South Auckland Short Film Workshop

Calling all aspiring filmmakers, storytellers and creatives! Want to learn how to use the power of cinema to tell your stories? 

The South Auckland Short Film Workshop is a two-day workshop, held over two weekends that covers how to turn an idea into a short film. Whether you’re new to filmmaking or have some experience, we are calling everyone who aspires to tell their stories on the screen to come and learn what it takes to bring your story to life. 

Over two successive Saturdays, experienced filmmakers will guide you through the principles of how to write a short film, the role of the director, what it takes to get your short film off the ground and what’s needed to pitch to funders and collaborators. Speakers include Marina Alofagia McCartney (Milk & Honey, Vai), Nikki Si’ulepa (Same But Different, Mā, Snow in Paradise) and Vea Mafile’o (The Panthers, For My Fathers Kingdom).  

Who it is for: New and emerging creatives 17+ from any industry who have an interest in short filmmaking. 

When: Sat 18th November and Sat 25th November 2023 (9am-5pm each day) 

Where: Friendship House, 20 Putney Way, Manukau CBD, Auckland 2104
Wheelchair access is available. If you require special assistance, please let us know.  

Cost: General Admission $12.50 (inc GST + BF) Tickets via Humanitix 

What to Bring: Pen and paper. Coffee, tea and snacks provided. You can bring lunch with you or there are many places to buy lunch in the immediate vicinity. 

Participants from this workshop with a connection to South Auckland are encouraged to apply for Script to Screen’s South Shorts 2023 Mentorship Programme when applications open in February. Read more about South Shorts here. 

SPEAKERS

Marina Alofagia McCartney

(Pitonu’ū, Satupa’itea and Vailoa, Palauli – Savai’i, Samoa / Newcastle –England / Romani – England)

Marina Alofagia McCartney is an award-winning filmmaker and scholar with films featured in numerous festivals, including Palm Springs, NZIFF, ImagineNATIVE, Hawai’i International Film Festival. Marina wrote and directed the Samoan piece for the film Vai, which opened the NATIVe section at the 2019 Berlinale, and screened at festivals including SXSW, Edinburgh Film Festival, Melbourne International Film Festival. She has worked on writers’ tables as a storyliner and screenwriter (My Life Is Murder) and is developing several projects including her feature Dusky and NZFC Catalyst film, The Return. 

Nikki Si’ulepa

Sātalo, Solāua (Sāmoa)

Nikki Si’ulepa is an Aotearoa-born Samoan with German and Chinese ancestry from the villages of Sātalo, Falealili and Solāua. She’s an actor, writer, director, camera operator, screen tutor, and founding Pacific Islands Screen Artists Komiti member (PISA, est. 2020). She’s worked in the New Zealand screen industry since her debut acting role in Whole of the Moon in 1995, where she won two best actress awards. Her films have also won awards and nominations and have screened at international film festivals, including Berlinale, Tribeca, Sydney, Melbourne, FIFO, Queerscreen, NZIFF, Hollyshorts, and imagineNATIVE. 

In 2021, Nikki created ScreenFit classes for writers, directors and actors of various skills, backgrounds and experiences to come together and work scenes to stay ‘screen fit’. Nikki has taught acting for screen and facilitated workshops on writing and filmmaking at South Shorts, The Actors Program, Excel Performing Arts, Actors Lab Studio, and various PISA events. Nikki can be seen on Canadian and New Zealand television screens in South Pacific Pictures’ thriller, The Sounds, in Roseanne Liang’s Shadow in the Cloud post-apocalyptic comedy drama, Creamerie, and guest stars opposite Kiwi Xena icon Lucy Lawless in My Life is Murder. Nikki’s currently writing and developing a new slate of films and series’. 

Nikki loves arthouse films, vegan ice cream, fun film festivals, and short walks on the beach. 

Vea Madile'o

Tongaleleka, Ha’apai (Tonga), Ngāti Te Wehi (Māori), English and Scottish

Vea is an Auckland based freelance film, television and media director, producer and artist who has filmed and exhibited her work extensively throughout the Pacific Islands. 2019 was a big year for Vea. Her debut feature film NZ Film Commission funded documentary, For My Father's Kingdom, world premiered at the prestigious 2019 Berlinale - Berlin International Film Festival, in which Vea and partner / co-director / cinematographer, Jeremiah Tauamiti, and Vea’s siblings and father attended. FMFK won a jury award at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival and is the first ever Pacific Islands feature length documentary in the world to be directed and produced by Tongan women. Vea’s short film, Toa’ipuapuagā - Strength in Suffering A Samoan Stigmata, also premiered at the 2019 Berlinale. Vea won the Moana Best Pasifika Non-Fiction Director at the 2019 Wairoa Maori Film Festival Inc. Film Festival. 

Vea has worked as an art director and location camera operator / director for TVNZ’s Pacific shows, Fresh and Tagata Pasifika, and for Pacific one-stop-shop website The Coconet TV and in films Maria, Liliu, My Friend Michael Jones, MESSiAH Short Film, Finding Honk, The Map Reader. Vea is also the founder of the Okalani Film Festival and the Nuku'alofa Film Festival NFF. 

Vea is currently developing a feature documentary, short film, and dramatic feature film. Vea has also produced three sons aged ten, six and three years old, some of her best productions to date. 

This workshop is made possible thanks to generous support from Creative Communities Auckland and Foundation North.

Script to Screen also receives financial support from the New Zealand Film Commission.