23 June 2006

The profile of the New Zealand film industry is growing in Asia with recent events in Korea and Japan highlighting the advantages of New Zealand as a production location.

A film seminar, held in Seoul in April, was able to take advantage of a state visit by New Zealand’s Governor General, Dame Sylvia Cartwright, to highlight the country’s achievements in film and local production capacity.

The seminar attracted 150 Korean film industry contacts as well as 30 journalists.

The seminar included presentations from Clayton Tikao on locations and scouting for them, and from Matt Cunningham on post-production facilities in New Zealand.

The seminar and dinner were the latest in a series of events that have significantly raised the profile of New Zealand in Korean film-production circles.

Along with premières, New Zealand film screenings and seminars to promote awareness of New Zealand, there are growing film investment and production links between the two countries.

Five Korean films have been partly shot in New Zealand and a further three are expected in the near future.

An investment by the Daesung Group in the New Zealand film Black Sheep marks the first investment in a New Zealand film by a Korean company. Shooting of several Korean television productions in New Zealand are also scheduled for this year, and Korea continues to be a source of television commercial (TVC) production for New Zealand.

Blue Storm, a Korean production company, plans to shoot a significant part of their movie Christmas Cargo in New Zealand. This film will be the biggest budget Korean movie ever made, and will tell the story of a group of refugees who escaped from North Korea during the Korean War.

New Zealand’s Trade Commissioner in Seoul, Andrew French, says further events are planned to maintain interest in New Zealand film production.

“New Zealand is also one of the few countries that has been invited to do a seminar on film at BIFCOM in Korea, which is the largest film industry showcase in Asia,” Mr French says.

David Fergusson, New Zealand’s Trade Commissioner to Japan, says an event held in early May to coincide with a New Zealand film festival is part of a long-term strategy aimed at increasing collaboration with the Japanese film industry.

The event, held on May 10, included presentations by the New Zealand Film Commission’s CEO, Dr Ruth Harley, who spoke on the successes of the local film industry; Deborah Fox, from Auckland law firm Simpson Grierson, who was able to give Japanese producers an insight into the legalities of the country’s production environment; and by producer, Tim White, who was able to give an internationally informed insight into the realities of production in New Zealand.

The presentations were followed up with a Q&A session during which the speakers were joined by Masaharu Inaba from the Japanese company OLC, which had assisted in the financing of The World’s Fastest Indian. No 2 director Toa Fraser and actor Temuera Morrison also spoke, and River Queen director Vincent Ward attended.

Robert Skinner, New Zealand Trade and Enterprise Regional Manager for Creative Industries based in Singapore, says it was a good introduction for New Zealand’s film production sector, and followed research indicating that Japan was worth investigating from the point of view of film investment and co-production opportunities.

Mr Skinner says he’s hopeful that the next step will be to bring a delegation of Japanese film makers and producers to New Zealand.

Investment New Zealand has been developing relationships in Asia and actively encourages investment into the New Zealand screen industry. If you require more information, please contact the Screen Production Investment Manager:

SP@investmentnz.govt.nz

(64) 9 9199040