The recipients for the seven award categories of the Women In Film & Television NZ 2016 Awards were announced last night in the Grand Tearoom of the Heritage Hotel, Auckland.
South Pacific Pictures Award for Achievement in Film
Leanne Pooley - for Beyond the Edge
Queenstown Camera Company Entrepreneurship Award
Bettina Hollings - for founding Imagination Television, one of New Zealand's
top independent production companies, consistently producing popular,
rating television for networks in New Zealand, Australia, the United Kingdom
and Asia.
Images & Sound Award for Success in Television
Philly de Lacey - CEO & Executive Producer - for Screentime New Zealand's
drama production broadcast between 1 July 2013 and 30 June 2015
including How to Murder Your Wife, Venus and Mars and Monster at Mangatiti.
Professional Lighting Services Award for Unsung Heroine of the NZ Screen Industry
Leonne Kassler - Manager, Film Equipment rental company - for going the
extra mile every day at The Film Equipment Company and Portsmouth
Rentals and providing a role model for women working in a male dominated
area of the industry.
Fulcrum Media Finance Woman to Watch Award
Desray Armstrong - Producer - for strategic transitioning from short films to
features with a solid bedrock of experience and a high level of professionalism.
Te Puni Kōkiri Te Reo Māori Champion Award
Hinewehi Mohi - for her significant contribution to the increased use and
knowledge of te reo Māori me ngā Tikanga, for her promotion of te reo Māori
in all her work - as a singer, a producer and presenter and as an advocate for
the disabled.
Great Southern Film & Television Award for Outstanding Contribution to the New Zealand Screen Industry
Jane Wrightson - Chief Executive of New Zealand on Air - for advocacy,
common sense, integrity and leadership that resounds across the industry.
The WIFT NZ Awards were established in 2004 to recognize, celebrate and encourage the achievements of women in film, television and digital media.
105 nominations were received over seven categories.
Finalists were decided by a panel of Christina Milligan (Chair), Kelly Martin, Robin Laing. Fiona Milburn, Hineani Melbourne, Vicki Jackways, Jill Macnab and Julia Parnell.
Previous award recipients include Niki Caro, Ngila Dickson, Chelsea Winstanley, Rachel Lang, Janine Morrell-Gunn, Gaylene Preston, Robin Scholes and Jane Campion.