Homecoming - Short Film

Kia kaha Rotorua! HOMECOMING will screen in the Reel Queer Short Film Night for Matariki Pride ​t​his month for Rainbow Rotorua. We are so proud to share, celebrate, and uplift queer filmmakers in Aotearoa and to stand alongside our queer whānau up North.

18 June 2026, 5:30pm

Reading Cinema, Rotorua

Tickets are limited so get in quick:

https://events.humanitix.com/reel-queer-short-films-2026

🇮🇳Jai Ho! HOMECOMING’s festival run keeps going and is returning to India with Kashish Pride Film Festival, the largest LGBTQ+ film festival in South Asia! We are so excited to be part of this massive, long-running and popular festival for both queer and mainstream audiences as a means to foster better understanding of queer thoughts, desires and expressions. 

HOMECOMING plays 5th June 4:30pm in the "FAMILY MATTERS" session at the Liberty Cinema in Mumbai.

Ticket info below:

https://mumbaiqueerfest.com/k26-attend/

Mauri ora!  We are proud to have been selected for Wairoa Maori Film Festival (NZ) 29-31 May. Held at Kahungunu Marae and Gaiety Theatre in Hawkes Bay, it has been running for 19 years, celebrating indigenous stories and performances on screen. All 3 of our lead actors whakapapa to Aotearoa iwi  - Awa Puna (Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairoa, Tūhoe), Lara Macgregor (Ngāti Toa) & Te Wharerangi Mihinui (Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Ngāti Hikairo) and we are proud to showcase their talent, strength and incredible emotional resonance in our film. Ka mau te wehi e te whānau!

Ticket info coming soon at https://maorimovies.com/

Ώπα - Opa! HOMECOMING is going to Greece! We have been selected for Queer Movie Nights in Athens in May as our official European premiere. We are finalists in the Audience Award for Best International Short. This bold festival has been running for 5 years and is run in association with the incredible Antivirus Magazine, the leading LGBTQIA+ magazine in Greece, giving a platform to those excluded from the mainstream. The festival runs 6-11 May at the Trianon Film Centre in Athens featuring groundbreaking narratives about identity, desire, family, survival and loss.

Get your tickets at the link below:

https://qmn.avmag.gr/

Tauranga - we are coming for ya! HOMECOMING will proudly screen on the closing night of TAURANGA PRIDE MONTH, 25 April 7pm at Luxe Cinemas Tauranga. With the support of our wonderful friends over at Tauranga Moana Rainbow Collective we will play before the feature BOYS to close the festival. An absolute honour to share with our Bay of Plenty whānau

Book your tickets here:

https://www.luxecinemas.nz/tauranga/tauranga-pride-month-closing-event

HOMECOMING is coming home! We are running 3 x Lunchtime HOMECOMING Screenings + Q&A Sessions with Transgender Filmmaker Grae Meek in association with Ara Institute of Canterbury and Christchurch Pride.

Watch the film, go behind the scenes and hear Writer/Director Grae Meek speak on the making of this internationally award-winning film made in Ōtautahi Christchurch produced by Annakey Productions - one of the few transgender writer/director projects funded by the NZ Film Commission.

Dates: 25, 26 & 27 March 2026

Time: 12:15pm - 12:50pm

Location: D LECT, Ara Institute of Canterbury, Madras St Campus, 120DL Madras St, Christchurch Central City

Tickets: FREE - walk-ins fine, you can register your interest HERE: https://www.jotform.com/form/260531434453855

Parking: On-street and paid parking nearby

TEASER TRAILER IS LIVE! “We have a lot to talk about…” Are you dying to get a taste of HOMECOMING? Check out the teaser trailer now.

'Homecoming' - a short film by Grae Meek

Logline - We have a lot to talk about.

Synopsis - A transgender woman returns home to come out to her parents. But the dinner spirals as her anxieties manifest in dark, sinister ways.

Written & Directed by - Grae Meek

Produced by - Anna Canton for Annakey Productions

Starring - Awa Puna, Lara Macgregor, Te Wharerangi Mihinui

DOP - Julian Vares

Editor - Emma Smart

Festivals:

-Top of the South Film Festival (World & New Zealand Premiere) Oct 2025 - WINNER - BEST FILM, BEST DIRECTOR, BEST SCREENPLAY, BEST ACTRESS (AWA PUNA)

-BUFilmFestival (UK Premiere) Oct 2025

-Capricorn Film Festival (Aus Premiere) Jan 2026  - WINNER - BEST ACTOR SHORT FILM (AWA PUNA)

-Color's of Love - Queer Film Festival (Asia Premiere) Feb 2026 - WINNER - BEST LGBT TRANSGENDER FILM, BEST FEMALE DIRECTOR

🎉 We are absolutely honoured to have won both Best LGBT Transgender Film & Best Female Director for Grae Meek at Colors of Love - Queer Film Festival in Mumbai, India.

To be surrounded with such love, support and kindness from this amazing festival; and to see this support & respect for trans filmmakers and their stories is an incredible experience 🏳️‍⚧️ 🎬 😍 Thank-you FilmyBees Cine Club and the whole team, audience and community behind the festival 🙏🏼 ✨ 🇮🇳

नमस्ते Namaste HOMECOMING has been selected for Colors of Love Queer Film Festival in Mumbai, India 13-15 Feb 2026. This will be our Asia Premiere and will screen at Veda Factory.

The festival showcases powerful and diverse LGBTQ+ films from around the world — stories of love, identity, and courage that deserve to be seen and celebrated. We are honoured to take part in a vibrant and inclusive festival and share our film with Indian audiences. Ticketing info coming soon.

We are incredibly proud of Awa Puna for winning BEST ACTOR in a short film at Capricorn Film Festival for her role as Charlotte in HOMECOMING. A standout performance full of nuance, emotion and depth. Congratulations Awa!

HOMECOMING has been selected for Capricorn Film Festival and will be our Australian Premiere, in the CAPS Short Film Competition alongside 11 other Australian and international short films.

The festival has been running for 11+ years with the incredible Luke Graham at the helm as Festival Director, and opens in the beautiful Central Queensland town of Yeppoon in January 2026. Start the year strong!

We hope our Australian friends can make it to the screening on the 18th January 2026.

Link below for tickets!

https://www.capricornfilmfestival.org/shorts

HOMECOMING will have its premiere screening in Christchurch as part of the CANTERBURY SHORT FILM SPOTLIGHT event on the 26th November 2025 at Lumière Cinema. Featuring alongside 13 other local award-winning and festival darlings of the international short film circuit, we are honoured and excited for our hometown screening.

Get your tickets now before they sell out!

https://www.lumierecinemas.co.nz/movie/canterbury-short-film-spotlight

🎉Last night at Top of the South Film Festival our film HOMECOMING took out SO many awards!! With 6 nominations in 5 different categories tonight we came away with:
🏆Best Film
🏆Best Director: Grae Meek 
🏆Best Screenplay: Grae Meek
🏆Best Actress: Awa Puna 

"SO proud of everyone in the creative team for bringing this film to life, Annakey Productions, Awa Puna, Lara Macgregor, Te Wharerangi Mihinui, Julian Vares, Emma Smart, and everyone involved, you are all such amazing talents, and I’m SO proud to have represented you all at Top of the South to come away with these awards!!"
- Grae

⏱️ Less than a week to go until HOMECOMING’s WORLD PREMIERE at Top of the South Film Festival. In the meantime, let’s celebrate our 6 nominations across all 5 categories, including Best Film (Aotearoa Category), Grae Meek for Best Screenplay and Direction, Julian Vares for Best Cinematography, and Best Actress for both Awa Puna & Lara Macgregor. So proud to be recognised amongst great competition! Awards are on the 19th October at the ASB Theatre Marlborough in Blenheim 🌟

We are so pleased to announce that our short film 'HOMECOMING' has been selected for Top of The South Film Festival and will be our NZ and WORLD Premiere! We are part of the Aotearoa Category selects. This is a fabulous festival located in the sunny Nelson & Marlborough region, celebrating filmmakers and film-loving audiences for over a decade. Our Director Grae Meek will attend the festival 17-19 October. Tickets available soon from www.tsfilmfest.org.nz

Follow us for more updates on Facebook and Instagram

Kia ora HOMECOMING Whānau,

We are thrilled to share some great news with you all. With your generous support we were able to complete this beautiful film, and now it is on its journey into the world.

HOMECOMING has been selected for BUFF: British Urban Film Festival and will be our UK Premiere! We are honoured to be part of a festival that celebrates diverse storytelling for PoC and LGBTQ+ voices in film. The festival turns 20 this year and opens in Halifax, Yorkshire in October. We hope some of our UK friends will be able to make it to the festival! 

Stay tuned for more details - follow us on Facebook and Instagram

-Anna & Grae

Thanks to all of our early donors to HOMECOMING! We've made 17% of our target already with 3 more weeks to go. We deeply and humbly appreciate your support for our film, that you are part of this journey too.

Share the link and encourage your friends and communities to get involved in the campaign too as every donation big or small helps to get this amazing story over the line.

We are on Facebook and Instagram if you want to stay up-to-date on the project and production!

And we’re done! Thank-you so much to all of our generous donors who helped us raise over $15,000 towards the creation of HOMECOMING. This is completely humbling 🥹 We are blown away by the support from you all, and we are honoured to have you as part of the community for our film. Stay tuned to see progress as we head into production next week to see where all of your donations are going! 🥳

Hello to our HOMECOMING donors - a very exciting update! We have passed 100% on our funding target thanks to all of your amazing support and generous donations. So we've decided to go for gold and set a stretch goal of $18k for the last 4 days of the campaign. We retain all donations now we have hit our original target so all of that money will go towards Grae's vision on screen. Share the link with family, friends and whānau to get the word out. Let's do this!

Find HOMECOMING on Facebook and Instagram to keep up-to-date on the film.

Mōrena to our HOMECOMING donor community! Exciting news, HOMECOMING is featured on Stuff.co.nz this morning as Editor's pick! Check out the interview below where Grae and Anna discuss the passion behind the film and the importance of transgender representation on NZ screens. Thanks to Lyric Waiwiri-Smith for the beautiful story.

All of your donations are helping us tell this compelling story, and we humbly appreciate you coming on the journey with us.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/350262171/new-wave-cinema-film-hoping-shine-light-coming-out-transgender-needs-raise-funds

Hello to all of our amazing supporters! Our crowdfunding campaign has officially passed 50%. Thank you so much to all of our donors so far, we could not have gotten this far without your help😍 We are over halfway towards our target of $13k. We need to get there by 13th May and every little bit counts to help bring the film to life! Share the Boosted link with your communities, family, friends and networks to help spread the word and get those donations!

Keep an eye out for HOMECOMING on Stuff.co.nz in the coming days too, our story has been picked up by a journalist who is keen to profile the project and campaign.

-Anna and Grae

Find HOMECOMING on Facebook and Instagram to keep up-to-date on the film.

Annakey Productions is on Facebook, Instagram and a Website

Grae is on Youtube, Facebook, Instagram and Tiktok