NGURRAWAANA Wins The 2023 Monster Children Short Film Awards
Presented by Wānaka.
NGURRAWAANA the film directed by Kieran Satour and produced by Ramona Telecican is this year’s winner of the Monster Children Short Film Awards, presented by Wānaka.
A huge congratulations to Kieran of GARUWA along with producer Ramona Telecican, editor Rah Dakota, cinematographer Ryan Andrew Lee, photographer James Evans in producing such a brilliant short film and Jirra Harvey in facilitating the story making journey. NGURRAWAANA explores Yindjibarndi man, WImiya Woodley's journey’s back to his homelands and shows us how being back on Country helps First Nations people find their spirit and power amongst their ancestors. When making the shortlist all directors were asked to provide a treatment concept incorporating the theme of ‘Regeneration’ to be filmed in beautiful Wānaka, New Zealand, and Kieran’s response got him across the line (although extremely close between the other directors let me tell you). This is what Kieran had to say when we let him know he was the pick:
“During the whole process of making NGURRAWAANA it was always of the utmost importance to be able to share Yindjibarndi culture in an authentic and nuanced way. I am humbled to be the winner of MCSFA 2023, and am even more excited to see the Yindjibarndi story reach a bigger audience via NGURRAWAANA's win. I want to thank the Yindjibarndi for trusting me to make the film with them, especially Juluwarlu CEO Lorraine Coppin, her son Wimiya Woodley, his partner Iya Ware and his father Michael Woodley.
In the same vein as our process with the Yindjibarndi, the kaupapa for our film in Wānaka was always going to be a First Nations first approach that centres around Kāi Tahu experience, worldview and perspective”.
Kieran and his team have now won a $10,000 cash prize, $10,000 worth of film hardware from Sony, and an all-expenses-paid trip to Wānaka, New Zealand to direct his short film, on-location with Monster Children Films. Keep an eye out for the film, due for release before Christmas. More on this shortly.
The Monster Children Short Film Awards presented by Wānaka are in our second year now, proudly supporting filmmakers with the calibre of talent both exciting as it is difficult for us to choose a winner. A special shoutout to the highly commended runners up Kaius Potter, Tom Morales, Jason Tran, and Tim Brown who have each won $1,000 in cash as well as a $500 Sony hardware voucher. Thank you as always to our supporting partners Sony and Film Queenstown Lakes.
