November 3 2008

New Zealand's Best Young Film Makers Celebrated

Free screenings for Cut! 08 National Secondary Schools Short Video Competition awards are now scheduled. This screenings celebrate the work of New Zealand's best young filmmakers, and offers a great chance to spot the leading directors of the future.

The 10 Cut! finalist films will be screened, and awards for the best film and category winners will be presented. The Cut! judges are Angela Littlejohn, producer (Apron Strings); filmmaker Daniel Strang (Playing a Role), and past Cut! winner Jonathan Marshall. The event will be hosted by Renee Casserly (Arts Waikato).

Date: Sunday 9th November 2008 Time: 11am - 12.30pm Venue: SkyCity Cinemas, Cinema 5, Centre Place Admission: Free

The 10 finalists in the CUT! 08 National High Schools Short Video Competition are:

- Game - Gisborne Boys High School

- Stick Figures - Catholic Cathedral College

- Beached - Auckland Grammar

- Chase - St Cuthberts College

- Les Enfants Du Paradis - St Dominic's College

- The Meeting - Nelson College

- Blackbird - Burnside High School

- The Death of Mr Saracini - St Dominic's College

- Corrupt - Westlake Boys High School

- Last Minute Movie - Christ's College

Wintec School of Media Arts congratulates the finalists and commends all entrants for their hard work in completing their films. More than 60 entries were received, and the calibre was again very high. The short film category was particularly strong this year, and consequently organisers have decided to award a runner-up prize in this category rather than a specific documentary award.

The films will be screened at Skycity Cinema Centre Place, Hamilton, on Sunday November 9th at 11am. The winning entries will be announced by our panel of judges at the end of the screening, and the winners presented with some great prizes, including an iMac with Avid Media Composer, a first year Wintec scholarship, Ricoh digital cameras, an iPod touch and more.

A great team of judges will again be deciding the award winners - film producer Angela Littlejohn (Apron Strings); independent filmmaker Daniel Strang (Playing a Role), who has won a number of awards for his films and music videos; and past winner of Cut! Jonathan Marshall, who is currently in his 3rd year of a Media Arts degree at Wintec, majoring in Moving Image. There will be an opportunity for students and teachers to talk to these judges and the Wintec Moving Image tutors after the screening.

To attend the Cut! Awards Screening simply emailing dawn.tuffery@wintec.ac.nz or call (07) 834 8800 ext 7576 by November 7th. Admission is free.

Cut! is organised by Wintec's School of Media Arts, and generously supported by Avid, Lapshop, Techniq, Ricoh, Focal Press, Elsevier, Dick Smith Electronics, Hamilton City Council, SkyCity and Burgerfuel.

ENDS