Cast and crew of The Orator celebrate their success at the 2012 Sorta Unofficial New Zealand Film Awards. Photo / Max Mamaev
Cast and crew of The Orator celebrate their success at the 2012 Sorta Unofficial New Zealand Film Awards. Photo / Max Mamaev
Annual recognition for the New Zealand film industry is assured for the next three years with the announcement of the Rialto Channel New Zealand Film Awards, also known as The Moas.
Recent years saw an event that combined the film and television industries, but in 2012 it was announced thatfilms would no longer be included, and an independent event - The Sorta Unofficial New Zealand Film Awards - were hurriedly organised to fill the gap. The event's success lead to discussions between its producers and the NZ Film Commission, who gave their backing to the new awards.
"It's been another great 12 months for New Zealand films with both NZFC financed and independent films earning international awards, festival appearances and critical acclaim," said NZFC Chief Executive Graeme Mason.
"We are all set for take-two of the hotly contested Moas celebrating the country's vast filmmaking talent."
However awards uncertainty continued and earlier this year ThinkTV announced they would not be putting on an awards ceremony for television. To compensate, this year's Rialto Channel New Zealand Film Awards will have a special one-off category to recognise achievement in television features or drama series.
"We are very pleased to see local television features and drama series will be recognised at the Rialto Channel New Zealand Film Awards, as there is so much great content being made in New Zealand," said Jane Wrightson, CEO of NZ On Air.
"The standard of local programme making is very high, and definitely needs to celebrated."
Entries are open until 5pm October 18, and the event will take place at Auckland's newly-refurbished Shed 10 on Tuesday December 10. The awards will stream live here on NZ Herald Online, and will be broadcast on Rialto Channel on Sunday December 15. More details here or on Facebook here.
