Macleans College dominates National Filmmaking Competition

Posted on November 08, 2024

Two Macleans College films have placed in the top three films of the National On Screen Filmmaking Competition.

Second place was won by Isaac Uammuang (Kupe House) for his animated film ‘Last Pin Standing’ featuring a platoon of bowling pins making a final stand against a relentless enemy. Third place was awarded to Ivy Feng (Rutherford) for her film ‘Fish Bowl’ - a profound observational film set in a laundromat. These awards came with cash prizes of $1,000 and $500 respectively.

A third Macleans College film, ‘A Super Duper Scary Movie’ by Brody Padfield (Te Kanawa), also made the final twelve narrative films in the country and was warmly received by the audience.

Macleans College also swept the majority of the technical awards. Each winner received a GoPro.

  • Best editor: Ivy Feng (‘Fish Bowl’)
  • Best screenwriter: Brody Padfield (‘A Super Duper Scary Movie’)
  • Best animator: Isaac Uammuang (‘Last Pin Standing’)

Macleans College also was the recipient of the School Spirit Award of $500 for the Media Studies department for the most number of entries in the competition.

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Left: Ivy Feng, Brody Padfield and Isaac Uammuang.

The competition attracted short films from across Aotearoa New Zealand. The final ten films were screened to a full house at Academy Cinemas on Tuesday evening where the awards were also announced. All the filmmakers from around the country were flown in for the event. The judging panel were from the New Zealand film industry and included Angela Bloomfield (Actor and Director), Ben Powdrell (Writer, Editor and VFX Editor), Paula Whetu-Jones (Producer, Director and Writer) and Tatum Warren-Ngata (Actor).

Before the finals, two other Macleans College films made the shortlist of 25 films, ‘Perception’ by Alessandra Wong (Batten) and ‘60 Seconds to Live’ (also known as ‘Final Countdown’) by Tommy Duan (Rutherford) and Josh Falconer (Upham).

Additional awards included:

  • Highly Commended Sound Mix: Isaac Uammuang (‘Last Pin Standing’)
  • Highly Commended Sound Mix: Tommy Duan and Josh Falconer (‘60 Seconds to Live’)
  • Highly Commended Visual Effects: Tommy Duan and Josh Falconer (‘60 Seconds to Live’)
  • Highly Commended Set Design: Elaine Ip (Upham) (‘The Art of 1st Degree Murder’)

    All these films were showcased at the Macademy Awards earlier in the year and can be found on the Media At Macleans YouTube channel.

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    Brody Padfield collects his prize for best screenwriter.
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    ‘Last Pin Standing’ announced as second place.
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    ‘Fish Bowl’ announced as third place.
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    Filmmaking finalists from around the country.
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    ‘Last Pin Standing’ - second place.
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    ‘Last Pin Standing’ - best animator.
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    ‘Fish Bowl’ - third place.
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    ‘Fish Bowl’ - best editor.
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    ‘A Super Duper Scary Movie’ - best screenwriter.