The Many Faces Of Aotearoa In Profile – More Uniquely New Zealand Stories

The many faces of Aotearoa feature in new and returning factual content to achieve funding in the latest hotly contested NZ On Air funding round.

Delivering in its vision of ‘connecting and reflecting Aotearoa’ the lineup of content for many different audiences tell uniquely New Zealand stories from a wide range of people who call New Aotearoa home.

Giants, a new series for Māori Television, is about legacy, whakapapa and heritage seen through the lens of different migrant communities in Aotearoa. Queer And Here, also for Māori Television, is a fresh new series that will challenge, educate and entertain its audience as we explore the LGBTQIA+ community.

Inspiring New Zealanders feature in many new series including Portrait Of A Quiet Revolutionary, an intimate biographical documentary about one of our leading Māori academics, activist and societal commentator Moana Jackson. The Black Ferns – Wāhine Toa is an intimate two-part documentary for Prime profiling the Māori and Pasifika women who are the world champion Black Ferns rugby team.

We can all follow the fortunes of our champion Paralympic athletes and celebrate with them through Tokyo 2021 Paralympics: We All Participate, on TVNZ 1.

Inspiring artists feature in Asian Art Stars Aotearoa, a webseries for RNZ presenting 18 mini profiles on young pan-Asian NZ artists, and exploring themes of cultural identity. O’Town Dreaming is also set to inspire with profiles of young talented artists striving to make a future for themselves against the urban backdrop of Ōtara.

Matters Pasifika are explored in two new series. Panthers – The Next Chapter, a webseries on TVNZ OnDemand aims to engage young Pacific audiences with their history and place in this country. It is a factual companion piece to the drama series The Panthers, already commissioned for TVNZ 1. #DigitalFāgogo will use video and podcasts to look at the Pacific storytelling taonga and artform that is Fāgogo.

Returning series include the inspiring and moving prime time documentary Unbreakable – back with a brand-new cast of people living with disabilities who are determined to follow their dreams.

Online documentary series Breaking Silence confronts the issue of domestic abuse in New Zealand which reaches into every corner of NZ, in this second season for Stuff, domestic abuse in ethnic communities and the LGBTQIA+ communities is explored.

The ever-popular Loading Docs returns with eight new short documentaries, this time on the theme of Tūmanako/Hope. He Kākano Ahau is back with a second season of podcasts featuring uniquely Māori and youth-focused world views, and Rural Delivery returns; celebrating the people who live and work in the rural sector.

NZ On Air Head of Funding Amie Mills says the subject matter spread, and the range of audiences these stories intend to reach holds a mirror up to Aotearoa.

“There is so much opportunity here to see inside others’ lives, understand more about who we are as a nation, and feel more connected to each other,” she continued.

“As always, there were more exceptional projects pitched for this round than NZ On Air was able to fund”, Ms Mills said.
 

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