The Vista Foundation in partnership with the The New Zealand Film Commission are proud to announce the feature film Pecking Order as the winner of the annual Vista Film Marketing competition. The award contributes $75,000 to the marketing budget of a NZ film which will be released in New Zealand within the next 12 months. It was presented to director Slavko Martinov by Christine Fenby, a member of the Vista Foundation board and Marketing Director of Vista Group. Last year’s winner was Chasing Great, which went on to achieve a NZ box office result of $1.8million.
The New Zealand Film Commission worked with Vista to create a series of workshops for NZ producers and filmmakers with films currently in development and production. The competition was the culmination of a programme scheduled over three weekends filled with informative seminars and discussions.
Jasmin McSweeney, NZFC’s Head of Marketing said, “The Vista film marketing programme was devised to give filmmaking teams a greater understanding of how best to get their film in front of as large an audience as possible. The Pecking Order team took everything wholeheartedly on board and are deserving winners with a pitch as entertaining and hilarious as their film.”
The judges were composed of two international industry leaders, Anick Poirier (Seville International / eOne Films) and Ray Strache (Fox Searchlight), and a cohort of local industry players made up of Simon Werry (Lighthouse Cinema Wellington), Ross Churchouse (Hoyts Cinemas), Anna Dean (Double Denim) and John Barnett (Endeavour).
Anna Dean commented, “The filmmaker gave an outstanding presentation and as one fellow judge noted, all of us were smiling when we talked about the potential for the film during the judging process. It immediately captured our hearts and our imaginations and we know the film viewing public of New Zealand will feel the same way.”
Pecking Order is a documentary feature film following members of the Christchurch Poultry Club in the lead up to the National Competition, showcasing a hilarious and heart-warming slice of Kiwiana. The film is directed by Slavko Martinov, whose last feature Propaganda made waves internationally, and he adds, “Our small team thrives on getting as much criticism and feedback as possible, so I can’t thank Vista enough for inviting us to pitch our film. Programmes like this give us a chance to test our ideas, and from that we can keep adjusting and improving what we do. They're invaluable. But to actually win such a large grant as well is thrilling. It's an enormous boost for us. Not only does it tell us that our marketing strategy for Pecking Order is working, it means we can actually make it happen. We couldn't be more excited.”
Pecking Order will be released in NZ cinemas by Vendetta Films on 6 April 2017.
Last updated:
Friday, 21 October 2016