Grand Nationals
Come along to our Grand National Finals!
Grand Finals
Embassy Theatre, 10 Kent Tce, Mt Vic, Wellington
Saturday 17th October, 7:30pm - Buy your tickets here!
Doors open 6:00pm
National Finalists:
An Evening With - A Product of My Imagination
Busby Films - Plan B
Enormous Head LLC - EAR WORM.
Froblin - Mother of all Heists
Glitter Swarm - The Last Train to Pound Town
Glowtime - Hiccupocalypse - Sir Peter Jackson Wildcard
Inclusive Performance Academy - Hacked Off
Lukewarm Lunch - Headspace
MO3PEPS ™ - The Dap
Peaked in Film School - RUIN
Permanently Confused - Twin Flame - Sir Peter Jackson Wildcard
Pikitia Rangihaeata - Koera - Sir Peter Jackson Wildcard
rip focus: Tokyo Drift - love you, baby
Sealami - Nudity - Sir Peter Jackson Wildcard
Taste of Kiwi - NAN!
The Horny Owls - RaveYard
Twotors & Co. - Defiance
Typhoid Films - The Apparishioners - Sir Peter Jackson Wildcard
National Shortlist:
Free Cinematic LUTS - A Man of Great Taste
Killing Karma Studios - Puppet or Prejudice
Midnight Sunburn - Chrono-Narcos
Pixel Pixies - You'd Make A Good Tree
Rabid Aunty Jean - Bomb Busters
Spanko - The Host
Standard Deviants - COMMIT
National Award Nominees:
Best School Team
HVHS for the wings - Presidents and Assholes
Silver Shadow - ENDLESS
Step On No Pets - Family Game Fight
The Bourgeoisie - Family Kids
Best Disqualified Film
Jovial Entertainment - Colleagues
Lewton Bus Studios - Loose Ends
Over and Out - The Night of the Weapon: The Game
Seriously Goose - The Last Word
Incredibly Strange Award
Glowtime - Hiccupocalypse
HEATHERFOREVER - Heather & Hels Do Cyberterrorism
Rusted From The Back - EOD
The Dunnos - Detention
Best Solo/Duo
Girl in the Mirror - Lost Cat
Reuben.T.Edwards - The Caricature
Silver Shadow - Endless
Toot Toot - Campaign
Couch Kumara Best Comedy
Busby Films - Plan B
Froblin - Mother of all Heists
Inclusive Performance Academy - Hacked Off
The Russell Crew - Jackson
Outstanding Female / Gender Diverse Director - Supported by WIFT
Enormous Head LLC - Lex Hodge
Glitter Swarm - Annabelle Snelling
Permanently Confused - Hweiling Ow
Sealami - Alice Gatland
Best Original Score/Song
Out for Lunch - Cover Your Ears
Pixel Pixies - You'd Make A Good Tree
RS Productions - Magnum Opus
Sealami - Nudity
Best Sound Design
An Evening With - A Product of My Imagination
Bus of the Undead - The Paper Run
Silver Window - Afters
Spanko - The Host
Best Editing
Froblin - Mother of all Heists
Herms Heroes - ROAD 2 REVENGE
Hot Lunch - Revenge On The Number 1 Rule
Sealami - Nudity
Best Animation
Froblin - Mother of all Heists
PlanetFoxFilms - Back to the drawing board
Sealami - Nudity
The Immortal Think Tank - Bloom
Best Production Design
An Evening With - A Product of My Imagination
Glitter Swarm - The Last Train to Pound Town
Spanko - The Host
The Great Lake Film Society - S.Q.R.T.
Best Cinematography
Egors Ensemble - The Mis-Take
Free Cinematic LUTS - A man of great taste
Permanently Confused - Twin Flame
Twotors & Co. - Defiance
Best Script
Glitter Swarm - The Last Train to Pound Town
rip focus: Tokyo Drift - love you, baby
Taste of Kiwi - NAN!
The Russell Crew - Jackson
Best Performer
Busby Films - Lazarus Busby, Jairah Lemanu, Pipo Vili Tevaga.
Lukewarm Lunch - Te Ao o Hinepehinga
rip focus: Tokyo Drift - Stella Cheersmith & Stephen Sangster
Twotors & Co. - Zoe Courtney
Best Director
Glitter Swarm - The Last Train to Pound Town
Lukewarm Lunch - Headspace
rip focus: Tokyo Drift - love you, baby
Taste of Kiwi - NAN!
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Join us at The Embassy Theatre on Saturday October 17th, Wellington to celebrate 2026's cream of the crop of short films made in only 48 Hours.
The very best films from across the country are judged by a panel of national and international judges and screened at the Grand Final Event.
Bar open: 6:00pm
Doors open: 7:00pm
Show starts: 7:30pm
After Party - The Tasting Room
This event will also be live-streamed for those who can't make it along on our YouTube Channel @48Hoursnz.
The nominated finalist teams will receive up to 10 complimentary tickets to the Grand Finals!
Accessibility Info for Embassy Theater: Ground floor/Elevator access & wheelchair access.
Stay with Sojourn Apartment Hotels.
Sojourn Apartment Hotels is proud to support the Vista Foundation 48Hours Grand Finals 2026 by welcoming visiting filmmakers to Wellington. Exclusive offer for 48Hours filmmakers: use promo code 48HOURS2026 to receive 15% off our Best Flexible Rate.
Recognised in Tripadvisor's Travellers' Choice Best of the Best Awards 2026, both Sojourn properties are ranked among New Zealand's Top 5 Hotels and the Top 10 Hotels in the South Pacific.
We look forward to welcoming you to Wellington and wish all filmmakers the very best for the 2026 Grand Finals!
Specialist Judges
Sir Peter Jackson
Sir Peter Jackson Wildcards Judge
Sir Peter Jackson was a mere eight years old when his parents were given a Super 8 cine camera for Christmas, fanning the flames of his love for cinema. He went on to make home movies in his town of Pukerua Bay – experimenting with stop-motion, practical and special effects.
He famously sourced some WWII uniforms, rallied his mates, and made his first short film titled The Dwarf Patrol – which would later resurface as a bonus feature on the Bad Taste DVD release.
While working as a photo-engraver at The Evening Post, Jackson enlisted help from his friends and colleagues to make his first feature film. He upgraded to a second-hand Bolex camera in 1983, which was mounted onto homemade dolly tracks, cranes, and Steadicams to film his cult horror comedy classic, Bad Taste. It was then his creative partnership with Dame Fran Walsh that led to the black comedies Meet the Feebles and Braindead, before catapulting the pair to international recognition and critical acclaim with Heavenly Creatures in 1994.
Today, Jackson has two epic Tolkien trilogies under his belt, Academy Awards to his name for Best Director, Best Picture, and Best Adapted Screenplay, numerous Hollywood hits, and has made waves in the documentary world with They Shall Not Grow Old and the Emmy-winning The Beatles: Get Back. This year, he was awarded an Honorary Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival – one of the most prestigious awards in the entire film industry. Despite his unprecedented success, Peter has never forgotten where he came from and continues to support grassroots filmmaking and uplift aspiring filmmakers in New Zealand.
Anneka Fris
Wētā FX Best Animation Judge
Anneka Fris leverages her expertise in creature and facial performance to develop compelling characters that realize the filmmaker’s storytelling vision and spark audiences’ imaginations. Anneka was recently Animation Supervisor on Disney’s Moana, and before that, James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way of Water. Other recent projects include action horror Shadow in the Cloud, Lady and the Tramp and Gemini Man, and Anneka was also Lead Animator on Robert Rodriguez’ Alita: Battle Angel.
She was Senior Animator on VES Award-winning Avatar: Flight of Passage, a 3D simulated ride for Disney’s Animal Kingdom theme park. Animating the troubled and expressive character Koba for sequences in Academy Award-nominated Dawn of the Planet of the Apes was another career highlight. Early roles at Wētā FX also include animation for Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit trilogy, The Avengers and The Adventures of Tintin.
Mike Hedges
Best Sound Design Judge / Best Original Score/Song Judge
Michael (Mike) Hedges is an internationally recognised, multi-award-winning Supervising Re-recording Mixer at Park Road Post Production in Wellington. He has won two Academy Awards, for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King and King Kong, and received three further nominations, including for James Cameron's Avatar: The Way of Water. He won a Primetime Emmy Award and a Cinema Audio Society Award for The Beatles: Get Back. With over 30 years in the industry, he has worked with directors including Sir Peter Jackson, Steven Spielberg and James Cameron, and helped develop Dolby Atmos mixing at Park Road Post Production.
Dame Gaylene Preston
WIFT Outstanding Female / Gender Diverse Filmmaker judge
Dame Gaylene Preston is celebrated as a leading filmmaker, having produced and directed some of the most enduring popular classics of NZ cinema. Preston is a storyteller whose work has a distinctive flavour that entertains while presenting serious subjects with humour and warmth. Her compassion and understanding of real life, and real people, combined with her talent for portraying on film metaphoric stories, over four decades has contributed to Gaylene’s peerless reputation as a distinct local voice. Preston’s generosity of spirit and powerful mentorship and advocacy skills have been central to the development of NZ's filmmaking community.
Features: MR WRONG (1985), RUBY & RATA (1990), WAR STORIES OUR MOTHER NEVER TOLD US (1995), PERFECT STRANGERS (2003), HOME BY CHRISTMAS (2010) and MY YEAR WITH HELEN (2017)
In 2001 she was the first filmmaker to receive an Arts Foundation Laureate Award and in 2002 she was made an Officer of the NZ Order of Merit for her services to the film industry. In 2016 she was awarded a NZ Woman Of Influence Award for Arts and Culture and in 2017 was given the Premium Moa Award for services to cinema.
David Paul - nzcs
Best Cinematography Judge
Having trained in film camera at the NZBC, David Paul began his career shooting news, current affairs and documentaries on 16mm film. He has since built a wide-ranging body of work across television drama, feature film and documentary.
As Director of Photography, recent credits include all three seasons of Under the Vines, Happiness, Head Girl, The Sounds and The Dead Lands. Standout New Zealand productions include Field Punishment No. 1, Hillary and The Exponents: Why Does Love. David has also shot second unit on The New Legends of Monkey, Roman Empire and American Playboy: The Hugh Hefner Story, alongside more than 40 documentaries including Brian Brake: Painting with Light.
David was accredited by the New Zealand Cinematographers Society in 2013 and has received multiple awards and nominations for his cinematography.
Known for his gentle, collaborative approach, David focuses on the director’s vision and the story, whether working on large-scale productions or low-budget independent films. He particularly enjoys judging 48HOURS for the creativity, bravery and resourcefulness filmmakers bring to the screen.
Ben Powdrell
Best Editing Judge
Ben is the current president of DEGANZ and a freelance film and television editor with over 20 years of experience in post-production.
He most recently edited the feature documentary The Stolen Children of Aotearoa, premiering at Māoriland Film Festival 2025, Miles From Nowhere (Sky, Neon) and Red, White and Brass for Piki Films. This year Ben finished a seven-year stint at Wētā FX, working both as a VFX editor and, most recently, in the marketing team.
In 2020, he completed his Master’s in Creative Writing (Scriptwriting) at the International Institute of Modern Letters at Victoria University and has several original projects in development.
The animated rural zombie comedy series Bloke of the Apocalypse, which Ben co-produced with wife Francesca Carney, is returning for a second season in 2027.
Couch Kumara
Best Comedy Judge
Couch Kumara is a Wellington-based filmmaking collective and production company known for its distinctive blend of comedy, creativity and beautifully crafted chaos. Led by director Finn O’Connor, the team has spent more than a decade making films, commercials, sketches and whatever else they can dream up, developing a style that embraces spontaneity while maintaining a sharp eye for storytelling and production.
Their filmmaking journey began through 48HOURS, where Couch Kumara first won the Wellington competition while still at school. Since then, they have returned year after year, collecting regional wins, national finalist spots and numerous category awards. Their 2024 entry Gutted won the Wellington regional competition and went on to become a national finalist, following earlier national finalist films including Pre-Emptive Defence and Plant.
Beyond 48HOURS, Couch Kumara has grown into a professional video production company creating commercials, branded content, online series and short films. Their work continues to balance polished production with the irreverent humour, experimentation and willingness to take a ridiculous idea seriously that has defined the team from the beginning.
Ant Timpson
Solo/Duo Award & Incredibly Strange Judge
Ant Timpson is a film producer, director and lifelong champion of the strange, unexpected and wonderfully unconventional. He founded the 48HOURS filmmaking competition in 2003. He also founded the Incredibly Strange Film Festival.
As a producer, Ant has championed genre cinema around the world, creating the ABCs of Death anthology and producing films including Housebound, Turbo Kid, Deathgasm, The Greasy Strangler, The Field Guide to Evil and Censor. His first feature as director, Come to Daddy, premiered at Tribeca in 2019, followed by the family adventure Bookworm in 2024.
Ant was the inaugural recipient of New Zealand’s Art Entrepreneur Award and has also managed several NZ Film Commission initiatives supporting emerging filmmakers. His passion for discovering distinctive voices and films that push boundaries has remained central to his career.
National Judges
Cliff Curtis
With over 30 years experience in the film industry, Cliff Curtis has established himself as one of New Zealand's most successful actors and producers. In 2022, Curtis joined the ensemble cast of James Cameron's "Avatar" Sequels as "Tonowari" with the latest sequel Avatar: Ash & Fire released late last year. Current projects include Apple TV series "Chief of War" starring Jason Momoa and Season Two of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters. In 2013, Curtis established Arama Pictures, dedicated to indigenous ownership through storytelling, inspired by mentors Merata Mita, Don Selwyn & Barry Barclay. Lately he has begun to diversify his focus and to leverage his acting career into more social impact projects. From in front of the camera to behind the camera, financing, sales, distribution and investment.
With the greater mission being to uplift Māori and to shift the perception of what the culture is capable of in New Zealand and globally.
"The power of the film industry is that it can literally shape the narrative and empower indigenous story tellers to lead the global industry. The dream is that Māori can enter a new phase of growth within the screen sector.
Māori can lead, secure in their ownership and governance across the full ecosystem to not only maximise returns but build a legacy that has multi-generational impact. "
In 2024, Curtis received the FIAPF Award, given by the APSA's founding partner, International Federation of Film Producers Associations (FIAPF). Curtis received the prize for outstanding achievement in film in the Asia-Pacific region.
Jen Yamato
Jen Yamato is an American film critic and journalist based in Los Angeles. She began her 20-year career as an editor at Rotten Tomatoes, where she fell in love with the art and craft of film criticism. She subsequently served as an editor at Movieline and Deadline Hollywood, then as an entertainment reporter at The Daily Beast, before covering film as a staff reporter and critic at the Los Angeles Times. A member of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, her bylines have also appeared in Variety and The Washington Post. She has covered major international film festivals and pop culture events including Sundance, SXSW, Cannes, TIFF, and Comic-Con and has done karaoke at each and every one of them. Yamato is the co-creator and co-host of the award-winning podcast Asian Enough, and is a recipient of the 2024 International Cinematographers Guild Publicists Press Award.
Amy Nicholson
Amy Nicholson is the film critic of the Los Angeles Times and host of the podcast Unspooled. She graduated with a B.A. in Film Studies and Anthropology from the University of Oklahoma and later earned a Master's in Professional Writing from USC. After interning and freelancing at LA Weekly, she served as editor-in-chief of Boxoffice Magazine before being hired as a full-time film critic at LA Weekly in 2013, a role she held until 2016, when she became chief film critic for MTV News. Her criticism has been recognized by the Los Angeles Press Club and the Association of Alternative Newsmedia , and she won the Best Online Commentary Award at the 2015 National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Awards for her essay on Renée Zellweger. In November 2024 she was named film critic for the Los Angeles Times, and in February 2025 she served on the international jury of the Berlin International Film Festival. She is a current on-air voice at LAist and KCRW and a member of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association and the National Society of Film Critics. She is the author of Tom Cruise: Anatomy of an Actor (2014), with a second book, Extra Girls, forthcoming from Simon & Schuster.
Jarod Neece
Jarod Neece is a Senior Programmer at Tribeca Enterprises in New York City, with an extensive career spanning film programming, curation, event production, marketing, and distribution. From 2002, he spent twenty years at the SXSW Film Festival in Austin as a Partner, Senior Film Programmer, and Event Producer, helping guide the festival's strategic direction with a particular emphasis on feature film and genre programming. He subsequently served as Chief Creative Officer for CURIA, an independent streaming platform focused on curated film collections, before joining Tribeca ahead of the 2023 festival. He has served as a juror or panelist at Cannes, Sundance, and TIFF, and sits on the advisory board of the Overlook Festival. He is also a co-author of the bestselling books Austin Breakfast Tacos and The Tacos of Texas, and co-hosted the PBS documentary series The Tacos of Texas and United Tacos of America on El Rey Network.
Lorcan Finnegan
Lorcan Finnegan is an Irish filmmaker, writer, and producer born in Dublin in 1979. He began his professional career in London working with Charlie Brooker's production company Zeppotron - the team behind Black Mirror - as a designer, editor, and director. He launched his filmmaking career with the supernatural short Foxes, which premiered at SXSW and won an IFTA for Best Short. His debut feature Without Name (2016), a horror-inflected mystery, premiered at the Toronto Film Festival. His second feature Vivarium (2019), starring Imogen Poots and Jesse Eisenberg, premiered at Cannes Critics' Week and won the Gan Foundation Award. Nocebo (2022), a psychological thriller starring Eva Green and Mark Strong, premiered at Sitges and became a Netflix hit. His fourth feature The Surfer (2024), starring Nicolas Cage, premiered in Official Selection at Cannes to a six-minute standing ovation.
Chelsie Preston Crayford
Chelsie Preston Crayford is an award-winning New Zealand writer, director and actor. Her debut feature, Caterpillar, premiered to widespread critical acclaim, with reviewers praising its emotional depth, assured direction and exceptional ensemble performances, establishing Chelsie as one of Aotearoa's most exciting new filmmaking voices.
A celebrated screen actor with more than two decades of experience, Chelsie has received both Logie and AACTA Awards for her performances, including her acclaimed roles in Underbelly: Razor and The Code. Her screen credits also include Cousins, Nude Tuesday, Dark City: The Cleaner, M3GAN and A Remarkable Place to Die.
Whether behind or in front of the camera, Chelsie champions bold, emotionally authentic storytelling, creating films that are intimate in scale, universal in resonance, and grounded in complex female perspectives.
James Lucas
James Lucas is an Academy Award-winning writer and director known for crafting emotionally resonant, character-driven stories.
He co-wrote and produced the acclaimed short film The Phone Call, starring Sally Hawkins and Jim Broadbent, which won 16 international festival awards, including Best Narrative Short at the Tribeca Film Festival. Lucas and director Mat Kirkby subsequently received the 2015 Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film.
Lucas later co-wrote Whina, the feature film celebrating the life and legacy of pioneering Māori leader Dame Whina Cooper. Most recently, he wrote and directed his feature debut, Moss & Freud, starring Ellie Bamber as Kate Moss and Sir Derek Jacobi as artist Lucian Freud. The film, executive produced by Kate Moss, premiered at the BFI London Film Festival.
Ben Wheatley
Ben Wheatley is an English filmmaker, editor, and animator, born in Billericay, Essex, in 1972. He began his career directing commercials and viral content before making his feature debut with Down Terrace (2009), which won the Next Wave prize at Fantastic Fest and Best UK Feature at Raindance. His reputation for genre-defying work was cemented by Kill List (2010) and Sightseers (2012), both of which swept festival awards worldwide, with Sightseers selected for Directors' Fortnight at Cannes. Subsequent films include A Field in England (2013), High-Rise (2015) - starring Jeremy Irons and Tom Hiddleston - and Free Fire (2016), which closed the BFI London Film Festival. He has also directed landmark British TV comedies including BBC3's Ideal and episodes of Doctor Who. His most recent feature, Normal (2025), starring Bob Odenkirk and Lena Headey, premiered in Midnight Madness at the Toronto International Film Festival and received positive reviews.
Andy Starke
Andy Starke is a British producer who, after working in television post-production and playing in the psychedelic rock group Regular Fries, co-founded Boum Productions with film historian Pete Tombs. In 2001 he co-wrote, co-produced, and co-directed the Channel 4 series Mondo Macabro, which led to the founding of the cult American home video label of the same name. In 2008, Starke co-founded Rook Films with director Ben Wheatley and writer Amy Jump, establishing one of the UK's most distinctive homes for auteur genre cinema. Through Rook, he has produced Kill List (2011), Peter Strickland's The Duke of Burgundy (2014), Free Fire (2016), In Fabric (2018), and Brandon Cronenberg's Possessor (2020). More recent producing credits include Hoard (2023), the acclaimed SCALA!!! documentary (2023), and Swimming Home (2024). In 2019, Starke co-founded the distribution company Anti-Worlds. Rook Films operates with a clear mandate: exclusively writer/director-driven projects with a commitment to personal, unconventional filmmaking.
Adam Reynolds and Chris Callus
Chris and Adam are the creative duo behind team Positive Barry and 2025's Grand Champion animated film Grounded. Since winning the competition, they've taken a revamped version of Grounded to an international audience, with official selections at multiple prestigious festivals including Annecy International Animation Film Festival (Annecy, France) and Tribeca Festival (New York, USA). As veterans of the competition, Chris and Adam have been involved in 18 entries across different teams, with multiple city and grand finalist films between them. Outside of the competition, Chris has over a decade of experience in animation and motion design with freelance clients across New Zealand, while Adam is an editor with extensive experience editing for television, film and online content at Pukeko Pictures, Wētā Workshop and as a freelance creative.