How the West’s won!

02 August 2007

Outrageous Fortune dominated the Air New Zealand Screen Awards last night taking out six awards. bro’Town reminded us it’s ‘Morningside 4 Life’ with top honours for UKTV Best Comedy and newcomer ‘Run’ is our Rialto Channel Best Short Film.

The winners of the Air New Zealand Screen Awards, the country’s most prestigious film and television industry awards were announced last night (01 August, 2007) at a star-studded event at Auckland’s SKYCITY theatre.

The Awards, now in their third year, celebrate craft and creativity in our local film and television industry. Founded by the Screen Directors Guild of New Zealand (SDGNZ), the Air New Zealand Screen Awards is a night that highlights how healthy our local film and television industry is.

“These Awards are the culmination of four months of work to recognise and honour the finest people and productions in the New Zealand TV and film industry,” says SDGNZ president Annie Goldson.

“We have received an incredibly healthy number of submissions from every part of the industry and it’s great to see newcomers being honored alongside seasoned professionals.”

“The Judging was conducted by a group of top industry specialists all with extensive experience and recognition in their chosen fields. The competition has been fierce this year and according to our judges, choosing a winner for each category was really tough. The standard of winners further reflects the growing strength of local productions and the depth of talent in New Zealand’s film and television industries. It is always an honour to stand out from the pack and to be recognised by a jury of your peers.”

And the winners are…

The Air NZ Screen Awards 2007 – digital and short film winners

In the Digital Film categories Stefan Lewis’ story The Waimate Conspiracy takes the title of Images and Sound Best Digital Feature. An award well earned as Lewis turned to film production and directing for the sole purpose of bringing his critically acclaimed 1999 novel “The Waikikamukau Conspiracy” to the screen.

The Last Magic Show, the story of an out of work escape artist who believes he possesses magical powers, earned Duncan Cole the of Images and Sound Technical Contribution to a Digital Film award.

Three short films were honoured at tonight’s Award’s ceremony. Run, a short film about the resilience and growth of a brother and sister relationship, provided director Mark Albiston with the Rialto Channel Best Short Film Award, and script writer Louis Sutherland with Rialto Channel Script for a Short Film.

20 year old Chelsie Preston Crayford took the title for Rialto Channel Performance in a Short Film for her role in Fog, a coming of age tale of a young boy hindered by his father’s expectations who escapes into the thick fog with a girl and emerges a man.

The Rialto Channel Technical Contribution to a Short Film award went to John Harding for his work on The King Boys, a short film set in 1946 where the popular sport of wrestling gives a boy’s life purpose.

“There was a strong presence of digital features in this year’s competition, many of which were highly innovative, indicating a shift in the field with greater numbers being able to access the funding and resources to produce feature length work.
New Zealand has a strong tradition in short film and this years crop of finalists and winners indicates that this strength is building,” says Goldson.

The Air New Zealand Screen Awards 2007 – Television

Everyone loves the West family and they had plenty of reason to celebrate throughout the evening taking home six trophies. The South Pacific Pictures series Outrageous Fortune took out top honours being recognised as Sony Best Drama. Director Simon Bennett was awarded the SDGNZ Achievement in Directing, Drama/ Comedy programme, with Robyn Malcolm picking up the Performance by an Actress award for her role as Cheryl West. Antony Star was honoured for his dual role as Jethro and Van with the Performance by an Actor award and his co-star Frank Whitten took home the Performance by a Supporting Actor gong. James Griffin scooped the award for Script, Drama for his Outrageous Fortune Xmas Special.

Other drama programmes to be honoured last night were Maddigan’s Quest and Shortland Street.

Maddigan’s Quest (South Pacific Pictures) took out three categories claimed Best Children’s Programme; Images and Sounds Contribution to a Soundtrack for Carl Smith, Rodney Larsen and Steve Finnigan; Achievement in Original Music for Victoria Kelly; and Contribution to Design for Tracey Collins.

Anna Jullienne picked up the Performance by a Supporting Actress gong for her role in Shortland Street.

Proving Morningside is alive and well in Auckland, Elizabeth Mitchell won the UKTV Best Comedy Programme for bro’Town.

Visionary Films Love, Speed and Loss took home three awards including New Zealand On Air Best Documentary, Achievement in Directing, Documentary for Justin Pemberton, and Images and Sound Achievement in Editing for Bryan Shaw.

Peter Young and Tracy Roe (Hunger for the Wild) were honoured for Best Factual Series. Young also received recognition for Achievement in Camerawork Documentary for his work on Country Calendar.

Dancing with the Stars received double honours with Debra Kelleher awarded Best Lifestyle/Entertainment Programme and Presenter Entertainment/Factual for Jason Gunn. Ondrej Havas (Henderson to Hollywood) was honoured for Best Reality Series, Rupert MacKenzie (Hidden in the Numbers) for Achievement in Directing, Factual Programming / Entertainment.

Waka Huia TVNZ took Best Maori Language Programme, for their show Te Tau Whakamahara i a Tumatauenga, Best Event Broadcast went to Screentime/Maori Television team for Nā Rātou Mō Tātou - They Did It For Us, and Code/ Maori Television were honoured for Best Sports Programme with Code.

This year saw a total of 13 productions honoured across 24 television categories which is a fantastic outcome for the industry and the Air New Zealand Screen Awards.

“It’s really exciting to see the high calibre of winners and finalists from our local television industry. There is an incredible depth of talent which reinforces the strength of our industry and we hope they will use this recognition to achieve greater success both here and overseas,” says Goldson.

A full list of all Television & Film winners are included behind and also available as downloadable pdf files www.sdgnz.co.nz (click on the Awards tab from the home page).

ENDS

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