AFTA winners pay tribute to Christchurch

  • Breaking
  • 13/11/2011

By Kate Rodger

The Aotearoa Film and Television Awards were dominated by tributes to the people of Christchurch.

Awards were dished out across the news and entertainment sides of television, with gongs also delivered for the past year of New Zealand film.

The network coverage of the Christchurch earthquake featured strongly in the news categories, with all the winners paying tribute to the city and its people.

3 News presenter Hilary Barry said the region is “very much still in our hearts and in our minds”.

Ms Barry won Best Presenter while Hamish Clark won both Best News Reporting and Journalist of the Year for his coverage.

In the entertainment categories, long overdue wins for 7 Days taking home Best Comedy and Best Presenter for Jeremy Corbett.

The big film awards of the night went to filmmaker Florian Habicht. His critically acclaimed Love Story won Best Feature film while Mr Habicht also won Best Director.

Another low budget film The Insatiable Moon did very well in the acting categories, with wins for actors Rawiri Paratene and Greg Johnson.

“My agent rang me and asked, ‘do you have a passport?’ I was thinking ‘this is great, I’ve got a job overseas’. Then she said ‘good, go on holiday, there's bugger all work for actors your age’,” said Mr Johnson.

Filmmaker Rosanne Liang's debut feature My Wedding and Other Secrets was a winner too, taking out Best Screenplay and Best Actress for Michelle Ang.

3 News

source: newshub archive