And the Winners were...

Taika Waititi's family orientated, action-adventure film The Hunt for the Wilderpeople was the big winner at last night's Rialto Channel NZ Film Awards.

The film, an adaptation of Barry Crump's novel Wild Pork and Watercress, won a whopping seven awards at last night's glamorous ceremony. It made a clean sweep of all the biggies including Best Film, Director and Screenplay.

The film's stars Julian Dennison, Sam Neill and Rima Te Wiata all received nods for their work taking home Best Actor, Supporting Actor and Supporting Actressrespectively, while the movie's spectacular wild boar no doubt helped it bring home the bacon that is Best Visual Effects.

The awards, colloquially referred to as the Moa's, also had a special guest of honour in attendance.

The Academy Award winning director Danny Boyle had nipped across town from the red carpet premiere of his new film T2: Trainspotting to present the award for Best Cinematographyto the Michael Fassbender starring action-western Slow West, which would take home a further three Moa's including Best Score.

Other big winners were Miriama McDowell, who was named Best Actress for her work in The Great Maiden's Blush, which also won Best Self Funded Film, and the provincial rugby doco The Ground We Won which won Best Documentary.

Ex-Shorty St stalwart Angela Bloomfield was named Best Short Film Actresss for her role in Linda's List.

Rialto Channel NZ Film Awards Winners 2017

FEATURE

Rialto Channel Best Film
Hunt for the Wilderpeople (Carthew Neal, Leanne Saunders,Taika Waititi, Matt Noonan)

Flying Fish Best Director
Taika Waititi (Hunt for the Wilderpeople)

flicks.co.nz Best Screenplay
Taika Waititi (Hunt for the Wilderpeople)

Man O' War Vineyards Best Actress
Miriama McDowell (The Great Maiden's Blush)

Steinlager Tokyo Dry Best Actor
Julian Dennison (Hunt for the Wilderpeople)

Manukau Urban Maori Authority Best Supporting Actress
Rima Te Wiata (Hunt for the Wilderpeople)

Te Whanau O Waipareira Best Supporting Actor
Sam Neill (Hunt for the Wilderpeople)

Park Road Post Best Self Funded Film
The Great Maiden's Blush (Jeremy Macey, Andrea Bosshard, Isobel Mebus, Shane Loader)

Imagezone Best Cinematography
Robbie Ryan (Slow West)

Letterboxd Best Production Design
Kim Sinclair (Slow West)

Mandy VFX Best Editor
Michael Horton with Jonathan Woodford-Robinson (Mahana)

Bigpop Studios Best Score
Jed Kurzel (Slow West)

Bigpop Studios Best Sound
Phil Burton (Chronesthesia)

Images and Sound Best Visual Effects
Curious Film, Weta Digital, Pixel Juice (Hunt for the Wilderpeople)

Daniel Le Brun Best Costume Design
Kirsty Cameron (Slow West)

MAC Best Makeup Design
Vanessa Hurley, Roger Murray, Andrew Beattie (Deathgasm)

Services to Cinema Award
Gaylene Preston

DOCUMENTARY

New Zealand Film Commission Best Documentary
The Ground We Won (Miriam Smith)

Directors & Editors Guild of NZ Best Documentary Director
David Stubbs (Belief: The Possession of Janet Moses)

PLS Best Documentary Cinematography
Christopher Pryor (The Ground We Won)

Lotech Media Best Documentary Editor
Simon Coldrick (Tickled)

SHORT FILM

Little Island Best Short Film
Madam Black (Ivan Barge, Matt Harris)

Halcyon Digital Best Self Funded Short Film
Not Like Her (Hash Perambalam, Lucy Stonex, Brendon Donovan)

Actors Agents Association of New Zealand Best Short Film Actress
Angela Bloomfield (Linda's List)

Actors Agents Association of New Zealand Best Short Film Actor
Cohen Holloway (Feeder)

TELEVISION FEATURE

NZOnAir Best Television Feature
Abandoned (James Heyward, Liz DiFiore)

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