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

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

Heats

Little Andromeda - Level 1/134 Oxford Terrace, Christchurch Central City, Christchurch

Monday 10th August \\ 6pm - 9.30pm
Tuesday 11th August \\ 6pm - 9.30pm
Wednesday 12th August \\ 6pm - 9.30pm

The heats schedule will be updated with session times as soon as we're ready to announce.

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.

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.

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.