Six films have been offered funding in the January Fresh Shorts round, two at the $10,000 level, three at the $30,000 level and one at $15,000.
At the $10,000 level:
The Sauna
Writer/director: Lucy Knox, Producer: Evie Mackay
At an idyllic spa retreat, a vacationing mother and daughter bicker and avoid each other until an accident in the sauna forces them to reconnect.
Kōkako
Writer/director: Doug Brooks, Producers: Patsy Burke and Timothy Hawthorne
While searching for the extinct kōkako bird in the New Zealand wilderness, Ashley must come to terms with the news of her grandmother’s death.
At the $15,000 level:
Pain
Writer/director: Anna Duckworth, Producer: Ilai Amar
When seven-year-old Sarah sees her Dad screaming in pain after a cricket injury, she must figure out where the pain monster comes from and how to control it.
At the $30,000 level:
The Calf
Writer/directors: Simon London and Matthew Sunderland, Producer: Emma Mortimer
An eleven-year-old boy is forced to stop running and look death in the eye.
Rustling
Writer/director: Tom Furniss, Producer: Morgan Waru
A damaged 13-yeard-old boy must go against his sheep rustling family when he forms an emotional attachment to a stolen lamb.
Daddy's Girl (Kotiro)
Writer/director: Cian Elyse White, Producer: Rob Kipa-Williams
A doctor struggles to accept the loss of her father to Alzheimer’s disease.