22 new Factual projects reflecting NZ’s diverse identity

4 October 2018

Topics as diverse as religion, homelessness, music, suicide, nature and living with disabilities feature in a long list of new screen content supported by NZ On Air.

Committing just over $10 million in the latest funding round to Factual content (excluding children’s content), NZ On Air has supported a huge range of projects for targeted and mainstream audiences that reflect the diversity of our people and country.

“Our diversity as a nation is something to be celebrated, and many of these new projects do just that. They also help us to understand one another, and explore topics and places we may not normally have access to,” says NZ On Air Chief Executive Jane Wrightson.

“We are very excited by the potential of all of these projects. In particular, to see our first large-scale VR project, and to have two prime time series creating greater understanding of life with disabilities,” she continued.

A new prime time observational series on TVNZ 1, Unbreakable, will follow and celebrate a group of inspiring New Zealanders with a range of disabilities, as they achieve milestones in their lives.

A second prime time series of Living With Tourettes on Prime provides another opportunity for a broad audience to understand the lives of young people living with this debilitating neurological disorder.

An exciting virtual reality project will allow viewers to explore the farthest flung corners of our country from our living rooms. The NZ-VR Project brings together cutting-edge technology with incredible locations in an immersive and informative documentary series, free to access on the New Zealand Geographic website via multiple devices.

In Soul Traders, a new TVNZ OnDemand series, comedian and writer James Nokise aims to help New Zealanders embrace and understand each other’s differences and religious beliefs.

Shot Bro will take viewers beyond the painful statistics of suicide and inside the intimate stories of two Māori men who wanted to take their own lives, one who lived and one who died.

Music is the hero of two new one-off features. The extraordinary success of local band Six60, will be celebrated in a new feature film for TVNZ 2, while Aotearoa’s first home grown hit and the birth of our recording industry will be the subject of Blue Smoke on Māori Television.

K’ Road Chronicles, an online series, will explore the complex issue of homelessness through the eyes of a transgender community journalist. Know Your Roots is a new online series of ‘how to’ videos to help young Pacific people connect to their Island cultures, and The Changing Face Of The New Zealand Dairy will examine how a unique part of ‘Kiwi’ life has become inextricably linked to the Indian community.

Funding details

Nancy Wake Remembered,(editing) 1 x 26 mins, ILA Film Productions for Māori Television, up to $4,000
Victor 4 Company, (editing)1 x 47 mins, ILA Film Productions for Māori Television, up to$11,500
Kaupapa On The Couch 2, 6 x 6 mins, Hex Work T/A The Spinoff for The Spinoff, up to $38,400
A Tātau Kōrero: Stories Of Tairawhiti, 30 x 3 mins, The Gisborne Herald for The Gisborne Herald, up to $50,000 ( a Tuia – Encounters 250 project)
Know Your Roots, 16 x 4 mins, Tikilounge Productions for The Coconet, up to $111,321
Blue Smoke, 1 x 52 mins, Awa Films for Māori Television, up to $115,000
Shot Bro, 1 x 52 mins, DNation T/A Storybox for Māori Television, up to $127,000
Tales Of Our Taonga, 8 x 8 mins, Tikilounge Productions for The Coconet, up to $129,529
The Real Drug Talk, 6 x 8 mins, Villainesse for Watch Me, up to $138,965
The Changing Face Of The New Zealand Dairy, 1 x 45 mins, Jam TV for Prime, up to $139,966
Legend – Te Tautohito i te Moana, 1 x 90 mins, Tawera Productions for Māori Television, up to $190,000
K’ Road Chronicles, 8 x 13 mins, Top Shelf Productions for Stuff, up to $198,302
Six60, 1 x 90 mins, Notable Pictures for TVNZ 2, up to $199,999
National Anthems (Additional), 1 x 46 mins, Notable Pictures for Prime, up to $255,790
Someday Stories, 6 x 8 mins, Connected Media Trust for Stuff, up to $200,000
The NZ-VR Project, 10 x 15 mins, Kowhai Media for NZ Geographic, up to $320,152
Soul Traders, 8 x 20 mins, Greenstone TV for TVNZ On Demand, up to $374,227
Living With Tourettes 2, 6 x 44 mins, 2B Media for Prime, up to $511,000
Unbreakable, 7 x 44 mins, Storymaker for TVNZ 1, up to $768,424
Artefact 2, 4 x 52 mins, Greenstone TV for Māori Television, up to $831 267
Fresh 2019, 35 x 22 mins, Tikilounge Productions for TVNZ 2, up to $1,734,630
Tagata Pasifika 2019, 50 x 23 mins, + 2 x 44 mins, SunPix for TVNZ 1, up to $1,781,900
Attitude 2019 and Attitude Awards, up to 30 x 29 mins + 1 x 59 mins, Attitude Pictures for TVNZ 1, up to $1,935,900

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