SPADA New Filmmaker of the Year
SPADA New Filmmaker of the Year has this year been awarded to Zia Mandviwalla.
In 2005, Zia was a runner up for SPADA New Filmmaker of the Year and in 2007 she was selected to represent New Zealand at the Berlinale Talent Campus. Last year, Zia made her television directorial debut, on TV3s acclaimed A Thousand Apologies. She was a part of the core collective of writers, directors and actors who developed the show.
One of her first films, Pieces Together won the Kodak Prize at the Wellington Fringe Film. Zia went on to make Eating Sausage (2004), funded by The Screen Innovation Production Fund and the New Zealand Film Commission. Eating Sausage was selected for a number of international film festivals including London and Pusan. The film won a host of awards including Best Short Film Script at the 2005 NZ Screen Director's Guild Awards, Best Director and Best Short Film at Fitzroy Shorts in Melbourne. Her short film Clean Linen premiered at the Melbourne International Film Festival in 2007.
Zia currently has many projects in development including another short film and several feature film scripts.