Student filmmakers celebrated at Macleans College
Posted on October 24, 2023
The annual Macademy Awards celebrates filmmaking at Macleans College with 15 diverse student films, plus one comical teacher-made film, showcased.
The sold-out event literally rolled out the red carpet with arrivals greeted by the flashes of the paparazzi.
The films were judged by three artists from the New Zealand film industry: Nahyeon Lee (writer/director/producer), Paul Waggott (actor) and Macleans College alumnus Isabella Giommarelli (Te Kanawa House 2011 – 2015) (editor/designer).
Congratulations to:
- Best Film: ‘Beyond Farewell’ by Meagan Maritz (Mansfield House), Erica O’Neill (Upham) and Troy Telfer (Rutherford)
- Best Direction: ‘Bloom’ by Zoë Barrett (Upham)
- Best Script: ‘Beyond Farewell’ by Meagan Maritz, Erica O’Neill, and Troy Telfer
- Best Performance: Phoebe James (Upham) for her performance in ‘Bigfoot Isn’t Real’
- Best Cinematography: ‘Sandcastle’ by Ivy Feng (Rutherford)
- Best Editing / Sound: ‘Battle to Cook’ by Tommy Duan (Rutherford)
In addition to the judges awards, an audience choice award was voted for and awarded on the night. It was a tight result with a number of films in contention for the fan favourite title. Ultimately the buddy comedy ‘A Super Scary Movie’ prevailed, created by Ben Kirman (Batten) and Brody Padfield (Te Kanawa).
All the award winners were presented vouchers from Monterey Cinemas, Auckland Theatre Company and Silo Theatre.
Films from the evening are available to view on the ‘Media At Macleans’ YouTube channel.
Students striving for Macademy Award glory have already begun discussing their ideas for short films to be made in the filmmaking club and media studies classes in 2024.
