Six Teams Awarded Funding for Kōpere Hou - Fresh Shorts
Six filmmaking teams have been selected for Kōpere Hou Fresh Shorts. Each team will receive development support, and a grant of $25,000 to make their short film.
Kōpere Hou Fresh Shorts is a popular fund; this round we received 89 applications. Eighteen were shortlisted and went on to submit a more detailed application to Whiringa Tuarua - Stage Two. From those eighteen submissions, six have been selected.
The writers, producers and directors of the six funded teams are supported to further develop and refine their story, vision, and production plans. They attend a workshop that is carefully planned to meet the needs of these projects, and the filmmakers work with experienced advisors over an intense three-week period. “This process both challenges and nurtures the teams, encouraging them to take creative risks,” says Jackie Dennis, Executive Director at Script to Screen. “The intent is to provide thoughtful support so they can craft exceptional films that get noticed.”
The selected projects include an animation, a comedy and a psychological drama. Team members hail from Northland, Auckland, Wellington, Tasman and Canterbury. Three of the directors are female. Two of the projects had been shortlisted before without being selected and, after further work on their project, resubmitted this year with success. We hope this will be encouraging for the teams that did not make it through this year.
Dale Corlett, Head of Talent Development at the New Zealand Film Commission says, "A huge thanks and acknowledgement to all the applicants for this year’s Kōpere Hou Fresh Shorts. It is always very humbling and rewarding for us to read and experience your stories, we thank you for choosing to share them with us. We are very excited about the filmmaking teams and the films selected this year. They are challenging, thought provoking, touching, funny and entertaining."
The six selected teams and their projects are (L-R):
Beast Mode
Chye-Ling Huang (W/D) and Joyce Wong (P)
Grassroots
Aaron Ly (W/D) and Isaiah Tour (P)
Invisible Dragons
Victoria Boult (W/D), Madison Henry-Ryan (P) and Mikaela Rüegg (P)
Josephine
Stef Harris (W/D) and Patsy Burke (P)
Mirumiru (Bubble)
Allan George (W/D) and Jason Taylor (P)
Tall Hours
Sophie Black (W/D) and Esther Leilua (P)
READ MORE ABOUT THE PARTICIPANTS HERE
Kōpere Hou Fresh Shorts is a New Zealand Film Commission initiative run in partnership with Script to Screen.