Semifinalist’s shock at award nomination
Maddy de Young is a semifinalist in the Young New Zealander of the Year category at the New Zealander of the Year Awards.
“I was pretty shocked and didn’t expect it,” said Maddy, who is a Kaiwhakahau Ho¯ taka of Ma¯oriland Charitable Trust and programme manager of the Ma¯oriland Film Festival.
“Being nominated for Young New Zealander of the Year is quite surreal.
“Reflecting on it, the kaupapa of our work is about the rangatahi we are working with.
“In my job it’s about supporting youth to achieve their dreams whatever that might be, so it’s a bit strange to have myself separated out from them with this nomination.
“At the same time it’s nice to be recognised. The results we get from our rangatahi and their work is mind-blowing.”
Over the last seven years, Maddy has carved out a unique role for herself in Aotearoa’s film landscape.
As programme manager of the Ma¯oriland Film Festival (MFF), the biggest presenter of indigenous screen content in the Southern Hemisphere, Maddy’s focus is on nurturing rangatahi to find their voice through film and develop the skills to tell their stories.
A key focus is training and development, enabling them to enter high-value creative work by providing training, mentorship, professional development and networking.
With Maddy’s guidance, the rangatahi lead everything — facilitating workshops, writing and producing films, and presenting screenings to peers.
Last year, as well as curating the programme for the MFF and running the rangatahi development strategy, Maddy co-ordinated film workshops in Taiwan and Finland.
Starting as Ma¯oriland’s first employee, Maddy came on board when it was clear the trust needed to do more than run a yearly festival to be sustainable. She became fulltime in 2017.
When Covid-19 struck during last year’s Ma¯oriland Film Festival, Maddy organised workshops and initiatives held in Kaitaia, Ta¯maki Makaurau, Te Taira¯whiti and O¯taki. Maddy then opened M.A.T.C.H, the Ma¯oriland Tech Creative Hub intensifier programme, training young Ma¯ori animators in a rapid six-week training project last year.