ABOUT

The Journey so far…

Where we came from

About NZ Web Fest

The NZ Web Fest was created by Keith Barclay and Fiona Powell in 2015. It presented its inaugural edition on 7 November at Media Design School in Auckland, celebrating web series and online video content. The inaugural event included conference sessions and screenings, topped off with the presentation of awards.

Fiona left the NZ Web Fest prior to its second edition in 2016.

In 2017, the NZ Web Fest was accepted as one of the participating festivals in the Web Series World Cup.

In 2020, in the face of the coronavirus pandemic, the NZ Web Fest presented its 6th edition online, and introduced a Pitch competition – and the festival’s first cash prize.

In 2022, podcasts joined the festival for the first time. In 2023, Jacq Ellem, creator of the award-winning podcast Tales From Three Corners, joined us as Head of Podcasts. .

The festival is run by a group of generous volunteers led (occasionally in the right direction) by Keith, who’s currently the editor of ShowNews, and was also the founder and editor of online NZ screen industry publications SCREENZ and Crewed.