Pakūranga College students won big at the recent youth filmmaking competition, OnScreen. Year 13 trio Jiah Maharaj, Raya Peralta, and Eunice Hou are pinching themselves after being named national champions in the competition’s documentary category on the 28 October awards night.
They submitted their seven-minute documentary about Filipino food truck and eatery, Hapunan, to the competition on the advice of their media studies teacher, Sarah Side, but they never expected to premiere it to an audience at the awards night.
The film was listed as one of two documentary national finalists before claiming the top award and a technical award for Best Cinematography. When her name was called for the Best Cinematography award, Eunice says it felt “unreal”. “We had a lot of support in the crowd; we could hear the cheers as we stood at the front waiting for the announcement of the national champion.”
Another Year 13 Media Studies group entered the competition, with Blake Elliott, Max Hewin, and Lily Pearce also celebrating a win. Their seven-minute documentary, Snared, created as an NCEA assessment, was shortlisted as a semi-finalist, taking home the award for Best Journalism.
“At the start of the project we spent a lot of time sending emails and waiting for responses,” says Lily. “Often our initial contact wasn’t able to interview, but could refer us to someone who could sit down to talk with us. The interviews were really hard to get, so winning the Best Journalism award is extremely validating.”
Their documentary explores the fishing industry’s impact on the Hauraki Gulf, canvassing opinions from industry representatives, politicians, and scientists.
Blake says, “We really enjoyed talking to the other finalists on the awards night and hearing about their journeys. Even though our films were different, we shared a lot of similar experiences in the production process.”
Congratulations to both groups on these well-deserved accolades! Click below to view each documentary.
