I guess another thing we’ve achieved so far is navigating the changes in television and digital media. Anyone who makes films does it so that people can see them, and it’s been important for us to respond to changes in platforms so that young film-makers can tell their stories to large audiences.

When the project began there was government support for two digital channels, TVNZ6 and TVNZ7. The winning films were screened initially on TVNZ6. When that channel came to an end the project began its partnership with TVNZ7. But then TVNZ7 also came to an end.

So now we have relationships with programmes as much as with channels. We’ve had a long relationship with What Now (which has naming rights for the
Primary/Intermediate School Film-makers Award in the film challenge) and we’ve also maintained a relationship with TV2’s weekday afternoon shows – from The Erin Simpson Show through The 4.30 Show to The Adam & Eve Show.

And we also now have partnerships with a number of key digital platforms, including The Wireless, Māori Television On Demand and The Coconet.

Having launched The Outlook for Someday at Māori Television back in 2007 it’s great to be back in partnership with them. They are showcasing the winning films by rangatahi and tamariki Māori at Māori Television On Demand. They’ve started with five films from 2015 and also Te Ao o te Tuturuatu, which was made by 11 year-old Tōmairangi Harvey in 2014.

Two years after Natasha Bishop’s film won in Japan Te Ao o te Tuturuatu also won an award at JWFF in 2015. So Tōmairangi broke Natasha’s record of being the youngest filmmaker ever to have a film selected by the festival.

Young viewers are now increasingly watching their screen content via online video. More of them now stream online video each day than watch linear TV .So it works well for them that all of the winning films in the film challenge are hosted on Vimeo and available through The Outlook for Someday website.

We’ve also evolved The Someday Awards ceremony. For the first four years of the project TVNZ hosted the ceremony. But when TVNZ7 finished we needed to find a new venue. Thanks to the support of Auckland Council and Auckland Live, we’ve had The Someday Awards at the Aotea Centre since 2011. It’s become its home.

And we’ve been able to attract some high-profile industry members to participate in the ceremony. In 2013 Andrew Adamson was our special guest and presented prizes to winning film-makers. He also did a Q+A session with the winners before the ceremony started. The following year The Dark Horse’s James Napier Robertson and Tom Hern did the same. And last year, in keeping with the talent development pathway we’ve been building, the NZFC’s Head of Talent Development, Dale Corlett, had a session with the winning film-makers.

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This year’s Someday Challenge is open to filmmakers aged 24 and under. The Entry Deadline is 9 September.