2023 SCREENWRITING LAB PARTICIPANTS ANNOUNCED

Congratulations! We’re thrilled to announce the six successful applications to our 2023 Screenwriting Lab.

Our prestigious Screenwriting Lab is one of our favourite parts of the festival. We get to support short film ideas in their infancy and work with the filmmakers who develop them. We were excited by the caliber of applicants from both New Zealand and overseas.

These six screenwriters have been selected to receive individually tailored feedback and advice from industry veteran mentors in a weekend lab, followed by a year of development mentoring. The selected applicants are (clockwise from top left):

Bala Murali Shingade
Shiv Nand
Florence Hartigan
Gabriel Abreu
Tajim Mohammed-Kapa
Victoria Boult (Ngāi Tahu)

The lab takes place on Saturday 25 February, with mentoring occuring over the next year. They’ll be working with the following mentors:

Albert Belz (Ngati Porou, Nga Puhi, Ngati Pokai)
Albert Belz (Ngati Porou, Nga Puhi, Ngati Pokai) born 1973, has been a professional writer for television, film and theatre since 2001. His first script for theatre, Te Maunga, was performed in 2001 to critical acclaim. His next hugely successful play, Awhi Tapu, was nominated for several Chapman Tripp Theatre Awards. In 2006 Yours Truly won Chapman Tripp Theatre Awards for Best New New Zealand Play, and Most Original Play amidst many other awards that year. Raising the Titanics toured New Zealand and won The New Zealand Listeners Best New New Zealand Play 2010.

Alyx Duncan
Alyx is an art filmmaker and choreographer. She has made dance theatre, installations, award winning shorts and a critically acclaimed feature film. She has over sixteen years experience choreographing for film and TV commercials. Along side her industry work and artistic practice she teaches dance and film in the tertiary sector. Her short The Tide Keeper was Academy Award accredited and has screened in over twenty five film festivals including Busan, Melbourne, Slamdance, Annecy and winning awards FIPRESCI Film Critics’ Choice Award at Vladivostok, Best Short Animation at Warsaw, Best International short at Whistler, Best Film at NZIFF, Best Film, Best Director and Best Cinematography at Show Me Shorts. The film is also a Vimeo Staff Pick with over 40k views.

Nick Ward
Nick Ward broke into feature screenwriting with pool comedy Stickmen. An instant Kiwi hit, Stickmen won Ward a 2001 NZ Film Award for best script. He went on to originate and co-write hit romance Second-Hand Wedding, and reconvened with Wedding director Paul Murphy for 2011 follow-up Love Birds. Ward has also penned episodes of TV series Outrageous Fortune and Burying Brian, and horror flick The Ferryman.

Shuchi Kothari
Shuchi Kothari is a critically acclaimed writer and producer (Kāinga, Firaaq, Apron Strings, Coffee & Allah, Rann, Shit One Carries). Her films have screened globally in film festivals including Venice, Cannes, Toronto and Telluride and on online platforms such as Mubi, Netflix and Amazon. Shuchi’s creative work often focuses on issues of inclusion, exclusion, cultural hegemony and personal resistance. Shuchi is the recipient of the “Outstanding Contribution to the Screen Industry” award by WIFT for her sustained work as filmmaker, mentor, and advocate. She is the director of the screen production programme at the University of Auckland where she teaches screenwriting and creative producing.