The New Zealand Film Commission’s Annual Report 2019-20
was tabled in Parliament on 27 January.
Releasing the report NZFC Chair Kerry Prendergast said, “It has been a challenging year for the screen sector, and one that has tested and proved its resilience. It is gratifying to see the sector thriving again and we are grateful to the government for recognising its value and importance with the Screen Sector Recovery Package which allows us to assist filmmakers directly affected by COVID-19 as well as to support capacity building and continue to produce high-quality drama for local and global audiences.”
In the 2019-20 financial year ten feature films received production financing to the value of $14.1M. 36% of films receiving development or production funding had Māori in two out of three key creative roles (writer, director, producer).
A record 842 applications for script development funding were received in 2019-20, a 49% increase on the previous year. A total of $3.1M was committed across the NZFC’s development funds, including $1.5M committed to new or expanded development funds.
The NZFC’s 2020 Gender Scholarship received its highest number of applications since its inception with 123 women working in comedy applying. In addition, the NZFC met its goal of 50% women directors attached to projects receiving feature film development and production financing.
Twenty NZFC-financed short and feature films were screened at seven A-list film festivals and a further 28 films were showcased at 46 other international festivals or events.
A total of $630M was spent in New Zealand across 27 productions triggered by the New Zealand Screen Production Grant.
You can read the New Zealand Film Commission's 2019-20 Annual Report here.