NHNZ Announce Two Scholarship Placements

For immediate release June 24, 2004

NHNZ Announce Two Scholarship Placements

Natural History New Zealand Limited is proud to announce that two recent graduates of the Otago University Postgraduate Diploma in Natural History Film Making have been offered scholarships with the company.

The two students, Sina Walker and Sandy Crichton, will start working with NHNZ production teams later in the year. Both will be based at NHNZ’s Dunedin offices. Sina and Sandy were chosen through a series of interviews with NHNZ producers and on the strength of the films they both made while completing Diploma course.

Titled Singing Wood, Sina’s film is a portrait of a Dunedin guitar maker and is describes as a hybrid between art film and social documentary. Sandy’s film, Lord of the Ringlets, is about a young boy’s quest to find a rare species of butterfly. Managing Director of NHNZ, Michael Stedman says:

“We are delighted and excited to have Sandy and Sina joining our team. Their films demonstrate a high level of technical competence. But more importantly they both possess a good knowledge of storytelling - to me that’s the cornerstone of great documentary making.” Both students have had some prior experience in the film and television industry. Sina had worked for Television New Zealand in Auckland and for the independent post-production company Oktober.

Originally from Britain, Sandy has previously worked as a camera operator for the BBC.

Now in its third year, the Postgraduate Diploma in Natural History Film Making is a joint project between the zoology department of Otago University and Natural History New Zealand Limited. Graduates of the course have come from as far away as the United States, South America, Britain, Australia and India.

ENDS

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