NZIFF: New Zealand's Best 2024

A total of 95 films were submitted for this year’s New Zealand’s Best short film competition. NZIFF Head of Programming, Michael McDonnell, Production and Events Manager Matt Bloomfield, and Marketing Lead – Auckland Amanda Jane Robinson viewed them all to draw up a shortlist of 12, from which Guest Selector Gerard Johnstone selected the five finalists.

I See You
Aotearoa NZ 2022 | 17 mins
Director, Screenplay: Briar March
Producers: Caroline Hutchison | Cinematography: Adam Luxton | Editor: Adam-Luka Turjak | Music: Dana Lund | Cast: Anne March, Susannah Sherriff, Kieran Charnock

A young mother struggles with her toddler’s delayed development until a chance encounter with a charismatic young man shifts her feelings.

First Horse
Aotearoa NZ 2024 | 11 mins
Director: Awanui Simich-Pene
Producers: Puti Simich, Mia Henry-Tierney, Heperi Mita | Screenplay: Awanui Simich-Pene, Heperi Mita | Cinematography: Fred Renata | Editor: Cushla Dillon | Music: Troy Kingi | Cast: Te Atakōrihi Tūtengaehe, Troy Kingi | In Te Reo Māori with English subtitles

In pre-colonial Aotearoa a young Māori girl witnesses the best and worst of a rapidly changing world when she encounters a dying man and his horse.

Grateful Grapefruit
Aotearoa NZ 2023 | 15 mins
Director, Screenplay, Producer, Editor: Sam Handley
Screenplay: Sam Handley, Reuben Bonner | Cinematography: Caleb Corlett | Music: Connan Mockasin | Cast: Caroline Lowry, Connan Mockasin, David Berry, Jack Garvey, John Cocking, Gillian Davies

A frustrated wife at her wits’ end finds a message in a bottle which leads her into the mysterious world of The Hypnotist, and before long she’s on track to put the glitter back in her grapefruit.

Rochelle
Aotearoa NZ 2024 | 21 mins
Director, Screenplay, Editor: Tom Furniss
Producer: Luke Sharpe | Cinematography: Ryan Heron | Music: Karl Sölve Steven | Cast: Ben Sawyer, Roxie Mohebbi, Glen Paul Waru

A brazen young man takes it upon himself to send his friend’s busted up car, Rochelle, out in style by entering it in a local demolition derby, but to get there he needs help from an unexpected source.

Lea Tupu’anga/Mother Tongue
Aotearoa NZ 2023 | 17 mins
Director: Vea Mafile’o
Producers: Alex Lovell, Eldon Booth | Screenplay: Luciane Buchanan | Cinematography: Marie Ines Manchego | Editors: Lisa Greenfield, Anastasia Doniants | Music: Stephen Gallagher | Cast: Luciane Buchanan, Albert Rounds, Mikey Falesiu, Michael Koloi, Elizabeth Thomson | In English and Tongan, with English subtitles

A young speech therapist who has lied about her language skills must find a new way to communicate when she is assigned to an elderly Tongan patient with aphasia who can no longer speak English.