Lecturer's film wows Venice

Edwina Findley plays Melva Neddy in Auckland University lecturer Jake Mahaffy's Free In Deed, which was praised for its treatment of a rarely covered subject.

Auckland-based academic’s ‘illuminating’ work wins major award at prestigious festival.

Auckland University lecturer Jake Mahaffy has won a major international award with his film Free in Deed. It won the Orizzonti Award for Best Film at the Venice Film Festival.

American-born Mahaffy, a senior lecturer in film, television and social media, took 12 years to make the film which was shot in Memphis, Tennessee, last year.

Based on real events, it tells the story of a single mother who brings her son to a church for healing.

Mahaffy says the win is a huge honour.

"We've been working on this film for over 10 years. Making a movie like this we never know who, if anyone, is going to see it.

"And that's okay. We are satisfied with the creative process. But it can feel a bit lonely at times."

The Orizzonti (Horizons) section of the festival is for films representing "the latest aesthetic and expressive trends in international cinema".

A Variety review said Mahaffy's film offers "an illuminating immersion into the rarely depicted world of storefront churches, placing a welcome spotlight on a disenfranchised sector of African-American society.

"A deserving winner of top honours in Venice's Horizons strand, this jagged, productively provocative work needs every such plaudit to convince skittish distributors of its conversation-piece potential."

The section jury was chaired by American director Jonathan Demme. Free in Deed was one of 34 films in the competition.