Dates for the 2024 NZ Mountain Film & Book Festival have been released and entries have opened for filmmakers and writers to enter its annual mountain film and book competitions.

The popular seven-day event will run in Wānaka from June 21-25, in Queenstown from June 27-28, and audiences throughout New Zealand and Australia will be able to watch the festival’s films online across the month of July. 

NZMFF festival director and co-founder Mark Sedon said the 2023 festival attracted a record number of festival-goers and he encouraged writers and filmmakers to submit an entry.

Over the course of its 22-year history, the festival has built a reputation for showcasing world-class films and it has helped to launch the careers of some exciting up-and-coming creatives. 

“If you’re keen to share your story with a super-engaged audience, here’s your chance,” he said.

The festival theme is ‘adventurous sports and lifestyle’.

Competition entrants can add their own creative spin, so long as there is a link with adventurous sports or people; the world’s mountains, lakes, rivers, oceans or skies provide the stage; or there is a cultural or environmental theme. 

The final programme – to be released in May – will be made up of competition winners and finalists.

There’s also $9,000 of prize money awarded across a range of categories, with the grand-prize-winning film and the Best NZ-made film each eligible for $2,500, and the Mountain Book of the Year prize is $2,000. 

Authors have until March 30 to submit entries for the NZ Mountain Book competition while the deadline for the Film competition is April 20.

Find more information about the film competition here and the book competition here.

Audience members from New Zealand and Australia who can’t make the live events in June will be able to watch the festival’s films online throughout the month of July.