NZ government backs seven more projects via Premium Development Fund

Factual reality show The Casketeers (photo: Tom Walsh)

The New Zealand government’s Premium Development Fund is supporting a further seven projects that it sees as having international reach.

Selected for their potential to engage both local and international audiences, the recipients comprise six drama series, including a dramatised version of unscripted hit Casketeers and a feature documentary, The Death of Death, from The Docufactory.

They will share NZ$500,000 (US$337,000) from the $2m fund, which is jointly administered by the NZ Film Commission (NZFC) and NZ On Air in partnership with Te Māngai Pāho, the body responsible for promoting Maori language and culture across the audiovisual industry.

NZ On Air chief executive Cameron Harland said the level of applications for the second funding round, which follows one earlier this year, showed the enormous depth of local talent.

The overall purpose of the Premium Fund, which includes development and production funding, is to support high-quality productions that tell New Zealand stories for global audiences.

The projects and production companies that have been offered development funding for their dramas are Bones of Strangers (Fluroblack), Casketeers – Dramatised (Culture Factory/Great Southern Television), I Am Māui (Awa Films), Killing Me Softly (Filthy Productions), Tarawera: The Eighth Wonder (Great Southern Television/Steambox Collective) and The Witch Doctor (MHM Productions).