E rau rangatira mā o te Ao Kiriata, tēnā koutou katoa.
He Ara (Pathway) funding supports Māori and/or Pacific Island filmmakers to create a diverse range of quality New Zealand content using their own way of working.
Congratulations to the team selected to receive funding from Te Rautaki Māori He Ara Development fund in 2021.
Sweetshop & Green: $50,000
Led by Sharlene George (Cook Islands Māori), Sweetshop & Green is a New Zealand and Australian production company focused on producing local film and TV projects for global audiences. The company is a new partnership between global commercial production company Sweetshop, and one of Israel’s leading independent film production companies Green Productions.
Sweetshop & Green started its journey into film and television in October 2019 with very clear goals and ambitions leading with the company ethos; produce excellent content for a global audience. From this stance they further developed some company mandates:
- Create stories that move global audiences
- Develop and produce high quality content with local talent
- Provide high level content services for commercial clients locally and globally
- Embody and encourage cultural and gender diversity throughout all projects.
Sweetshop & Green's sensibilities lie with culturally diverse stories that are artistically driven. They specialise in international co-productions, developing and producing distinct projects for identified international audiences. At present, the Sweetshop & Green New Zealand slate contains 90% Māori and Pacific projects working with a broad range of mostly wahine Māori writers and directors.