Pitch Comments

• Compared to last year, we have assigned mentors to have one-on-one sessions with the Pitch finalists. The feedback has been very positive with many finalists reported to feel more at ease after receiving personal feedback.

• International decision-makers selected projects to attend their festival and events including Dhaka Doc Lab (Bangladesh), CNEX (China), Docs by the Sea (Indonesia), DOK Leipzig (Germany), and Hot Docs (Canada).

• International decision-makers selected two NZ projects to attend their events including CNEX (China) and Dok Leipzig (Germany). They are Killing Brigitte Nielsen and Memory & Longing.

• The international session (online) had many issues regarding screen-sharing videos, with the videos lagging on some of the decision-makers and finalists' sides. New video conference platforms might need to be explored.

• We have received very good feedback from spectators, especially amongst the documentary students who got to see what formal pitching event is like for the first time. This could possibly lead to a fruitful pathway for people in the tertiary programme.