The fabulous WIFT NZ Awards are on their way - gather up friends and family and be at the SKYCITY Theatre on Monday 11 August for what is always a fabulous party night. Get in touch with the WIFT office now to reserve your seats at $45 members / $55 non-members.

(Please note that there will NOT be a feature film screening in 2008 but there will be lots of screen footage to entertain you, plus the usual lovely food (including antipasto platters at the beginning of the evening), drink and good company.)

Buy WIFT NZ Awards 2008 members tickets
Buy WIFT NZ Awards 2008 non-members tickets

NOMINATIONS
Nominations are now open for our seven award categories. Anybody can submit nominations – women, men, members, industry colleagues, general public - so get nominating and encourage everyone you know to participate too.

See you at the following WIFT Events:

Auckland

Going Online - A Digital Workshop with Paul Reynolds, 5 July, Members $45/ Non-Members $90
Join Paul Reynolds for a workshop covering the basic skills needed for using the online environment as a delivery platform. This is a hands-on workshop especially for women with computer access. Topics covered will range from uploading material to sites such as YouTube to setting up your own video blog or channel. To register call (09) 378 7271 or email office@wiftauckland.org.nz before Tuesday 1st July.

Auckland International Film Festival Panel - Getting Personal: Documentaries That Delve Deep, 24 July, Free
Some of the documentaries in this year's festival expose individual lives in extremely personal ways. U.S. filmmaker Jennifer Venditti (Billy the Kid) and NZ documentary maker Pietra Brettkelly (The Art Star and the Sudanese Twins) talk about privacy issues in documentary making, and the delicate relationship between filmmaker and subject. What lines need to be crossed to tell the story?
Jennifer Venditti runs a New York-based casting agency. The award-winning Billy the Kid is her first film. Pietra Brettkelly's passion for making documentaries has taken her from NZ to Libya, the Amazon, Sudan and Afghanistan.
This discussion will be chaired by television and film producer Gemma Gracewood.

Wellington

Wellington International Film Festival Panel Event with Sima Urale: Tackling the Big Issues, 28 July, Free
Award winning director Sima Urale's much anticipated first feature Apron Strings comes twelve years after her first short O’Tamaiti won the Silver Lion for Best Short Film at the Venice Film Festival. Clare O'Leary, Content Director for NZ On Screen, talks with Sima about her work and ongoing relationships with minority cultures and the social issues surrounding their stories here in New Zealand. A Samoan immigrant herself, her work has continued to show passion and commitment to these stories and her strength of vision brings an understanding of other ethnic groups rarely seen on our screens.

WIFT is delighted to announce the launch of its new mentoring initiative, commencing with a July-December 2008 pilot.

The aim of the programme is to match early-mid career women with senior practitioners to help them gain knowledge and skills, be better able to self-critique their work, have confidence in their abilities, deal with professional issues and advance in their chosen field.

To deliver the programme, WIFT is working with some very generous senior practitioners who will offer a dedicated number of hours to selected mentees to work on identified goals through meetings/phone/email etc. as appropriate.

KEY PROGRAMME INFORMATION
- the agreed number of mentoring hours for the pilot is twelve per mentee, to be delivered over the period July-December 2008;
- applicants must be full members of WIFT;
- up to ten mentoring matches will be made;
- placements will be decided by a panel and no correspondence will be entered into;
- proposed matches will be introduced in June and then, if the parties are happy to proceed, a contract will be drawn up for the mentoring period.

MENTEE REQUIREMENTS
Mentees will need to: