Graduates mentor school kids on Big Science Adventures
In association with the Royal Society of New Zealand, graduates from the Class of 2005/06 have been mentoring six teams of sceondary school students as they compete to make films about science in some of New Zealand's wildest places. These included trips to active volcanoes, dolphins in the far north, marine life in the far reaches of Fiordland, snowy mountains in the McKenzie country, offshore islands containing NZ's living dinosaur the Tuatara, and way out to the Chatham Islands. The winning film will be announced on 4 August and the team, including the mentor, will win a trip to Antarctica with Antarctica New Zealand.

1400 turn out to Premiere at the Regent
A record crowd of 1400 packed into Duedin's Regent Theatre for the premiere of films by the Class of 2005/06 on 28 May 2006. Held over two two-hour sessions, the eight films by the students were greeted with raptuous applause and all-round appreciation of the extremely high standard and excellent entertainment values.

Stephen Baker lands plum Job
Stephen Baker (Class of 2001) is now Director/Camera Operator on Prime TV's United Travel "Getaway" programme. Highlights for him have been filming green turtles laying eggs in Borneo and getting up close and personal to lions and wild dogs in Africa. Read more about Steve under Testimonials.

New Degree Approved
The national university qualifications authority (CUAP) has just approved a brand new degree: a Masters of Science Communication in Science & Natural History Filmmaking to be offered here at the University of Otago. At the moment, the prerequisite for the degree is a Postgraduate Diploma in Natural History Filmmaking and Communication, but WATCH THIS SPACE.

New Intake (Class of 2006/07)
Applications have closed for the new intake (Class of 2006/07). Applications have come from all around the world. Apart from New Zealanders applying, the countries with the most applicants are the United States, Germany, Australia, India and the countries that make up the United Kingdom. Our graduates now work in the industry right across the globe and it is pleasing to see the reputation of the course continue to grow largely on the strength of the graduates that we produce.

Will Clark and Melissa Pentecost (Class of 2004/05) Finalists at the Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival
"Under Their Skin", the film on possums by Will Clark and Melissa Pentecost from the Postgraduate Diploma in Natural History Filmmaking & Communication (Class of 2004/05) has just been announced as a Finalist for the Marion Zunz Newcomer Award at the Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival. Selected from a record number of entries, Will and Melissa's film is up against two others for this highly prestigious award (the Jackson Hole festival is one of the two major wildlife film festivals in the world). Congratulations to Will and Mel and we will be keeping our fingers crossed for them come 19 September!

Wiebke Finkler and Sina Walker's (Class of 2003/04) film in New Zealand Film Festival
“Singing Wood”, the film about a guitar maker by Wiebke Finkler and Sina Walker (Class of 2003/04) has been selected as part of the New Zealand Film Festival and has been screening in Christchurch, Wellington and Auckland. Well done Wiebke and Sina!

Two Films from Class of 2004/05 selected for Aotearoa Environmental Film Festival
Congratulations to Scott Mouat ("Quest for the Grey Ghost") and Tamsin Chance & Chris Taine ("Building without Blueprints")! for having their films selected to screen as part of the inaugural Aotearoa Environmental Film Festival in Palmerston North - where they were said to be the "highlights of the festival".

Graduates find work at NHNZ
Currently there are 11 graduates from the Postgraduate Diploma in Natural History Filmmaking & Communication employed on various film projects at NHNZ.Dan Allan (Class of 2001) is working on Most Extreme; Sina Walker (Class of 2003/04) and Chris Taine and Brant Backlund (both Class of 2004/05) are working on Scarfie Days; Job Rustenhoven (Class of 2002) is involved with a doco on Archaeology; Kelly Freemantle (also from the Class of 2002) is helping put together some Ultimate Disasters; Chris Kugelman (Class of 2004/05) is working for Development; Melissa Pentecost (Class of 2004/05) is doing footage research for Bugs; Scott Mouat (Class of 2004/05) is shooting and editing for a Bed and Breakfast DVD; and Claudia Babirat (Class of 2003/04)has been digitising as well as working for Pickled Possum Productions (an outside production company using the NHNZ studio); and Kathryn Hodgkinson (Class of 2003/04) is production manager for a series of reversionings that NHNZ is doing for NHK.

Class of 2004/05 Film Titles
The film titles from the Class of 2004/05 are:

• “Exhuming Adams”
  by Brant Backlund and Thassilo Franke
  A forensic investigation into the mysterious disappearance of a native mistletoe
• “Quest for the Grey Ghost”
  by Scott Mouat
  One man’s obsession to find the South Island Kokako and save the species from extinction.
• “Back to the Ice”
  by Mike Booth and Chris Kugelman
  Antarctica is a place with no natives yet this is the story of people who call it “home”.
• “Under their Skin”
  by Will Clark and Melissa Pentecost
  Kiwis hate possums: this film takes a wry look at the other side of the most despised animal in New Zealand and meets those people who benefit from it - dead or alive!
• “Building without Blueprints”
  by Tamsin Chance and Chris Taine
  One man’s dream to build an environmentally friendly home in Wanaka.
• “Eye to Eye”
  by Eric Henningsen
  A filmmaker's journey to discover the fate of one of the world's rarest and most beautiful dolphins.