Whānau Mārama: New Zealnd International Film Festival has today announced that its two shorts collections are available for viewing online until 5 December 2021 on the NZ Film Ondemand platform.

 “Plans to make the collections available online have been underway for the past month and following the closing nights of the festival in Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin, these two collections are now available.” said NZIFF General Manager Sally Woodfield.

NZIFF was committed to ensuring these short films were seen widely in cinemas around the country, and both collections are still screening in regional centres, but the film festival has also been working to provide opportunities for the wider community to see these films.

“A big thanks goes to the filmmakers who have provided us the rights to screen these films online.”

This year has been an exceptional year for the shorts programmes with four talented wāhine scooping major awards. In New Zealand’s Best 2021, the Vista Group Award for Best Short Film was jointly awarded to When We Were Kids and Washday. Auckland director Josephine Stewart-Te Whiu and Wellington director Kath Akuhata-Brown shared the cash prize of $7500.

Josephine Stewart-Te Whiu also received the Auckland Live Spirit of The Civic Award of $4000. The prize is awarded to a filmmaker whose work indicates the possibility of a feature made by them being of the stature and quality to open a Festival at Auckland’s The Civic in the future.

The Creative New Zealand Emerging Talent Award, an award that recognises a fresh voice, filmmaking that gives life to stories of those less often represented in film, or that speaks to new or existing audiences in different way, was awarded to Tūī. Director Awa Puna received a cash prize of $4000.

The Audience Choice Award for New Zealand's Best 2021 went to Datsun, directed by Mark Albiston. Mark will receive a 25% share of the box office takings from the New Zealand's Best 2021 screenings in Wellington, Christchurch, Dunedin and online.

In the tenth annual Ngā Whanaunga Māori Pasifika Shorts competition, filmmaker Maruia Jensen’s film Disconnected took out the Wellington UNESCO City of Film Award for Best Film ($3000 cash prize) and the Letterboxd Audience Choice Award with a cash prize of $1000.

NZIFF thanks the New Zealand Film Commission for their support in hosting these collections online. New Zealand’s Best 2021 and Ngā Whanaunga Māori Pasifika Shorts are available to rent now until Sunday 5 December with a ticket price of $11.00 per collection.

The New Zealand Film Commission's online platform is hosted at https://ondemand.nzfilm.co.nz/