Thu 16 Feb 2017 In: New Zealand Daily News View at Wayback View at NDHA
New Zealand filmmakers have won two of four awards presented last night at a festival of short films presented as part of the Aroha17 Festival of Ideas, itself part of the Auckland Pride Festival. Over 2,000 short films were submitted from around the world and were whittled down to thirty which organiser Mika says needed to feature "authentic voices... to be made by and be about the life experiences of the people presented in the films." The emerging LGBTIQ Filmmakers Award was presented to Moko Namana (pictured, with certificate) for Tu Tika, Tu Pono, a Maori language film which documents several generations of takataapui talking about their lives. Namana is a new graduate of the South Seas Film School. The Emerging Writers Award was won by Kaylene Tewake and Joegen Daniels for their film Parting Stage, about the difficulties faced by young people trying to sustain friendships. Two other awards were presented: Italian film Colla won for Best International Film Award for Originality and Fresh Perspectives and American webseries PRIDE, The Series took out the New Media Award. The awards were presented as part of an evening of short films and red-carpet glitz with celebs and film-makers turning out in force for a screening of The Unbidden, a queer-themed psychological thriller directed by gay film-maker Quentin Lee.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Thursday, 16th February 2017 - 9:28am