NZFC grants He Ara to Māoriland Productions
We are very excited to announce that MĀORILAND PRODUCTIONS is a recipient of a He Ara grant from the New Zealand Film Commission. This grant will help Maoriland to develop a slate of Indigenous-led feature films.Māoriland has established a production company to support the talents of Māori and Indigenous storytellers. Over the Covid-19 lockdown, we have supported the writing and development of feature and short films both in Aotearoa and Internationally.
Making the announcement, NZFC CEO Annabelle Sheehan said that a record number of applications – 90 – were received across the three initiatives and the request for funds totalled $4.6M. “The number of applications indicates the importance of these funds to the industry during these challenging times. Assessors were all impressed by the high quality of the businesses and projects pitched, making the decisions tightly debated. It’s clear that New Zealand screen companies are ready to move forward with some great projects.”
Congratulations too to He Ara recipients Desray Armstrong (Te Aitanga-ā-Hauiti, Ngāti Porou) of Sandy Lane Productions and Karin Williams (Kuki Airini) of Multinesia Productions.
NZFC Boost funding also announced for Māori production companies and producers including Piki Films, Wheke Group, Brown Sugar Grunt, Awa Films, Lara Northcroft, Morgan Waru and Angela Cudd.
Koia e uru mai ai te wairua manahau – there’s a lot to be excited about!!