Film production in Canterbury is getting a boost with the opening of a new studio facility at the City’s university.
Kōawa Studios recently hosted its first commercial feature film, Holy Days. And it’s not only providing opportunities for movie producers but students too.
For Daniel Davy, who is in his third year of a digital screen degree, he’s getting a hands-on look at cutting-edge film production tech.
“Most of it’s practical studying here… So we get to use the brand new state-of-the-art technology here and film equipment and the camera gear and stuff like that, which is really pretty lucky,” he said.
Nine buildings on the Canterbury University campus have recently been converted to create Kōawa studios.
“Over the last three years, we’ve been converting nine buildings on a 12-hectare site, and these buildings have not been doing anything for about 20 years, so it’s quite a big construction build,” Sam Witters, Kōawa studios director, said.
“And what we’ve developed is to put in place motion capture animation in 2D, and 3D studios. We’ve got two state-of-the-art computer labs, we’ve got pitch edit suites, we’ve got colour grade, we’ve got six sound edits, sound mixing suites, and sound recording for 80.
“That’s significant,” he said.
It also features a virtual production studio with a 14-metre wide, four-metre tall screen.
The studio was used to produce the upcoming international feature film Holy Days, starring Miriam Margolyes.
Holy Days marked the first commercial use of Kōawa’s state-of-the-art facilities.
Students also got the opportunity to work on the film.
Davy said he has only got “good things to say about the experience”.
“Everyone there was just so kind and so patient, like even though film was a very stressful environment, they would always stop and have a moment to teach you something, which was amazing,” he said.
It’s one of many projects coming to Canterbury after the inception of a screen grant, the first regional incentive of its kind in Aotearoa. Screen Canterbury NZ’s Petrina D’Rozario said it first launched in 2021 for a three-year cycle.
“And that was $1.5 million, and clearly that worked for us because we saw a host of productions come to our region, 11 in total with around 240 days of filming back to back, created around 135 full-time equivalent jobs which was just the boom that we needed and that spring in our step,” she said.
And she’s hoping that’s just the start.
“Auckland, of course, is on everyone’s mind, Wellington definitely, and we’re slowly creeping in there with Canterbury bringing all these amazing productions”, D’Rozario said.
It was opening doors for students, too.
“We’re really trying to make sure the students feel connected to the space and also have, across all the programs, opportunities to connect with industry to make sure they graduate with the skills they need to move everyone forward,” Professor Kevin Watson, Canterbury Universities Executive Arts Dean said.
