Sparrow - a short film

Welby Ings is an award winning filmmaker whose unique visual style combines art house sensibilities with a deeply visceral narrative to produce a truly cinematic experience. His previous two shorts, "Boy" and "Munted" have been selected in competition in over 50 New Zealand film festivals and have won numerous awards, with "Boy" being long listed for the 2006 Academy Awards.

Welby makes films by a unique process he describes as "drawing out" his ideas: there is no storyboard and no script - until he needs something to show funders.

"When making films, I create the worlds and stories in pictures, I don't write scripts. This is because I see film as 'talking pictures'. So rather than drafts of scripts, I have hundreds of notebooks full of drawings. I want to create a visually rich experience for the audience, thinking in pictures takes you to places that words can't.

Welby's films are hard hitting, beautiful, clear, stories that touch what it is to be a human being. They are all based on true events but told in lyrical ways.

He also has a distinguished career as an educator. He's currently a professor of graphic design at AUT University, he was awarded the Prime Ministers inaugural, supreme award for tertiary teaching excellence in 2001. His unique approach to creative creating, dubbed by him as "disobedient thinking" sees him being invited to lecture to audiences around the world.

See Welby's previous shorts "Boy" and "Munted" here:
http://www.nzonscreen.com/title/boy-2004
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oxUSid2U4I

Welby's Ted Talk in Auckland 2013 can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aumxbgOdkRU 

"Sparrow" - a short film:
Welby's third short film Sparrow is a beautiful, non-spoken 15-minute story set in the 1960's, and is told from the perspective of Jim, a small boy who believes he can fly.

Jim's life is overshadowed by a story about his grandfather who died a hero in World War 2, but he discovers that the legend that his father so adamantly clings to, is a lie. His grandfather was gay man who saw the futility of war and deserted in protest when his lover was shot in the dugouts of Egypt.

In unraveling the truth behind what happened, Jim discovers strength in his grandfather's actions and stands up to the bullies at his school in an unexpected way.

WATCH THE VIDEO to see our teaser for "Sparrow", and Welby talks about why this project is important to him.

What the money is for:
Attracting conventional funding for Welby's work has proved to be elusive, but we've been lucky enough to receive some arts grants and private investment, combined with self funding, that has allowed us to complete principal photography for "Sparrow", and the film has been shot.

Filmed in May 2016, the production involved 50 cast members, multiple locations and all 79 scenes set in either the 60's or 40's. In order to attain the high production values we were seeking, the modest budget was stretched to the absolute limit, and we now need some help to complete the process of post production and get the film out to audiences.

Where to from here?
We have an amazing post production team lined up including the excited people at Images and Sound who helped us produce our beautiful teaser. Along with the editors they'll be working on the film between August and October. We'll be sending the completed film to the Berlin Film Festival in November for consideration by their selection panel. From there we'll be entering all the New Zealand A list film festivals to get "Sparrow" to the widest audience possible in 2017.

The making of "Sparrow" also takes us one step closer to the feature film that Welby has been working on for the past 10 years, "Punch". This film takes the character of Jim into adulthood and looks at the challenges he experiences in 1980's small town New Zealand when he is forced to fight against the dreams of his father and the insistent locals.

Sparrow has been supported by:
AUT University
Welby Ings
Wallace Media
Rule Foundation
NZFC talent development fund