Ōtautahi / Christchurch
The Ōtautahi / Christchurch region welcomes teams from across Canterbury. Known for its independent filmmaking culture, the region showcases creative talent from both the city and wider Canterbury region.
This region is known for its enthusiastic review culture on the screening room and fun screening after parties.
Join the Christchurch Facebook group here
Screen Canterbury Regional Guidelines
Please download and read the regional guidelines from Screen Canterbury for filming in the Canterbury Region.
Joel and Rachel Tempero
Joel and Rachel are a powerhouse team back for their second year managing Christchurch. Lifelong supporters of 48Hours, they’re excited to support the Ōtautahi / Christchurch filmmaking whānau once again.
Passionate about solving problems with a dash of cleverness, Joel and Rachel have spent years lifting up voices across creative spaces, communities, and events as digital entrepreneurs. Their work spans everything from weddings to visual effects, game design to web development, event management to a helpful look over your shoulder. Their projects have caught both national and global attention, and no week is ever the same for these two.
They’ve got a bunch of tips and tricks up their sleeve, so don’t be afraid to reach out with any questions, they can’t get enough 48Hours chat.
Email Joel & Rachel
Regional Final
Tuesday September 8th - 5.30pm
HOYTS EntX Theatre
617 Colombo Street
The nominated finalist teams will receive 5 complimentary tickets to their regional final!
Accessibility info: Elevator access and resticted-mobility access available.
Shortlist
An Evening With - A Product of My Imagination
Breadstick - Finger Ring: The Proposal
Cactus? - A.I. Dream of Genie
Dennistribe - The Mob
Egors Ensemble - The Mis-Take
Five Musketeers - truER detective
Fruitstorm - Elijah's Ladder
Herms Heroes - ROAD 2 REVENGE
Imperials - MASHED
Inclusive Performance Academy - Hacked Off
Lamp Post - The Deadly Extinction
Magnificent B - Idle Vapourings of a Mind Diseased
Members of human race - Between Us
Meme Teme - What's yours is Mime
Neato Productions - Blowing Smoke
Olax - Turpe
Out for Lunch - Cover Your Ears
Pegasus Films - Mission Impuppetable
PITCH SHIFTED - Nadir
PlanetFoxFilms - Back to the drawing board
Render Rebels - Asset Improvement
rip focus: Tokyo Drift - love you, baby
Screen Qweens - Connection Lost
Sub-Par Cinema Society - Reputation
Toot Toot - Campaign
Finalists
Joel & Rachel will be announcing the Christchurch Regional Finalists on Sunday 23rd of August, keep an eye out for the Facebook live at 7:00PM!
Judges
Anna Canton
Based in Ōtautahi Christchurch, Anna has over 20 years' experience in the screen industry plus a decade in corporate marketing & brand management. She is a Creative Producer, Line Producer and Production Manager working across film, television, doco, and TVC. She has a passion for high-stakes genre film and storytelling that highlights diverse and underrepresented voices on screen.
As a Producer, her recent short film Homecoming was funded by NZFC and will play at the British Urban Film Festival in London in October 2025. Other shorts have played at local and international festivals. She is in development on a feature film The Pissy Tits Street Gang alongside Nadia Maxwell, and is Senior Producer on the Episode One Redux web series Dead Strangers for RNZ.
Anna is also the Co-Chair of the regional screen advocacy group Te Puna Matarau - Canterbury Screen Industry Association; a member of WIFT, and the Pan-Asian Screen Collective.
Ruth Agnew
Having demonstrated an early aptitude for offering uninvited opinions, Ruth found a legitimate outlet for criticism as a theatre, film and book reviewer for publications such as The Press, Stuff, Takehe, Family Times, What’s Up Christchurch, Playmarket Annual, Theatreview and Flat City Field Notes. She also fictionalises parts of her life in script form as a playwright and performs as an actor for companies including Proudly Asian Theatre Company, Top Dog Theatre Company, and Canterbury Young Shakespeare Company. In her spare time, Ruth enjoys teaching young people Speech and Drama.
Andrew Gunn
Andrew has been a screenwriter since before the turn of the century, getting his start in TVNZ's Children's Unit writing for What Now and The Son Of A Gunn Show. He has worked on many children's TV shows screening both here and in the UK, and has written across a variety of formats including soap opera (Shortland Street), light-entertainment (Dancing With The Stars) and quiz show (Brain Busters). He co-wrote the feature films Kiwi Flyer, 3 Mile Limit and Kiwi Christmas.
Shardey Harris
Shardey is a proud wāhine Māori from Ōtautahi, passionate about creating stories that celebrate the diverse communities of Aotearoa.
As a freelance writer, director and creative producer, she is driven by a love for storytelling and the adrenaline of live production. With six years of experience across television and live events, she has built a career capturing moments in fast-paced, high-pressure environments.
At just 20 years old, she became a studio director with credits on children's TV shows What Now?, The Feed, and Brain Busters. In recent years, her work has also included serving as the main stage director for Electric Avenue, Australasia's biggest music festival.
Masen Ma
Masen is a screen production tutor with a background in post-production. He has been teaching at the New Zealand Broadcasting School for over 20 years and currently manages the second-year degree students of the Screen Production Stream. He has been a regular Christchurch judge for 48Hours since 2006, and for his sins he has enjoyed (been forced to watch) hundreds of these films.
Kathleen Burns
Kathleen is a proudly Otautahi based actor who has worked all over the country for the last twenty years. Being invested in the local industry is how she gets her kicks! Some of her favourite credits by Christchurch film makers include The Bostram Scenario, Wilbert Wire, Working Class, and Ghost Shark II: Urban Jaws.
Andrew Todd
Andrew Todd is a writer-director from Ōtautahi, Aotearoa. A stage/screen freelancer with 70+ professional credits, Andrew has also worked as a film critic, jurying for festivals alongside luminaries like Leonard Maltin and Edgar Wright, and serves on the boards of the NZ Writers Guild and Te Puna Matarau. His relationship with 48HOURS stretches back to 2007, and includes three Apee wins and seven years as Christchurch regional manager. Andrew co-founded Freak Development with partner Cathasaigh Ó Fiannachta in 2024, and has multiple feature projects being packaged in market.
Erin Harrington
Dr Erin Harrington has been involved with 48Hours in various guises - vollie, competitor, judge - for 20 years. She's a senior lecturer above the bar in the English programme at the University of Canterbury, and an internationally-recognised expert in film, particularly horror media. She sits on the board of WORD Christchurch, is well known as a theatre and arts critic, and appears regularly at festivals and events and on podcasts.
Steve Austin
Former Christchurch 48HOURS City Manager, Steve Austin, has recently returned from many years in the northern isle and is a sucker for the kind of punishment that only this competition can provide. A true cinema nerd, curator, archivist, practitioner - his recent screen credits include starring in Ghost Shark II: Urban Jaws and directing documentary short Operation: RAMBU!
Kerepeti Paraone
Kerepeti is the founder of Māori production company, Kororatahi Creative. He is a kaihaka, filmmaker, musician, and composer, primarily focusing on capturing archival, iwi, and environmental-related content. He works independently on films and served as associate producer on the local feature film We Were Dangerous, as well as on various local and international productions.