Day One Shorts To Premiere At New Zealand’s Top Short Film Festival

Show Me Shorts Film Festival is partnering with Aotearoa New Zealand’s leading filmmaker development organisation Day One Hāpai te Haeata to host the world premiere of eight short films.

The films were created as part of the Day One Shorts programme, commissioned by Day One Hāpai te Haeata with funding from NZ On Air and Te Māngai Pāho. The programme aims to provide upskilling opportunities for young people wanting to explore impact storytelling on screen.

Show Me Shorts Festival Director Gina Dellabarca says, “These shorts are made by talented young filmmakers who are interested in exploring stories about cultural, social and political issues. They are boldly taking story risks, pushing the envelope, and looking to the future.

Day One Hāpai te Haeata Executive Director Chris Widdup says, “Since 2017, Day One has commissioned over fifty films from new screen voices and we are very excited and honoured to be partnering with Show Me Shorts to help connect the filmmakers to as broad an audience as possible for our latest crop of films. For the films to be setting out into the world with the stamp of approval that Show Me Shorts represents is an amazing tautoko.”

The films in the Chinese Focus collection are:

1. (Door Gods) – Animation directed by Professor Sun Lijun. Synopsis: Two Chinese deities who guard the doorway get into a farce due to their competition for superiority, which results in both sides suffering defeat.
2. (The Wanderer) – Fantasy directed by Yue Shi. Synopsis: Since his death, Fu Ci has been wandering the mortal world, reluctant to move on to the next life.
3. (Untitled) – Animation directed by Chunjing Zhang, Beilu Fan. Synopsis: A lone grasshopper plays out its monotonous and repetitive daily routine alone in the apocalypse.
4. (The Dream of Death and Life) – Fantasy directed by Xinyuan Zhang. Synopsis: On a snowy winter night, a girl is searching for traces of her lost brother when she comes across an old wolf on the verge of death.
5. (The Leftovers) – Science fiction directed by Yuan Zhang. Synopsis: In a wasteland world shrouded in volcanic ash, Ji Simin watches over those sleeping in hibernation chambers, including her mother.
6. (Friends) – Drama directed by Zihao Yu. Synopsis: Two elementary school students become friends by chance after school, only to see their beautiful bond vanish as quickly as it formed.
7. (Representative, Please) – Comedy directed by Hanlin Liu. Synopsis: During a sleepless night, a man attempts to get help from an automated customer service phone system.

An eighth Chinese short film Help Me Tom , an animation directed by Jiahang Yang, will screen in The Sampler collection at Show Me Shorts, which travels to 40 cinemas nationwide.

The film (Representative, Please) will feature at Auckland Opening Night , where it will make its world premiere and be introduced by the director Hanlin Liu.

The film (Door Gods) will feature at Wellington Opening Night , where it will be introduced by the director Professor Sun Lijun (former Vice Chair of Beijing Film Academy). Professor Sun will also headline a panel discussion called Growing Animation in Aotearoa, which will take place during Industry Day at the festival.

Another guest, Mr Chunjing Zhang will introduce his film (Untitled) at the Auckland screening and also discuss the making of his film at the Auckland Filmmaker Talk during Industry Day.

Tickets are now on sale for the Chinese Focus screenings:

• Auckland – 6:00pm Wednesday 8 October at Academy Cinemas
• Wellington – 6:30pm Friday 10 October at Light House Cuba
• Christchurch – 4:15pm Saturday 11 October at Alice Cinemas
• Christchurch – 6:15pm Thursday 16 October at Alice Cinemas

To book head here:

https://www.showmeshorts.co.nz/news/2025chinesefocus

Booking is recommended as tickets are limited. The full programme for Show Me Shorts

will be announced next week. Further information and tickets are available via showmeshorts.co.nz

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