Big Girls Don’t Cry… They Open NZIFF

After premiering at Sundance earlier this year, Big Girls Don’t Cry is returning to Aotearoa as the opening night film for this year’s Whānau Mārama New Zealand International Film Festival (NZIFF).

Edited by Cushla Dillon (DEGANZ) and Chia-Chi Hsu, the feature is a tender coming-of-age portrait of girlhood, set in early 2000s Matakana. The film follows 14-year-old Sid as she’s caught between childhood and adolescence, navigating burgeoning sexual curiosity, and grappling with a desperate need for acceptance and all the clumsiness of growing up. Playing out in the era of dial-up internet and reality TV, the film weaves together themes of queer adolescence, class shame and identity, at a moment when the wider world was starting to seep into small-town Aotearoa.

Beyond screening at Sundance in the World Dramatic Competition, the film also joined other major international festivals, including SXSW, British Film Institute: Flare London and Toronto International Film Festival: New Wave.

Festival artistic director Paolo Bertolin comments on the selection, saying,

We selected Big Girls Don’t Cry for our Opening Night because it stands among the world’s best films of 2026. It’s a beautifully made, uniquely New Zealand take on universal themes.

Big Girls Don’t Cry will kick off NZIFF in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland on 29 July, before a broader schedule of screenings at 10 other towns and cities across Aotearoa.

 

/by

George Selected for Māoriland Indigenous Co-Lab

Congratulations to DEGANZ member Allan George, who has been selected for the Māoriland Indigenous Co-Lab. Allan is participating in the programme as the writer/director of Ancestral Fusion, alongside producer Jason Taylor.

The Māoriland Indigenous Co-Lab is a Māori-led advanced development programme designed to accelerate Indigenous feature film projects. It supports Māori and Indigenous filmmakers in strengthening their creative vision, developing financing-ready materials, and creating proof-of-concept films through a uniquely Indigenous and globally connected process.

The programme is delivered in three phases. It begins with an eight-week paid writers’ residency at the Māoriland Hub, where participants work closely with advisors and mentors to develop their scripts. In Phase Two, project teams refine their pitching skills and create visual development materials with graphic design support. The final phase is a 10-day directing lab in Ōtaki, where teams rehearse, shoot, and edit a proof-of-concept scene with the support of a professional crew and industry mentors.

We look forward to seeing where Allan and the team take Ancestorial Fusion after the Co-Lab!

 

/by

Stories Too Real for the Algorithm: DEGANZ Members at Doc Edge 2026

After unveiling a first glimpse of this year’s festival, Doc Edge has now released its full programme under the theme ‘F*&k the Algorithm: See the Stories Too Real for Social Media.’

Among the selected works are films from DEGANZ members Phillida Perry, Richard Curtis, Jonno Woodford-Robinson ANZSE, Kim Webby, and Mike Jonathan.

For the past 21 years, Doc Edge has served as Aotearoa’s national hub for documentary storytelling. As an Oscar-qualifying festival and the leading Asia-Pacific destination for documentary film, it champions the creation, support, and celebration of powerful real stories.

Explore our members’ mahi below, and support Aotearoa’s local screen industry by catching a screening or two during the festival!

Good Kunst

Short Film Category: Leaving a Mark

Director: Phillida Perry

When a group of Kiwi women bring their hard-won art collection to auction, long-held bonds are tested as the true value of friendship, ambition, and art are put under the hammer.

Phillida will be at all Auckland screenings for Q&As.

NZ Wars: Stories of Waerenga a Hika

Special Presentation Category

Co-Director: Richard Curtis

In 1865, the pā at Waerenga-a-Hika became the flashpoint for one of the most significant conflicts of the New Zealand Wars. Within its walls, hundreds of Māori—men, women, and children—endured a siege that would irrevocably alter the future of Tūranganui-a-Kiwa.

NZ Wars: Stories of Waerenga-a-Hika returns to this sacred site through the voices of descendants whose ancestors lived, fought, and survived. Blending intimate storytelling and dramatic reconstruction with the very landscapes where these events unfolded, the film brings to light a history long overlooked by many, but never forgotten by those who carry it.

More than a chronicle of battle, this film is an act of remembrance and reclamation. It reflects on the enduring legacy of war and land loss while honouring the profound resilience of the Tūranga communities.

There’s a Hole in My Bucket

Being Oneself Category

Co-Editor: Jonno Woodford-Robinson ANZSE

The best tribute isn’t a speech—it’s a bucket list.

When Royd Tolkien, great-grandson of J R R Tolkien, loses his brother, Mike, to Motor Neurone Disease (ALS), Mike leaves behind one final act of love and mischief: a bucket list of 50 challenges designed to drag his reluctant, comfort-zone-hugging brother into the land of the living. What follows is an unexpected journey across New Zealand that pushes a grieving man further than he ever imagined possible. Narrated by Benedict Cumberbatch, with Peter Jackson, Billy Boyd, John Rhys-Davies and Weta Workshop along for the ride, the film is a raucous, tender argument that the best eulogy isn’t a speech, it’s a bucket list.

Unlikely Kin

Turangawaewae Where We Stand Category

Directors: Kim Webby & Mike Jonathan

Whales, trees, and kinship beyond species.

Filmed over five years, the film follows elder Hori Parata (Ngāti Wai) and his son Te Kaurinui as they lead the sacred practice of harvesting stranded whales—not for consumption, but to honour whakapapa and revive traditional medicine used to treat kauri dieback, a disease killing New Zealand’s ancient trees. Alongside this, we follow their conservation work protecting the kiore, the Polynesian rat that arrived in Aotearoa with the great Māori migration. Interweaving themes of kinship between species, cultural survival, and Māori-led conservation, the film offers rare access to a sacred world where whales, forests, and even rats are revered as living ancestors.

Kim and Mike will be at all Auckland screenings for Q&As.

 

/by

‘Smoky’ Among Seven Global Debut Features Shortlisted for YDA

DEGANZ member James Fink-Jensen‘s debut feature film Smoky has been shortlisted for Best First Feature at the 2026 Young Director Award (YDA) in Cannes, France.

Established in 1998 by the Commercial Film Producers of Europe, YDA is a non-profit initiative dedicated to discovering, supporting and elevating emerging directing talent. The organisation champions the role of producers as active partners in talent development, helping directors refine their craft, find their voice and build sustainable careers in the screen industry. Over nearly three decades, YDA has become a respected platform where new filmmakers connect with established industry professionals, test fresh ideas and launch long-term careers.

Smoky is one of just seven debut features selected from around the world and the only film from Aotearoa to be shortlisted this year.

James will travel to Cannes later this month to represent the film at the awards event.

Congratulations to James and safe travels!

 

/by

DEGANZ Watch List: Cops, Culture and a Rugby Icon

,

This week, we’ve got a new crime drama series, the trailer for the highly anticipated feature doco Lomu, a new music video from a local artist, and a new factual tele-special!

DEGANZ member Max Currie leads the lineup with Bust Up, a fresh take on the buddy-cop crime genre, while Vea Mafile’o (DEGANZ) and co-director Gavin Fitzgerald’s Lomu offers an intimate portrait of one of the most iconic figures in rugby history ahead of its NZIFF premiere.

Director and editor Gwen Lin (DEGANZ) brings a distinctive visual style to local musician Lehali’s music video for her new electronic dance pop song ‘@kateshepp_1893.’ Meanwhile, fellow member Fa’alava’au Jeremiah Tauamiti’s tele special 400 Weddings and a Funeral, edited by Debbie Matthews (DEGANZ), celebrates the humour, heart and cultural significance of Pasifika ceremonies in Aotearoa.

Check them out below:

Bust Up

Crime Drama Series

Directors: Max Curries and Awanui Simich-Pene

A bold six-part one-hour crime drama, Bust Up puts a fresh spin on the buddy-cop genre: the two cops at the centre of the story are ex-lovers. Starring Morgana O’Reilly (The White Lotus, Housebound) and Roimata Fox (A Remarkable Place To Die, The Wrecking Crew), the series follows former romantic partners Deb Brighton and Mihi Renata, who are unexpectedly reunited after a decade apart and forced to work side‑by‑side as police officers in the small fictional town of Waitote, the garden gnome capital of Aotearoa. Together, the pair must navigate a series of crimes as bizarre as they are dangerous, and as the stakes escalate, so does the emotional tension, pushing Deb and Mihi to confront the unresolved feelings they’ve spent years trying to bury.

Available to stream on Neon.

 

Lomu

Feature Documentary Trailer

Directors: Vea Mafile’o and Gavin Fitzgerald

Ahead of its Aotearoa premiere in NZIFF as the festival’s centrepiece film, the trailer for feature documentary Lomu has been released. The film is a powerful and compelling portrait of the man behind the legend, Jonah Lomu, the most adored son of the Pacific, a legendary All Black, who transcended the game with his immense power and unstoppable determination.

 

@kateshepp_1893

Music Video

Director, DOP, and Editor: Gwen Lin

The official music video for ‘@kateshepp_1893’ by local artist Lehali. Shot on location in the Hamilton Gardens.

 

400 Weddings and a Funeral

Factual Series

Director: Fa’alava’au Jeremiah Tauamiti

Editor: Debbie Matthews

Join hosts Bella Kalolo and Haanz Fa’avae-Jackson on a cultural deep dive into Pasifika weddings and funerals in Aotearoa! It’s packed with laughs, traditions, and insights from iconic Pasifika personalities.

Available to watch on TVNZ+.

 

/by