Auckland, New Zealand - We were thrilled to have been able to welcome nearly 50 nominees to our first-ever Industry Experience Day on Thursday, 8 December. As part of New Zealand Youth Film Festival’s mission to empower rangatahi youth and connect them with Aotearoa New Zealand’s famed film industry, we delivered a full day’s worth of tours.

The day began with a welcome breakfast at Auckland University of Technology’s (AUT) Sir Paul Reeves Building, the venue for our Gala Screening the day after. Nominees were then transported via coach to the nearby Television New Zealand’s (TVNZ) Auckland CBD headquarters. Nominees enjoyed thorough introductions to what TVNZ does in addition to unique Q&As with senior staff, including news anchor Melissa Stokes. Attendees were able to enjoy unique looks into TVNZ’s newsrooms, studios, and floor and were able to enjoy watching the 12 o’clock news live in the studio. From there, nominees were transported to the nearby Department of Post facilities where staff showed nominees what their post-production facilities and operations were like. Nominees were able to interact with equipment on hand and network with Department of Post’s experts. Finally, the day ended with tours of Auckland University of Technology (AUT) and looks around their media facilities, including motion-capture studios.

This year’s tours included:

• Television New Zealand (TVNZ)

• Department of Post

• Auckland University of Technology (AUT)

You can view the full Gallery of photos taken at the event by clicking here.

Festival Founder and Director Ryan Chow was immensely pleased with how the day turned out, saying:

I am so thrilled with how the day turned out. As our first-ever Industry Experience Day, nominees were able to enjoy special peeks into how New Zealand’s television and film industries operate, connecting with the incredible humans behind their day-to-day operations. I cannot wait for the experiences we will deliver in the future with future iterations of the New Zealand Youth Film Festival.