Wellywood Woman

Here, in alphabetical order by director, are the New Zealand women-directed short films selected for three sections of the New Zealand International Film Festival. Because a successful short film is seen as an element of the pipeline to taxpayer funding for a feature film, selection of these films really matters. Some of these come from this year’s New Zealand’s Best Short Film competition (BSF) , where half of those elected are #DirectedByWomen. NZIFF programmers Bill Gosden and Michael McDonnell made a shortlist of 12 films from 83 submissions and veteran filmmaker Gaylene Preston selected six finalists. And the winners of the associated awards do well! A jury of three will select the winner of the $5,000 Madman Entertainment Jury Prize, and the Wallace Foundation and Wallace Media Ltd will award a $3,000 Wallace Friends of the Civic Award to the film or contributor to a film they deem to merit special recognition. The winner of the audience vote takes away the Audience Choice A...