Film is taking a starring role at SAE Auckland. For the first time ever, enrolment numbers for the Film January 2018 intake are double the size of the Audio numbers! Our enquiry numbers are shooting through the roof. The new film facilities are humming and we’re showing more people around the brand-new studio than ever before. 

This is in part due to fantastic new staff like new Head of Department, Michael Miller. Now Michael’s been here a year, his impact is being felt. Michael continues to work as a filmmaker, and his recent short film ‘Parasites’ has recently been selected to make its European Premiere at the Down Under Berlin Film Festival in September.  

The festival, which showcases a mixture of shorts and features from New Zealand and Australia, runs from 13-17 September 2017. This is the 7th year the popular festival has been running in Berlin. Last year, the Down Under Berlin Film Festival held the German premiere of Taika Waititi’s universally acclaimed hit comedy, ‘Hunt For the Wilderpeople’ (2016).

Film numbers are on the rise SAE also in part due to specific initiatives Campus Director, Dr Suzette Major, is implementing to boost the profile and interest in the Film programme here. One of these is the up-coming event, ChicFlix, a one-day practical women-only workshop to encourage more women into film.

But mostly it’s due to our SAE students. They’re enjoying the new facilities, including the green screen, and are out and about making films, tweeting and having a ball.

Three teams, including one headed by Michael Miller, recently entered into the 48-hour film competition and sent the Twittersphere into overdrive with their excited tweets as each team raced to finish a film from start to finish in the popular 48-hr film challenge.

Michael Miller says, ‘We’ve put a real focus on making the SAE film programme intensely hands on and driven by the students’ own creativity. Now we’re seeing the pay-off from that. 

Film is firing at SAE Auckland, and we’re getting hugely positive feedback from current students who are thrilled to be part of the SAE family.