Making Gate Crash was a labour of love, and quite a unique experience for me as a filmmaker.

I was invited by Toi Whakaari Drama School to make a work with their third year acting students. Having seen my fave local directors (Florian Habicht, Armagan Ballantyne and more) go through this filmmaker's rite of passage, I felt very honoured to be asked. The brief came with its own set of creative restrictions - I didn’t do the casting, instead the actors were allocated to me. I decided to learn their personalities and style of acting … and then formulate a story that could incorporate all 7 of them in a tangible, fair and fluid way, and make their stories intersect (like Love Actually, but not Christmas and with less Hugh Grant). It was super-important to me that all the cast were all main characters, that they all got a moment to shine, as this was a project that could potentially help launch them into their professional screen careers (if I didn’t do a shit job).

Making the film was truly collaborative, both with the actors and also the crew that came on board—the spirit of generosity was strong in this one. Cause making short films is fucking hard and no one really gets paid, so it requires a lot of care, trust and commitment! But having it in New Zealand’s Best at NZIFF makes it all worthwhile. That’s the thing—when you pour so much work, soul and love into a short film, there’s not a lot of outlets for it to be seen, unless it’s in a festival or like, an Air NZ long haul flight (shout out to Air NZ!). So seeing it on the big screen, alongside our communities, friends, family and fellow filmmakers within Aotearoa—it’s extra special. Finding out it was selected in this competition was such a lovely feeling, I was so proud of the crew and particularly my Toi darlings. It’s the 3rd time I’ve been shortlisted for ‘New Zealand’s Best' with 3 different shorts, but I’ve never made the final program. Third time lucky, I guess. Shout outs to Niki Caro!

The film is set on the night of a school ball, it’s the after ball, and in true kiwi fashion, our teens binge drink and reveal parts of themselves they’d worked so hard to hide. It’s about the messiness of adolescence but tries not to judge it. I can’t wait to watch it alongside my beautiful cast and crew, as well as the wonderful cinephiles of Tāmaki Makaurau. Thanks NZIFF, can't wait to dive into this lit program!

Gate Crash plays in the New Zealand’s Best short film collection.

Silhouette photo credit: Nicola Sandford.