Show Me Shorts Film Festival and Script to Screen have announced the names of six up-and-coming screenwriters who will participate in the fourth Short Film Lab on 9 November 2013, a hothouse mentoring scheme for New Zealand writers to workshop fresh new ideas for short film.
The 2013 Short Film Lab participants are: Ben Walton, Simon Hall, Andy James, Paula W Jones, Nic Gorman and Cathy Macdonald.
Show Me Shorts’ Education Programmes Manager Emma Blomkamp said, “We are proud that we can help to identify and support New Zealand’s next Taika Waititi or Jane Campion.”
During the course of the full-day lab hosted by the University of Auckland’s Film, TV and Media Studies Department, the selected participants will work intensively to develop their ideas for new short films. They will be guided by experienced industry practitioners who have excelled in short filmmaking, including Jackie van Beek, Michael Bennett and Shuchi Kothari.
The selection panel – which included independent filmmaker and lecturer Jake Mahaffy, writer and script consultant Kathryn Burnett, Chair of the Ngā Aho Whakaari Board Mika Haka, Script to Screen Executive Director Esther Cahill-Chiaroni and Show Me Shorts Festival Director Gina Dellabarca – was encouraged by the quality and diversity of applications. Mika noted, “I was impressed with the innovation in ideas coming from our diverse communities, especially from writers exploring away from stereotypical characters and expectations.”
Faced with the difficult choice of selecting six successful applicants from an 18-strong shortlist, Kathryn Burnett explained, “We ultimately chose the applicants we felt had the combination of strong, original voice and interesting ideas that we hadn’t seen.”
Jake Mahaffy added, “We hope all applicants will continue to develop their own unique approaches to filmmaking and look forward to seeing their work in the near future.”
A joint venture between Script to Screen and Show Me Shorts, with the support of the New Zealand Film Commission and The University of Auckland’s Screen Production programme, the Short Film Lab has been finding and nurturing future filmmaking talent since 2010.
This year, the first film developed with the assistance of the Short Film Lab – Lauren Jackson’s I’m Going to Mum’s – will screen in the My Generation session of Show Me Shorts Film Festival 2013. The My Generation session is a special selection of high quality, fun and educational short films suitable for families and school groups.
Lauren Jackson and co-producer Andrew Cochrane will also be speaking at the Auckland Short Film Talk presented by Show Me Shorts and Yoobee on Tuesday 12 November. Details of the Short Film Talks, Short Film Lab and Show Me Shorts’ other educational programmes can be found at http://www.showmeshorts.co.nz/education/.
Script to Screen’s diverse offering of programmes to develop the craft and culture of storytelling for the screen in Aotearoa, New Zealand, can be found at http://www.script-to-screen.co.nz.
