Six TV documentaries vie for top spot

Six TV documentaries vie for top spot

Trans Tasman rivalry is alive and well in the competition for the Best Documentary Made for Television, to be selected at DOCNZ in September.

A new category in DOCNZ 2006, New Zealand’s paramount documentary film festival, the competition sees New Zealand with the strongest representation first up - four finalists against one from Australia and one joint Aussie-Kiwi contender.

The finalists are:

Best Documentary Made For Television
Documentary Name Director Country
Silma’s School Jane Jeffes Australia
Ghost Fleet Jonathan Finnigan NZ
Piano Man John Carlaw NZ
Between the Lines – The Life of Dennis Glover Bill De Friez NZ
Touch Wood Cosmo Kentish-Barnes NZ
The Black Road William Nessen NZ/Australia

The Best Documentary Made for Television Award is open to any Australian or New Zealand film-maker whose film has been selected for competition and is awarded by Australian based Screenrights.

Screenrights plays a crucial role in the industry helping film makers collect more than $20 million a year for the royalties owed through educational copying of programmes from television and radio. It also collects royalties for the retransmission and copying of programmes in Europe, the United States and Canada.

Film makers register their programmes with Screenrights and it collects royalties from around the world. This process is free and because it is a non-profit organisation, only administration overheads are deducted.
(To find out more ¬go to www.screenrights.org or call 0800 44 2348)

The DOCNZ Festival Trust has also introduced a further new award - The Best Emerging New Zealand Documentary Film-Maker Award. This award is open to any New Zealand film-maker who is submitting his or her first film in any category. Finalists are still being selected from a host of strong entries.

The two new awards are in addition to the local awards and international awards in each of the following categories:

• Best short documentary
• Best medium-length documentary
• Best feature-length documentary

The awards will be presented at a special gala event on September 14 in Auckland attended by local and international film-makers, producers, sponsors and industry supporters.

Ends

© Scoop Media