The New Zealand Film Commission’s Annual Report 2016/17 was tabled in Parliament on Thursday.
Releasing the report, Film Commission Chair Kerry Prendergast said, “We are farewelling Dave Gibson at the end of the calendar year, and this annual report reflects the strong leadership and direction he has given the NZFC. The amount of work undertaken during this period is impressive and both he and the wider NZFC team should be congratulated.
“The entire organisation deserves commendation for its achievements in the areas of diversity and especially in its success with the five planks of its 2015 gender policy. The addition of three new planks, announced by Dave Gibson in his final address to the industry at this year’s Big Screen Symposium, builds on these achievements.”
In the period, fourteen Fresh Shorts were funded, with 62% of the filmmakers attached to these projects being women.
Twelve new feature films, including five documentaries, also received offers for production financing.
Eleven Film Commission financed feature films were released in New Zealand cinemas with the highest grossing title being Chasing Great: Richie McCaw with $1,828,941. This makes it the highest ever grossing documentary at New Zealand cinemas.
The Interactive Development fund was introduced to encourage the development of interactive material with strong story content.
Thirty final New Zealand Screen Production Grant (NZSPG) certificates were issued, eleven to local production and nineteen to international.
You can read more about these achievements, and other work the Film Commission has done in the past year in the New Zealand Film Commission's Annual Report.