{"id":597201,"date":"2026-09-11T15:02:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-11T15:02:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/597201\/"},"modified":"2026-09-11T15:02:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-11T15:02:09","slug":"new-zealand-to-unveil-indigenous-co-production-initiative-at-toronto","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/597201\/","title":{"rendered":"New Zealand to Unveil Indigenous Co-Production Initiative at Toronto"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tNew Zealand<\/a> is set to announce a first-of-its-kind Indigenous co-production initiative at the Toronto Film Festival<\/a>, New Zealand Film Commission CEO Annie Murray tells Variety. <\/p>\n

\n\tThe pact will bring together M\u0101ori filmmakers from New Zealand, Aboriginal filmmakers from Australia and Indigenous Canadian filmmakers in a program of collaborative storytelling that none of the three countries could mount alone.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThey\u2019re not beginning filmmakers, these are mid-career filmmakers who will collaborate together on stories, working in w\u0101nanga, we call them, but very intensive workshops together in each country,\u201d Murray says.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe announcement is expected on Saturday, the same day NZFC head of funding Ainsley Gardiner \u2014 a filmmaker and Oscar nominee who served as a co-producer on the first Indigenous Canada-New Zealand co-production, \u201cNight Raiders\u201d (2021) \u2014 participates in the From Pitch to Partner: Global Co-Production Showcase alongside reps from Telefilm Canada and Eurimages.<\/p>\n

\n\tFor Murray, the initiative reflects a clear creative principle. \u201cThe real base of successful co-production is a shared creative purpose,\u201d she says. \u201cA strong base of mutual trust, creative alignment \u2014 it\u2019s about creating something together that neither party could do on their own.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tNew Zealand arrives at TIFF with three projects spanning a wide range of scale and approach. Debut feature \u201cGod Bless You, Mr. Kopu,\u201d from filmmaker Alex Liu, is presented by Murray as evidence of a new generation of confident, culturally specific New Zealand voices. \u201cWhat it gives you is a really unique take on modern New Zealand through a cultural lens,\u201d she says. \u201cIt shows you very clearly on screen how super diverse New Zealand is culturally.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cMan of Valor,\u201d directed by Tearepa Kahi and screening as part of TIFF: The Market, follows M\u0101ori World War II hero Sgt. Haane during the Battle of Takrouna in Tunisia. Murray points to the film\u2019s authenticity as the source of its power. \u201cIt works because it\u2019s authentic,\u201d she says, \u201cand authenticity resonates locally and internationally.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tThe third project, \u201cTenzing<\/a>,\u201c which tells the story of how Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay first reached the summit of Mount Everest, represents the international co-production end of the spectrum, produced through New Zealand\u2019s screen production rebate and filmed across multiple countries.<\/p>\n

\n\tAcross all three, Murray sees a common thread: the projects most likely to travel are those most confident in their point of origin. \u201cThe strongest stories come from a cultural confidence and a cultural pride,\u201d she says, \u201cand you find that in New Zealand.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tOn the policy front, NZFC\u2019s recent changes to the New Zealand Screen Production Rebate are generating early traction. The minimum qualifying spend threshold for the 20% cash rebate was reduced from NZ$15 million ($8.7 million) to NZ$4 million ($2.3 million) \u2014 opening the incentive to independent and mid-budget productions that had previously found New Zealand out of reach. Murray says the first qualifying project under the new settings has already been secured, with others in advanced consideration.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s creating opportunities, too, for our actors,\u201d she says. \u201cThese are films in the kind of anything from $15 million to $30 million U.S. dollars that wouldn\u2019t have the budget to bring everybody in with them that the bigger-budget productions can do, so they are looking to source locally.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tMurray frames New Zealand\u2019s broader international appeal in terms that go beyond logistics and locations. \u201cWe have a way of doing business that is very inclusive, and celebrates diversity, and a warmth that makes it a really, really fantastic place to make creative works,\u201d she says. \u201cThey always want to come back to do more.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New Zealand is set to announce a first-of-its-kind Indigenous co-production initiative at the Toronto Film Festival, New Zealand…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":597202,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[111,43,139,69,173684,1998],"class_list":["post-597201","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-tenzing","tag-toronto-film-festival"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/597201","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=597201"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/597201\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/597202"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=597201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=597201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=597201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}