‘Still Here’ for Season Two

Award-winning docuseries Still Here is back for season two, with multiple DEGANZ members on the team! Litia Tuiburelevu (DEGANZ) directed and co-produced the series with fellow member Josh Yong as supervising producer and executive producer. Josh also edited episode four and provided additional editing for the first three. Also on the editorial team is Frangipani Foulkes (DEGANZ) as assistant editor for all four episodes.

Still Here celebrates the Pasifika community living in inner-city Auckland despite the decades of gentrification attempting to push them out. Season two profiles millennials from the remaining Pasifika families living in Tāmaki Makaurau’s affluent suburbs of Grey Lynn, Herne Bay, Ponsonby, and Western Springs. This season expands on season one’s core themes of resilience, identity, and identification, using an intergenerational lens to tell the story.

Some stories highlighted this season include Leki Jackson-Bourke, a community centre youth leader fighting to revitalise the Niuean language and culture, and Samoa House, the first-ever fale built outside Samoa, hidden in plain sight on K’ Road. Each episode is a love letter to the community it focuses on but emphasises the issues that threaten them.

The show is an unapologetic reminder of the Pasifika community’s unique Central Auckland indignity, proudly embraced by the younger generations, and that they and their families are still here.

You can watch season two on Re: or TVNZ+.

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March’s ‘I SEE YOU’ Boosted Campaign

DEGANZ member Briar March is crowdfunding to complete her new short film, I SEE YOU.

The film, written and directed by Briar, tells the story of a young mother struggling to see her 2-year-old daughter with Down Syndrome for who she is – a beautiful baby girl. Briar and the short’s producer, Caroline Hutchinson, share in the Boosted campaign that the film deeply resonates with their experiences of motherhood, as both are parents of children with Down Syndrome.

Briar shares with DEGANZ,

I wrote I SEE YOU to both challenge and inspire, questioning our judgments and expectations about the way we see the world and ultimately encouraging audiences to accept and embrace people for who they are.

The project has completed production with funding from the NZFC Fresh Shorts programme but needs a further financial push to carry out post-production. The $15,000 goal will go towards sound design, colour grade, and music. Briar has secured fellow DEGANZ member Adam-Luka Turjak as the film’s editor.

You can visit the Boosted campaign here!

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‘Juniper’ and its String of Successes

Juniper, written and directed by DEGANZ member Matthew Saville and edited by fellow member Peter Roberts, continues its successful run following the film’s release in 2021.

The film delves into the relationship between Ruth, played by Oscar-nominee Charlotte Rampling, and her grandson Sam. When the self-destructive teen and alcoholic grandmother are forced under the same roof, they discover unexpected insights into life and death.

The feature has earned nearly $USD1.1 million internationally and is pushing its way into the top 20 highest-grossing New Zealand films. So far, Juniper has played in theatres across Aotearoa, Australia, the US, Canada, the UK, and seven European countries (with further releases in the works).

In addition to its box office accomplishments, the film earned a spot in the 2023 Palm Springs International Film Festival’s Best of Fest list. Accompanying Juniper on the list are 30 of the festival’s top films of the year.

But the achievements don’t end there! Rotten Tomatoes announced its ranking of Best New Movies of 2023, with Juniper in the top 50 with its Certified Fresh score of 92%. The film, which is available on Apple TV, also topped the US Apple foreign film charts earlier this year in April.

Congratulations to Matthew, Peter, and the team for Juniper‘s prosperous theatrical run and critical recognition!

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NZFC Funding for Writer/Directors

NZFC announced their August funding decisions, with multiple DEGANZ members attached to projects as writer/directors.

Feature Film Production Investment

Lomu

Documentary

Logline: Experience the unstoppable force of Jonah Lomu, the greatest rugby player to walk the planet, whose indomitable spirit reshaped the game forever.

Writers/Directors: Vea Mafile’o and Gavin Fitzgerald

Early Development Funding Decisions

Childish

Drama

Logline: When a wealthy doctor suffers a serious stroke, the perfect lives of his wife and entitled adult children are turned upside down. But when they discover he has a secret family, all hell breaks loose.

Writer/Director: Jesse Griffin

Tandem

Drama

Logline: Struggling to accept the disability that detonated her Olympic dream, an ambitious low-vision cyclist finds a tandem pilot to steer her to victory, but their co-dependent relationship soon veers violently off-course.

Writer/Director: Pennie Hunt (Incubator 2020)

 

You can find the rest of the funding decisions on the NZFC website.

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‘Taking Back Our Beach’ Takes to Cinema Screens

Taking Back Our Beach, a feature documentary directed by Anton Steel (DEGANZ), is set to have its theatrical release in Aotearoa cinemas on 5 October.

The film looks at the community response to the 2011 cargo vessel Rena grounding on Ōtāiti (Astrolabe Reef) and the subsequent environmental disasters. The tonnes of heavy oil and diesel fuel split into the ocean devastated wildlife and washed up onto nearby beaches, making it Aotearoa’s worst maritime environmental disaster.

Anton tells the story through the eyes of the community affected, with a collection of interviews, archival footage, photos, re-enactments, and computer-generated imagery. The film focuses on the ongoing impact the grounding had on the Bay of Plenty community, and how the community has rallied despite it.

The 90-minute film premiered in this year’s DocEdge festival in the Making an Impact category. Now, it’ll be available to the wider public, with screenings throughout the Bay of Plenty, Auckland, the Coromandel, Christchurch, Northland, and Wellington, amongst others.

The film’s theatrical 5 October premiere marks the 12th anniversary of the grounding, making the release extra special for Anton and the team.

You can watch the trailer below!

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