Hi 

Welcome to May! 

We love sharing the love and there's plenty to go around this month. 

The early running is made in the inaugural Audio Fiction World Cup ... awards bashes aplenty have been appraising and applauding their contenders ... we're cheering up a few more peeps with some more early selections for #NZWF23 and there are at least nine submission deadlines to consider between now and our next newsletter.

But, for now, dive into this one.

Enjoy!

 
Team #NZWF23

It's always a pleasure to announce early selections, and we've covered a bunch of bases with our choices this month. They come from all the submissions so far received.

So, early congratuwelldones to the teams behind the following ... 

Podcasts: Actual Play titles Quest Friends and Top of the Round, plus Fiction titles Dice Tower Theatre and Subsister.

Shorts: MV Don't Pop My Bubble, and two Fiction titles: Letters from NZ and Scratched from the USA.

Series: Aussie pilot Bogan Moths, local factual show POV, international narrative shows Herrings (USA, pictured above), Liminal (Australia) and The Universe Conspires (Uruguay), and local narrative show Ahikāroa. 

We've now updated the Selections page on our website, so you can check out all the podcasts, series and shorts we've confirmed so far here.

The first set of rankings are in for the Audio Fiction World Cup. Dominated by American series, the podium places go - for now, at least - to 

1. We're Alive
2. The All Night Society
3. End of the Cornfield

You'll be able to enjoy at least one of those at NZ Web Fest, as we announced The All Night Society among our early selections last month. 

We're all about the shout-outs, and there are plenty to come after all April's awards action.

A busy if short week after Easter saw plenty of shows picking up silverware at the Indie Series Awards and Canadian Screen Awards.

At the Indie Series ceremony, Detention Adventure (above) took Best Editing and Best Directing - Comedy. Kith & Kin was also a double winner, coming away with Best Original Song and Best Writing awards.

Several shows we've named as early selections for our 2023 edition also took wins, making us look like we made smart choices, but it could have just been good luck! 

Podcast The Rapscallion Agency took Indie Series' Best Writing, Best Actress and Best Series awards in the Audio Fiction categories. Chateau Laurier took a huge six wins, for Best Costume Design, Directing, Ensemble, Original Score and Production Design - plus the Best International Series award.

Back on home turf, Detention Adventure was again a winner, taking the Canadian Screen Awards gongs for VFX work and Children's or Youth Fiction Program or Series. Chateau Laurier also continued its winning streak, taking the Best Writing award in the digital categories. 

Two more of our early selections also came away winners in Canada - Revenge of the Black Best Friend took out Best Lead Performance and Best Web Program or Series, and Tokens won Best Supporting Performance and Best Direction. 

Stareable ran its LA edition over last weekend, but we haven't had chance to catch up with their winners before this newsletter was sent.

Running next weekend, LA Web Fest will soon turn some of its nominees' nods into trophies. 

Warming up in France, the Global Production Awards has named its finalists, with the wins to be announced during the Cannes Film Festival later this month. 

Among those up for the Diversity & Inclusion Award is British series Dreaming Whilst Black, whose creator Adjani Salmon won our Best Actor gong back in 2019.

Here in NZ, the Voyager Media Awards run on 27 May. Some contenders for the Best Video Documentary Series award who've also been nominees at NZ Web Fest: Loading Docs and Waiata Anthems. 

Good luck to all the nominees!

We're happy to be running a x-promo this month with Web Series Canada. The organisation is celebrating 10 years of Toronto's Web Fest by partnering with other fests around the world to encourage Canadian shows to get out more.

It's a great idea, and we're very happy to reciprocate. 

If you've got a Canadian podcast, web series, music video or short film, you can get a 15% discount for your submissions to NZ Web Fest until our regular deadline on 31 May. Submit at filmfreeway.com/NZWebfest and use the code NZWebfestLovesTOWebfest

If you've got a Kiwi podcast or web series, you can get a 15% discount off your submissions to T.O. WebFest until their FINAL deadline on 31 May. Hop over to filmfreeway.com/TOWebFest and use the code TOWebfestLovesNZWebfest

Wrap your eyes and ears around ...

May is NZ Music Month, and Waiata Anthems will be pumping out new content over the next few weeks. Check out their YouTube channel to hear what's new. 

RNZ's series My Cyclone Gabrielle (above), a collection of shorts on responses to one of NZ's recent weather disasters.

From the pre-pandemic vault - a NZ-Germany celebration of a year-long cultural exchange, Life Swap ... which followed up with a Lockdown series.

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We love to give shout-outs to new content in these newsletters and on our socials, but we don't have much time to trawl for it every month. So, we've decided to make that your opportunity! 

If you're releasing something, be it brand new or (for series and podcasts) a new season, shamelessly self-promote by dropping us a line or adding [email protected] to your media list if you're really fancy and have one of those.

Tell us what, when and where your stuff's releasing, and we'll do the honours. We'll give preference to stuff that isn't geo-blocked or behind pay-walls, but all-comers are welcome :)

If we don't know, we can't spread the word, so do share your info. Help us to help you!

If you're looking for some festival love and laurels, including from us, here are some deadlines that'll slide on by before our next newsletter hits your inbox.

Cinema Jove, Valencia: final deadline, 5 May

Melbourne Web Fest: earlybird deadline, 7 May

Buenos Aires: late deadline, 10 May

Panama Series Festival: late deadline, 25 May

Bilbao Seriesland: late deadline, 31 May

Marseille Web Fest: final deadline, 31 May

Minnesota Web Fest: late deadline, 31 May

Toronto Web Fest: final deadline, 31 May

And, of course, us!

NZ Web Fest: regular deadline, 31 May

For more deadlines, check out the events page on our site, which includes deadlines and event dates for Web Series World Cup and Audio Fiction World Cup festivals, plus listings for other (mostly NZ) festival deadlines and event dates.

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If you've submitted a series to us, don't forget that you can submit to our trailer category for free. One you've submitted a series to us (factual or fiction, live or animated, but not a pilot) drop us an email to [email protected] and we'll send you a fee waiver code for your trailer. 

Easy as!

If you enjoy our monthly newsletters, but want info more than once every few weeks, give our social channels a go (links are just below). 

We post a few times a week, mostly on facebook and instagram. Our twitter is a bit more podcast-focused than our other channels, and LinkedIn we only use occasionally. 

We also have a linktree, which you can find here or access via our instagram bio.