANZ) will take part in Rupture, a new development programme for series writers. Additionally, fellow member Litia Tuiburelevu joins writer Coco Solid’s team as a collaborator.

The pilot programme aims to bring together powerful storytellers to shake up and deepen episodic series development in Aotearoa. Over six months, Rupture will provide the teams with resources and support to come together, experiment, and explore pathways to market. The participants will take their practice to the next level through intensive story labs, ongoing support from local and international practitioners, and development funding for their series projects.

To select the writer-creator participants, Rupture sought nominations from screen industry partners before inviting expressions of interest from applicants. A rigorous selection process followed to ensure those selected were experienced enough for the intensive.

Congratulations and all the best to Max and Litia with the programme!

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Day One Shorts (formerly Someday Stories) Selects Townsend’s ‘Wilbert Wire’

Day One Shorts (formerly Someday Stories) selected DEGANZ member Ricky Townsend‘s Wilbert Wire as one of the eight commissioned projects for 2024.

Ricky is the project’s writer/director and is joined by Ella Waswo (producer) and Joseph Chamsay (co-producer) to bring his sci-fi/family short film to life. It follows a robot art student, othered by his human teacher and classmates, who is tasked with creating a painting about love.

Day One Shorts will provide the scripted teams with $20k to produce their films. They will also receive wrap-around talent development support, including workshops, professional script consultancy, and mentorships for the directors and producers.

This support has already kicked off for the year as Day One welcomed the teams to come together for the programme’s annual two-day hui. During the two days, they worked with development consultants, spoke with former series alumni, and took part in workshops from industry professionals.

We look forward to seeing Wilbert Wire when it comes out later this year!

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Raman and Lawrence Plant the Seeds for Features

Congratulations to DEGANZ members Kishan Raman and Jamie Lawrence for being selected for the New Zealand Writer Guild’s Seed Grant!

They are two of six writers (out of 122 applications) to receive funds from the highly competitive grant, designed for first-time feature filmmakers to develop their screenplay drafts. Both Kishan and Jamie will receive $2,500 to go towards script consultation.

Read more about their qualifying projects below:

Kishan Raman

Rise Up

When a risk-averse dreamer unexpectedly beats his wealthy high school rival in a council election, he now must deliver on his campaign promise: the grandest charity concert Hamilton has ever seen.

Jamie Lawrence

Daz

Confronted by the doll he secretly played with as a boy, an introverted bloke must redefine what it means to “be a man” in order to save her life and change his own.

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DEGANZ Members at Māoriland

Many DEGANZ members’ mahi have been selected to show during the 2024 Māoriland Film Festival!

This year marks the biggest one yet for the festival with 168 films and video works from over 130 Indigenous nations. The festival will take place in Ōtaki on the Kapiti Coast across five days in late March.

Congratulations to the members selected!

Kokako

Directed by Douglas Brooks

An aspiring ornithologist is forced to process the loss of her grandmother while isolated in the South Island bush as she looks for the thought-to-be-extinct kokako bird.

Maggie

Directed by Cian Elyse White

In 1923, Te Arawa was the first Māori woman to complete her doctorate at Oxford University in England. 100 years later, her granddaughter honours her by painting a 24ft mural in the heart of Rotorua CBD.

Lea Tupu’anga / Mother Tongue

Directed by Vea Mafile’o

Katherine, a young speech therapist of Tongan and European heritage lies about her Tongan language skills to get a job with an elderly Tongan patient who has lost his ability to speak English. When communication breaks down, Katherine must find a way to communicate with her patient or risk jeopardising his health and her career.

Inky Pinky Ponky

Co-directed by Ramon Te Wake

A young fakaleiti (Tongan trans woman) must navigate her way through the world of rugby players, Island mums, gender fluidity, and teenage micro-aggressions to find happiness in an unexpected place.

What’s the Disabili-Tea: Misty Frequency

Directed by Justin Scott (Board Member)

Co-produced by Robyn Paterson (Board President)

Misty Frequency is a non-binary, takatāpui, pansexual drag performer, fashion designer, and make-up artist living in Tāmaki Makaurau. As they prepare for a performance for Drag Wars, a drag competition with $500 on the line, they also process a new diagnosis for Autism.

Hey Brainy Man

Co-directed by Loren Taylor

Co-produced by Jaimee Poipoi (Incubator 2023)

A group of evolutionary losers give humankind a performance appraisal. They love Homo Sapiens’ achievements but want to make sure we don’t mess the world up too much in the process.

Maunga Cassino

Directed by Paolo Rotondo

A battle-hardened Māori soldier and an Italian deserter both find shelter in an abandoned stable in WWII Italy. Despite the circumstances they meet, the connection between the two is not lost.

Māori Time

Directed by Tim Worrall

While caught in a full-blown, alpha-male, mid-life crisis, Quinn has to confront his fear of death and abandonment when an ancient skull is unearthed by builders on the building site of his new grandiose house.

Daisy Does Lunch

Co-produced by Jaimee Poipoi (Incubator 2023)

An unsuspecting Danni is lured to a seemingly chill lunch with her social hockey teammates, only to find a messy intervention where each guest has their own agenda. Tensions rise, noses break, and friendships are tested when Danni has to ask herself if she’s really okay.

 

Check out the festival’s full schedule or watch the trailer for a sneak peek!

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Te Wake Celebrates Community in ‘The Boy, The Queen and Everything in Between’

DEGANZ member Ramon Te Wake‘s new series The Boy, The Queen and Everything in Between is out now.

The series, co-directed, co-produced, and written by Ramon, follows Jacob, a young father fresh out of prison and in desperate need of a job. Dire circumstances push him to seek out his estranged father Max, Aotearoa’s most famous drag queen. While the titular boy and queen’s relationship is the show’s focal point, the show also delves into the Karangahape Road club Max runs and the community within and around it.

Ramon shares in an interview with Stuff that the series is a love letter to her community,

K’ Road will always be a source of inspiration for me for anything I do.

With Ramon at the helm, the production also prioritised authentic casting, wanting the queer roles to be “of lived experience.” Ramon has always been and continues to be a massive advocate for authentic representation of queer people on screen.

Celebrate K’ Road and the queer community with Ramon by watching The Boy, The Queen and Everything in Between on TVNZ+.

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