Open the door for our future storytellers

Day One is the soil Aotearoa’s screen storytellers grow from.

We give emerging filmmakers the tools, guidance, and platform to share their stories.

We're the barefoot, backyard BBQ of the screen industry. A safe place to start, with an open door, particularly for those who've faced barriers to creative expression. Films about identity, belonging, language, the futures our rangatahi want to see.

Kelsey Chapman, Day One alumni: "Filmmaking has shaped who I am and I wouldn't be where I am without it. Day One opened up a space for me to feel encouraged to submit my work, and now I am a confident filmmaker."

The All Blacks didn't start training at 25. They started at five. If we want Aotearoa's emerging filmmakers to shape our screen culture, we have to give them somewhere to begin. That's the gap Day One fills.

Day One is a registered charitable trust. Every programme is free to participants, and as an organisation that runs on external funding, every dollar you contribute goes directly into real films, real skills, and real careers.

19 years in, our impact has never been stronger:

• Day One Shorts funds and mentors eight short films a year, launching real careers
• Day One Challenge is our nationwide film competition open to anyone aged 5 to 29, with prizes, screenings, and mentorship throughout the year
• Day One How To is our educational arm, workshops, e-learning, and video resources from idea to screen
• Day One New Filmmaker Festival launching November 2026, with screenings, awards, and kōrero celebrating the next generation of Aotearoa storytellers

The funding environment for arts organisations like ours is the hardest it's been in years. A number of the trusts and foundations that have long supported the arts sector are pulling back, overwhelmed by applications from too many great organisations in need. We've made the cuts we can. Now we're asking our community to help us bridge the gap before we have to reduce our programmes.

Supporting this campaign funds more filmmakers, grows our reach across the motu, and gets the Day One New Filmmaker Festival off the ground.