Article

By Andrea Rush | 14 September 2009

Unitec graduate wins award as Auckland's best student animator

Niki Hiini's short film ‘Grace' was named the best student animation film in Auckland for 2008 and screened at the 2009 International Film Festival in Auckland in July.

Hiini won the award for her three minute long animated short as part of a student animated film competition run by the Auckland City Council - her prize is an internship with top Auckland animation house Flux.

Hiini produced ‘Grace' as her film project while studying a Graduate Diploma in Design in Digital Animation at Unitec in 2008.

‘Grace' is a 2D animated narrative that follows the story of an old woman who is reminiscing about an affair she had while her husband was away at World War II.

"The film takes place in her living room as she's having her cup of tea and part of her story is told through the photographs in her living room which come to life," says Hiini. The animated drawings in the film are modeled on actual photographs of Hiini's grandmothers.

The story is fictional but was inspired by an old woman Hiini actually met.

"She had this photograph of a military man on her wall and no other photos," says Hiini.

"I asked her if that was her husband and she said, ‘no he was her lover'," she says.

Hiini says she grew up with idea that her grandmothers generation was one that was very proper and that this sort of thing wouldn't have happened then so she was surprised to find it did.

Hiini believes this is story that was more common than we realize and her approach with ‘Grace' wasn't to be judgmental about it rather just to explore human nature.

Hiini had previously studied Film and TV at Unitec's Department of Performing and Screen Arts before becoming a successful freelance film and TV editor working on well known shows such as Outrageous Fortune.

She decided to study animation at Unitec to add to her skill base and have more to offer her editing clients but she quickly discovered animation is a career in its own right.

"Animation is a growing field, it's everywhere in film, television and commercials right now and I could choose to follow that as a new career path," says Hiini.

"My ideal would be to combine some animation with editing work and do a bit of both," she says.

Hiini enthuses that studying animation and completing her short film project has been a great creative outlet.

"My editing work is often subject to what the producers and broadcasters want, so you don't have that much creative input in the process," she says.

"So it's nice to know that if I have a story to tell I can do so with animated film projects of my own."

Hiini says she was thrilled that ‘Grace' received recognition by the Auckland City Council.

"It was really nice to win the award and I am really excited about the internship with Flux," she says.

"When you leave the student environment it's up to you to source work and the fact that this opportunity has come to me is an exciting break."

‘Grace' was selected to screen at the NZ International Film Festival 2009 as part of the ‘Homegrown' Animation and Experimentation on Video section.

This is an eclectic programme which brings together the cream of Kiwi animators and innovators in a must-see collection of 10 shorts that reflects the diversity and exuberance of its creators.

Andrea Rush