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THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER 87 SEPTEMBER 4, 2019
Spotlight:
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GIBSONIII/GETTY^ IMAGES.SHINING A LIGHT ON
DIVERSITY DOWN UNDER
The Power of Inclusion Summit in
Auckland will offer a deep dive into
representation in film and TVA
lready known as an international
leader in progressive thought and
policy, New Zealand is gearing up to lean
into that role by hosting the first annual
Power of Inclusion Summit in Auckland on
Oct. 3 and 4.
“New Zealand is generally a bit unusual,
innovative and dynamic in the way they
think about social justice and how to be
together,” says Annabelle Sheehan, CEO
of the New Zealand Film Commission,
which is organizing the event with Women
in Film and Television International,
with support from Disney Studios. “Our
purpose here is to bring people together,
in New Zealand’s welcoming and inspir-
ing setting, to really talk around the
table about how we can
challenge people and
think about what we’re
going to be doing next to
support change.”
The two-day event will
feature keynote presenta-
tions, panel discussions
and case studies address-
ing a broad range of urgent
issues related to screen
industry representation.
And the program’s roster of
more than 35 international
speakers is as high-profile
as it is appropriately inclu-
sive, spanning politicians
such as New Zealand’s
trailblazing Prime Minister
Jacinda Ardern; industry figures from
home and afar, including Mulan direc-
tor Niki Caro, Blacklist founder Franklin
Leonard, producer Charles D. King (Sorry
to Bother You, Just Mercy) and Philippa
Boyens, the Oscar-winning co-writer
and producer of the Lord of the Rings
and Hobbit trilogies; as well as interfaith,
indigenous, LGBTQI and differently abled
individuals, film professionals, activists
and thought leaders.
The Power of Inclusion Summit will
employ some of the practices it advocates.
A complimentary creche, or nursery, will
be available throughout the confab for
children under 5. Breastfeeding wherever
mothers feel comfortable is welcomed,
and the summit also will provide a breast-
feeding space.
“Personally, I’m touched to be invited
to speak, but I’m also excited to be
able to just listen to some really smart,
heavyweight industry practitioners from
all over the world talk about these vital
issues,” says Jackie van Beek, who, along
with Madeleine Sami, will helm Netflix’s
upcoming rom-com Hope, starring
Aubrey Plaza (Sami also will speak at
the summit).
“When you look at the news these days,
so much of it is so alarming and brutal,”
van Beek adds, “so it’s going to be really
nice to be part of something that’s about
making people feel safe, empowered and
represented.” — P.B.ArdernBoyensLeonardaction adventure story set in New Zealand’s
pre-colonial Maori society — a careful re-
creation of the culture and customs of the
country’s indigenous peoples, but one done
with enough action and violence to qualify
as a thriller. Produced by AMC’s specialty
streaming service Shudder, it’s also the first
New Zealand TV series to be commissioned
directly from the U.S.
“It’s quite proper that it could have only
come from New Zealand,” Metcalfe says, not-
ing that the cast is made up almost entirely
of young Maori actors. “If you had told these
actors five years ago that they would come out
of acting school and get a role in a U.S.-backed
TV series and that they wouldn’t have to be
playing the Middle Eastern guy, but instead
could represent themselves — their own cul-
ture — they would have said, ‘No way.’ ”
In a similar vein, Working Title Televisionand BBC 2’s upcoming co-produced period
series The Luminaries, starring Eva Green,
tells a story of romance and adventure on the
coast of New Zealand’s South Island during
the country’s 1860s gold rush. The show is
based on a Man Booker Prize-winning novel
of the same name by New Zealand author
Eleanor Catton, who also wrote the series.
“It’s a real privilege to get to be telling
a piece of New Zealand history,” says Lisa
Chatfield, one of the show’s producers. “It’s an
important moment in terms of the journey of
our industry, too,” she adds, “going from being
known as a location and servicer to producing
international television that has an amazing
New Zealand story at its core.”
The Toronto Film Festival will give a special
presentation to the Germany-New Zealand
co-production Guns Akimbo, a black comedy
thriller written and directed by Kiwi film-
maker Jason Lei Howden. The film stars Daniel
Radcliffe as a nerdy video game developer who
becomes an unwilling contestant in an under-
ground live-streamed death match.
Although the film was partially shot in
Auckland, it’s set in a nondescript Gotham-
like future city — more a product of genre
than location. “But it definitely has that
distinctive Kiwi comedy in it,” says one of the
film’s producers, To m H e r n, of Auckland-based
production outfit Four Knights Film. “There is
a whole new wave of filmmakers traveling the
path that Taika and his crew trailblazed. We
really ought to be thankful to them, because
when you go into an international pitch meet-
ing now, our New Zealand humor isn’t just
recognized as a thing — people get excited
about it.”1 The Dead Lands is expected to launch on AMC’s streaming
service Shudder this year. 2 The dark comedy Guns Akimbo,
partially shot in Auckland, will screen at TIFF. 3 The Luminaries
is set during New Zealand’s gold rush in the 1800s.3“There is plenty of great work up
for grabs that Weta Digital isn’t going
to be able or interested in taking on,”
says Greg Harman, CEO of Mechanic
Animation, which in recent years has
worked on hundreds of episodes
of Marvel’s various animated TV
series, such as Avengers Assemble
and Spider-Man. “We see our-
selves as part of what’s becoming a
healthy ecosystem.”
Adds Hugh Calveley, founder
of Auckland-based tech company
Moxion: “Because we traditionally
come from a rural, farming back-
ground, I think we’ve understood
that it would be very easy to exportour top soil, so to speak, and not
have any value-add. The equiva-
lent of that in the digital age of film
would be inviting people to come
shoot our beautiful landscapes, but
then do all their post, editing and
additional credited work offshore —
whereas we’re more than capable of
doing a lot of that work right here in
New Zealand.”
Moxion has reinvented traditional
film dailies through a proprietary
technology that allows actual foot-
age to be viewed, with metadata,
seconds after it’s captured in the
camera — and then encrypts that
data and makes it accessible tocollaborators on a worldwide basis.
The company also has worked
closely with Auckland-based digital
workflows provider The Rebel Fleet,
which serviced recent Hollywood
tentpole shoots such as Paramount’s
Ghost in the Shell and Warner Bros.’
The Meg.
“It’s a technology that’s born out
of the remoteness of New Zealand
and the big foreign films we have ser-
viced,” says Calveley, citing Moxion’s
recent partnership with Disney on its
New Zealand shoot of Mulan, due out
in March. “But it’s a solution our col-
laborators find creatively empowering
wherever they are working.” — P.B.