ChristchurchNZ CEO Alison Adams: Screen CanterburyNZ telling our stories
One of my favourite New Zealand films is Sir Peter Jackson’s 1994 classic Heavenly Creatures.
Dark subject matter aside, it did a wonderful job of capturing a 1950s Christchurch look and feel, and rightfully gained international accolades. It also paved the way for the careers of Kate Winslet and Melanie Lynskey and put Sir Peter firmly on Hollywood’s radar.
It’s one reason I’m excited by Screen CanterburyNZ securing additional funding from Christchurch City Council for the region’s Screen Production Grant. The funding provides $100,000 until June 2025, and an additional $300,000 from July 2025 to June 2026. These funds are on top of the $200,000 still available from the previous grant, meaning more than half a million dollars is available to attract productions to Waitaha Canterbury.
This is exciting news for Ōtautahi Christchurch’s creative economy. Screen CanterburyNZ’s role is to strengthen the screen sector and promote Canterbury as an attractive and accessible filming location to domestic and international productions. The production grant—the first regional incentive of its kind in Aotearoa—and Screen CanterburyNZ was allocated $1.5 million of funding over three years from 2022 to 2024.
That funding delivered significant return on investment—over $14 million in total spend in the region from production activity. But it’s not just the economic value—those productions displayed the capability in Canterbury and the South Island as well as building on positive perceptions of our national industry.
We need more Canterbury-made stories on screen. They strengthen our creative economy, unearth exciting new talent—and occasionally get us priceless international attention.
