2012 Sorta Unofficial New Zealand Film Awards – winners

Tonight, the inaugural Sorta Unofficial New Zealand Film Awards – also known as the Moas in honour of the extinct New Zealand birds – took place at the Wintergarden at the Civic Theatre in Auckland.

Tusi Tamasese’s The Orator swept the field winning eight of its leading 12 nominations. The first ever film shot entirely in Samoa, in the Samoan language, with a Samoan cast and story, it won the top categories of Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor (Fa'afiaula Sagote), Best Actress (Tausili Pushparaj), Supporting Actress (Salamasina Mataia) and Screenplay.

Kirstin Marcon's The Most Fun You Can Have Dying was well behind with three wins, for Best Cinematography, Production Design and Score. Two Little Boys by Robert Sarkies won for Best Editing and Best Visual Effects.

Pietra Brettkelly's Maori Boy Genius picked up Best Documentary. Joe Lonie's Honk If You're Horny won three short film awards including Best Short.

The winners were determined by an international judging panel, which included Canadians such as TIFF programmer Colin Geddes, cinematographer Luc Montpellier, documentary producer Mila Aung-Thwin, sound mixer Daniel Pellerin, and writer-director Philippe Falardeau.

The inaugural Sorta Unofficial New Zealand Film Awards will be broadcast later this month on December 16 on the Rialto Channel.

Nominations for the 2012 Sorta Unofficial New Zealand Film Awards


Complete winners for the 2012 Sorta Unofficial New Zealand Film Awards

Feature Film

Best Film
The Orator

Best Self-Funded Film
The Red House

Best Director
Tusi Tamasese - The Orator

Best Editing
Annie Collins - Two Little Boys

Best Cinematography
Crighton Bone - The Most Fun You Can Have Dying

Best Actor
Fa'afiaula Sagote - The Orator

Best Actress
Tausili Pushparaj - The Orator

Best Supporting Actor
Will Hall - Netherwood

Best Supporting Actress
Salamasina Mataia - The Orator

Best Screenplay
Tusi Tamasese - The Orator

Best Visual Effects
Jon Baxter and Puck Murphy - Two Little Boys

Best Costume Design
Kirsty Cameron - The Orator

Best Makeup Design
Davina Lamont, Sean Foot and Richard Taylor - The Devil's Rock

Best Production Design
Bruce Everard - The Most Fun You Can Have Dying

Best Score
Grayson Gilmour - The Most Fun You Can Have Dying

Best Sound
Tim Prebble, Chris Todd, Richard Flynn, Mike Hedges and Gilbert Lake - The Orator

Documentary film

Best Documentary
Maori Boy Genius

Best Director
Sam Peacocke - Shihad: Beautiful Machine

Best Cinematography
Christopher Pryor - How Far is Heaven

Best Editing
Cushla Dillon - Shihad: Beautiful Machine

Short film

Best Short
Honk If You're Horny

Best Self-Funded Short
In Safe Hands

Best Script
Joe Lonie - Honk If You're Horny

Best Actor
Andy Anderson - Honk If You're Horny

Best Actress
Mabelle Dennison - Whakatiki

Best Cinematography
Bonnie Elliott - I'm the One