Kiwi documentary wins Colorado award

A New Zealand documentary tackling issues around climate change has won the Platinum Best Film Award at the Colorado International Film Festival this week.

The film, Carving the Future, was produced by newcomers Guy Ryan and Nick Holmes, two Otago filmmaking students, as part of their Masters in Science Communication.

The award came as a surprise, Mr Ryan said.

However, this is not the first surprise they have had this year; they took runner-up in best film at the New Zealand film festival Real Earth, and Mr Ryan is heading over to England on Monday to attend the Wild Screen film awards - where their film is one of three finalists in the best newcomer section.

The film follows four young New Zealanders as they lead large-scale community projects to confront the challenge of climate change and environmental degradation.

"The film has been really well received - screened in every region, and now seen by more than 6000 New Zealanders," Mr Ryan said.

The most exciting thing was that 1000 copies of the film made to be used as a teaching resource in schools nationwide.

"It's pretty amazing."

- NZPA